During the week, I think as early as Tuesday, I sent a couple of messages to some MPs whose phone number I have. I implored them to be true to their values, and the values of the party they represent in parliament, and when the convoy arrives to go down and meet them; address them, tell them you are listening and understand, show empathy to their plight, and generally behave like a MP should behave. It required courage, but if MPs cannot be courageous, then we’re truly fucked. I explained that these protestors feel no one is listening to them, and that to listen, and then to act, is to lead.
I was basically ignored.
So that got me thinking, if I were a MP, what would I have done? This is what.
I would have walked amongst them. I would have talked to them, and heard their stories. I would have asked how their jobs, businesses, and lives were after being segregated and treated like second class citizens (our PM has acknowledged she is doing this). I would have acknowledged their issues and their plight. I would have taken a few names (if they wanted me to) and personalised their plight in parliament during general debate. I would have made a fuss of their position in the media. I probably would have gone to visit their business, or their home, to see how the lockdowns, mandates and they tyranny of he restrictions has affected them. I figured by doing this, I was doing my job.
But clearly I’m not a MPs backside.
To be a MP you have to sit in the chamber and make a speech. Or take photos from Bowen House using your phone and post them to social media with sarcastic comments about the “riff raff”, like Chris Bishop has done.
If by doing this I risked being ejected from caucus or risk being chastised and pushed down the list next year, or generally if it ruined my political career (if I decided to stand again) then I would take that, because being true to myself and my values, and doing the job I was elected to do, means more to me than sitting on my arse in Wellington pontificating and giving speeches.
I would also have given this message to the protestors: be peaceful, hold your ground, be true to your values. If the government uses the force of the police to maintain its mandate thuggery and its authoritarian restrictions, then obey the police. Don’t get arrested. Regroup and reconsider your strategy. Above all, Kia Kaha fellow citizens.
I had a conversation with fellow Act Party member about all of this during the week. He agreed with me, and wondered whether MMP has meant a lot of these MPs don’t have constituencies and therefore aren’t accountable, or simply aren’t human.
There’s probably a lot in that.
No Minister 
Nick I totally agree with you. There are a lot of us out there talking to, possibly the same MPs as you, and saying the same thing.
And here’s the thing. To ALL those list MPs in the house, the so called ‘riff-raff’ on parliaments front lawn are their constituents.
Great to see you posting again. BTW had a really good catch up with you BIL last month.
there is a large majority out there (@ 40% ) who only took the jab to keep their job, and others that lost their jobs due to mandates. To call these people ‘riff raff’ or ‘lazy’ is just an insult.
I’m one of them.
Me too! but we shouldn’t be surprised by this.
Chris Bishop is the most odious in a bunch of the most odious bunch of people in our society.
The biggest disappointment of all is ACT of which more should have been expected.
You can always count on National to be on the side of the elite and not care about their constituents.
Sad times indeed.
This view that 40% of those who are vaccinated are only doing so because they are compelled to do so because of their jobs is fanciful. It is typical of those who are anti mandate, or antivax to consistently overestimate the number of supporters they have, just as the protestors in Wellington have done so.
The total number over age 12 eligible for vaccination is 4.2 million and 95% of that number are double vaxed. The number may actually be closer to 92% due to the discrepancy between DHB stats and population stats. The population stats include people here on visitors visas.
There was an extremely quick take up of the vaccine up to around 80% of those eligible. They were doing so to avoid getting covid, or to seriously reduce its effects. All the evidence (disputed by many here, I appreciate) points to the effectiveness of the vaccine, and the 80% generally accept the scientific and medical evidence to this effect.
Beyond 80%, the uptake is much slower, and of course 5% are basically antivax, with a variety of reasons for that position. So realistically about 20% (or 1 in 5) of the eligible population are either antivax or are reluctant users of the vaccine. That is 800,000 people, so it is a lot of people. All of us know people who are either antivax (have not got it at all) or are reluctant. In the nature of life there will be a clustering. Antivaxers and this who are reluctant will tend to gravitate to each other, perhaps more marked in the current situation.
I suspect a large percentage of the 800,000 support the protest. Of course many won’t, especially among the reluctant. They will rate compliance with the law as being more important, especially with the level of disruption seen in the last week. Nevertheless it is probable that hundreds of thousands support the protests.
One of the projects we undertook in my office when I was Minister of Defence was to determine what percentage of the population was required to overthrow a government, provided they were highly motivated. Now this was done in respect of the insurgency in Afghanistan, so it is not directly applicable in a democracy. We concluded that if the Taliban was 1% of the adult population and was supported on a ratio of 10 to 1 of the population, then they could overthrow the government. It would imply a Taliban insurgent force of about 150,000 to 200,000. Which as it has turned out was actually larger than the Taliban was in 2021 when it did overthrow the government.
In NZ, I would say 5,000 really determined demonstrators would be beyond the capacity of the police to remove and arrest them. So if that number mobilise and decide to occupy Parliament grounds then they can do so for quite a few days, perhaps even weeks. In such a case the police will only be able to secure the actual buildings.
However, I suspect there are not 5,000 people sufficiently determined or motivated to carry out such an occupation. The numbers are less than that.
One of the lessons out of America is how important it is for those who lose elections to recognise that they have done so, and accept governmental authority. In NZ, I think we can say that the vast majority of citizens do so, well north of 90%, probably more like 99%.
However in this instance, the demonstrators have had way too many people among them with slogans and banners and media statements indicating they reject governmental authority and they want to arrest the politicians and the media. This had the effect of inhibiting literally all politicians from meeting them. It was way too close to what had happened in Washington DC on 6 Jan 2021, for any NZ politician to be seen to give them succour. We are not as divided as the US, even though it seems some commenters here seem to want that.
The 40% number is from research on mass phychosis.
Uncoffined Dr Mapp is a fully paid member of the Covidian Cult – a religion that has taken hold among the laptop classes
And as we know 0nce a cult has got hold of someone rational debate with them becomes impossible
Afghanistan has the Taliban and we have the Covidians
The really sad thing is they are bankrupting this country and have ruined many peoples lives
Wayne,
Where you’ve gone wrong in your estimates of people who were willingly vaccinated (the 80%) is assuming that they did so without any coercion. However, there were levels of coercion at play here, including just wanting life to go back to normal without lockdowns. This was before large-scale mandates were on the table. Many would have participated in the mistaken belief that the government would ease off once enough were jabbed. And remember the 4 month Auckland lockdown! That certainly raised compliance, but not necessarily willing compliance.
You also have to look at how people will comply in advance when they know they have to do something. Many just want to get that over and done with once they realise they won’t be able to resist, especially if their job is on the line, especially if they want a larger gap between shots.
I think you have been far too simplistic in your analysis and probably need to go out there and talk to normal, every day people about why they got jabbed. You’ll be surprised.
Wayne I fell asleep after your first paragraph.
You have the same fault as another poster here over overstating your points.
What I find illuminating is the cone of silence from the National Party diehards at this blog.
Most must be hanging their heads in dismay and saying “What the fuck has happened to the National Party?
As for your post I always enjoy posts from the self styled “elites”, because for us grunts on the ground we know you and they are talking uneducated shit.
And by the way your forgot off the last line of your post
“Authorised by Chris Luxom and underwritten and edited by Chris Bishop”
( I thought I was buying a Lexus but I got a Luxom instead, shiny on top but fulla shit under the bonnet.)
Rossco,
As a rule you know, I don’t do long posts. But the protest is a big enough issue to warrant it. How long will they stay and what will the police do?
I reckon one more week. The police won’t do too much more, except to make sure the buildings and the access to them are secure. After the events of this week, I think they will just wait out the protestors. But only for a week. Anyone left after that will be moved on.
As you also know, these are my views, I don’t talk to anyone else. But hey, I am an establishment type by instinct.
Well Wayne I happened to stop of at the Waitomo fuel stop on Hutt Road in Wellington on Thursday.
As the world and NZ renown NZ Geographer Ken Cumberland said to our class in 1978 ( I was also studying Economics at the time) ” You have to get out on the ground and see and talk to the actors”. I did that and got an A+ for work I did at a cattle auction… but thats a different story.
But back to Waitomo.
Theres Rossco filling up his modest Toyota and up rolls a 2022 Audi Q7, probably priced at north of $150,000 festooned with Freedom stickers, and out pop 4 x 40 years old I guess, 2 x males and 2 x females.
Next is a truck for diesel, yep Wayne thats blue collar workers. When one of your gold bricks get stuck they fix it!
Next is a couple of ladies, middle class modest by their car.
And so it goes on, so your correspondent Rossco stays and observes with Ken Cumberland firmly in the back of my mind.
Next he goes home and watches footage from the site, sources such as Freedom Media ( Maoris actually Wayne, but sorry not the elites you have helped sell the country down the toilet to)
And heaps of other film such as NZ Conservative Party, Health Forum of NZ.
I also watched the NZ or Wellington Police disgrace themselves.
Failure of leadership is not confined to political parties.
So its my observation on the ground versus your wishful thinking, or should I call it your broad church analysis
Good post. When i was in parliament opposition MPs would be clambering over each other to talk to protestors, any and all protestors. Sometimes the government would hide but never the opposition.
The Greens would ordinarily be in the protest!
The trouble for the govt is that they offer no light at the end of a very long and dark tunnel.
The mood has shifted. The compliant whom Wayne describes are no longer so. The supporters here in queenstown got 50 percent of cars tooting in favour and a couple only of fingers. A couple of months ago it was the other way around. Covid has left the opposition parties out of touch and beached.
Rodney Hide
Hey Rodney when are you going to jump back into the fray. We need you.
It must piss you off hugely that the turd Seymour has sold out so completely.
Totally expected from National but didn’t really expect it from ACT