A guest post by a reader:

As we hit the halfway mark of the level 4 lockdown, the Government will shortly find itself in the unenviable position of having to defend its decision-making. There is no perfect response to a pandemic. Overreact and you needlessly destroy the economy and your own peoples’ livelihoods. Don’t react early or hard enough and lives will be lost that could otherwise have been saved. Every Government in the world will come under fire in the wash-up, one way or another.

The problem for our Government is it has built its response on the belief that New Zealand faced the same scenario that has played out overseas. However, the facts as we know them don’t support that. As the days pass, more and more New Zealanders will start to question whether the current State of Emergency can be justified. Here is why. 

Dr Grant Morris, an associate professor in Law at Victoria University, recently noted the language our political leaders chose to use at the outset of this crisis has been laced with fear. In announcing the lockdown, Prime Minister Ardern said: “We currently have 102 cases. But so did Italy once. If community transmission takes off in New Zealand the number of cases will double every five days. If that happens unchecked, our health system will be inundated, and tens of thousands of New Zealanders will die.” The bold emphasis is mine, and it’s important. Our Prime Minister invoked the most draconian restrictions on our civil liberties in the history of this country on the basis that without taking such an action, tens of thousands of New Zealanders will die. Not could, might or may. Will.

You could write an essay on the psychology behind the choice of that word. But we’ll put that aside for another day and look at whether the facts support such a strong claim. Ardern did not release the modelling that she based this statement on until well after the country was already locked down. What that modelling said was that in a worst case scenario 27,000 people could die if coronavirus was left to spread unchecked. That scenario was given a 5% possibility of occurring. The media generously termed that to be a ‘plausible scenario’, compared with Ardern’s statement that it was effectively a certainty.

There are several reasons why this scenario isn’t really plausible at all. The greatest falsity that is being pushed onto the public is that New Zealand is in anyway similar to places like Bergamo, New York or London. The Government and the media continually run the narrative that without the lockdown we will experience the same devastation as the worst-hit cities in the world. This is, to be blunt, a lie.

It’s important to let the facts speak for themselves. Putting aside that Italy didn’t have any other country to model a response on other than China’s dictatorship, and was thus screwed from the start, its hardest hit city Bergamo has a population density of 3000 people per square kilometre and an average age of 45. Let’s look at some other cities to provide some context:

Coronavirus is ripping through cities with a high population density, particularly those with busy public transport systems. What doctors believe is that severe coronavirus cases are the result of viral load – this refers to how big a dose of the virus you get when first infected. Large gatherings in confined spaces pose the greatest risk of coming into contact with multiple people at different stages of contagion, increasing the possibility that you get a stronger dose to start with. For hospital staff, they are seeing the sickest so are exposed to stronger doses again. Which is why in Bergamo hospitals were the major transmitters of the disease as they didn’t know what they were dealing with initially. The average viral load spread from its hospitals was likely higher and combined with an older population has proven deadly.

In New Zealand, none of these factors are in play. We do not have densely populated cities or packed subway systems, and we were able to learn from the Italian example to restrict large gatherings and prepare our frontline healthcare staff. An even bigger factor in our favour is we are an island located at the bottom of the world. The number of people who can reach us is hugely limited and we have the ability to cut them off at any time, or quarantine them on arrival. We chose not to do that, but as it stands that hasn’t mattered very much.

The media breathlessly report the number of coronavirus cases as if they’re the end game. While we have 1106 cases confirmed (as of Monday), the real total is potentially several times the official count given a large number of those infected will have had minor symptoms they put down to a cold, if they noticed them at all, and will not have bothered getting tested. What’s actually important is our hospitalisation rate. At this point in time, our maximum hospitalisation rate is under 2% and the mortality rate is less than 0.1%. Our health system is not in danger of being overwhelmed. In fact, it is currently under-utilised.

Proponents of the lockdown will argue it’s easy to make decisions with the benefit of hindsight. I agree. And most New Zealanders, including myself, accept the Government’s decision wasn’t unreasonable at the time given what we were seeing play out in the world. But what we now know is that stringent border controls, restrictions on public gatherings and sensible physical distancing combined with good hygiene is effective at containing the spread of coronavirus. 

There is now a strong argument in favour of ending the lockdown early to give people a chance to salvage what’s left of their livelihoods, via a slow climbdown through the alert levels. But instead of reassessing the real risk coronavirus poses to New Zealand based on the facts in front of them, our authorities are instead focused on banning the recreational activities they don’t like. 

We should also deal with the strawman that has been built up over the past month. The nuance in the coronavirus debate hasn’t just been lost, it’s been forcibly squashed. Questioning the lockdown doesn’t mean you are happy to see people die for the sake of the economy. We tolerate a large number of preventable deaths that are part and parcel of living in a free society. More than 350 people die on our roads, dozens drown and dozens more die from influenza each year. We put in place protections to limit these deaths, but we don’t prevent them entirely and we shouldn’t. Any death lost to coronavirus is a tragedy, but it is no more tragic than any other.

Moreover, the continuation of the lockdown has real consequences of its own. Every week the economy is crippled will lead to more businesses failing, more lives resigned to the misery of welfare, more marriage breakdowns, more cancer patients missing treatment, more surgeries postponed, more domestic violence victims and yes, eventually more suicides.  When a Government uses its power to unilaterally remove the rights of all its citizens, at the threat of police force, the basis for that decision must be rigorously and continuously challenged. Every day we are denied our freedom is a day the Government must prove a State of Emergency still exists. The argument outlined above may not be perfect,  but based on the facts in play right now it is time to at least start asking some harder questions. 

The Guardian reports:

Sir Keir Starmer has promised to rebuild the nation’s trust in the Labour party after winning a stunning victory to succeed Jeremy Corbyn as leader.

The 57-year-old former shadow Brexit secretary secured more than twice as many votes as the runner-up – Rebecca Long-Bailey, the candidate of the Corbyn camp – and over three times as many as third-placed Lisa Nandy, the MP for Wigan. By securing 56.2% of the votes of almost half a million Labour members and affiliates, he has emerged with a huge and powerful mandate to lead the party as he chooses, after four-and-a-half years of the Corbyn project, during which two general elections were lost.

Starmer was the sane and right choice. Long-Bailey was a Corbynite and Nandy unproven.

Starmer won 56% of the votes of party members, 77% of party supporters and 53% of affiliates.

Currently Labour is 25% behind in the polls and highly unlikely to win the next election. But with a five year term, you can’t rule out events changing things by 2024.

A guest post by Sean Rush, a Wellington City Councillor:

As the portfolio lead for water, I have been looking to see where costs might be saved in order to give our ratepayers a break during the crisis – I have been advocating for a zero rates rise over the next quarter to get us through to June/July when we will have a much better picture of what CV-19 means for us and what the Government’s response will be.

The stand out operating cost is that associated with trucking our treated wastewater from Moa Point to the Southern Landfill.  We do this because the pipelines connecting Moa Point to the Southern Landfill burst in late January.  This costs us $680,000 a week, or $100,000 a day, or $8,300 an hour.  Arguably, we could discharge, 2 km into the Cook Strait, via the outfall pipe that was designed to do this.  We are checking whether our consent allows for this.  We are also having conversations around a variety of options, including spreading the cost across a number of years.

Before COVID – 19 hit, and the associated lock down, we anticipated a further 6 weeks before the repair would see the pipeline back up and running – so about $4.2 million of extra costs although I see the Herald are reporting an even longer period.  The fix is to install a ‘liner’ that bridges the gap left by the burst – it is 2 km long and not an insignificant engineering exercise.  In fact it has never been undertaken In Australasia.  It requires the ‘liner’ to be manufactured in Germany with precision, flown to New Zealand, and  for 6 German engineers to fly in, be quarantined for 2 weeks, work with Wellington Water’s team and install the sleeve, and for nothing to go wrong.  If one of them becomes ill, if the liner doesn’t fit, if the software they use is incompatible with that used by Wellington Water, if there is language confusion or if a myriad of other things don’t quite pan out, then the ability to pull in extra resource and do a work around is severely constrained so we might be trucking wastewater for months.  I was Todd Corp’s asset manager for the Maui Pipeline and I know that complicated engineering jobs on pipelines very rarely run to time, even in the best of circumstances.  This is an uncapped liability of $100,000 a day.

Adding to this, I have been told that our landfill consent requires wastewater to be mixed 4 to 1 with other organic waste  but because the landfill is closed we are having to use rock and dirt.  This doesn’t compact like the normal mix does meaning we fill up the landfill 12 times faster.  Before the crisis we had an estimated 3 years left at the landfill.  If the landfill fills up we will have to truck sludge to Porirua – the cost is likely to be well above the current $680,000 a week.

The advice I have received is that there is no environmental hazard to disposing at sea – the outfall pipe was designed to do this and is 2 km offshore.  I am advised that our beaches and fisheries will not be impacted.  It would be good to get that in writing.  The treated water has had all inorganic solids (syringes, condoms, sanitary pads, paper etc) removed and has the consistency of dirty water.  It is organic waste.  I am told that when Moa Point was consented, the marine scientists signed off a report confirming any discharge would be safe to the environment – I am still firming up whether this has changed.  Mana whenua are in the conversation and the GWRC.  No decisions have been made in fact WCC are working on the basis of continuing the trucking and developing a funding strategy.    I am merely in the process of gathering information and getting the right people around the table so we can have an informed conversation.

While Wellington was booming, when the Hurricanes would put ~10,000 into the stadium, when the All Blacks were to play Australia and sell it out, when the airport would give us a $12 million dividend, the cost of trucking could be worn.  Now we are trying to make up $70 million of lost revenue and keep rates low.  It is a difficult juggling act.  We need to make tough decisions.  I wouldn’t be doing my job if I weren’t asking these questions.

I think it is great that a Councillor is asking whether ratepayers can do better than spending $100,000 a day on trucking wastewater. That is equal to $36 million a year.

Considering boating, swimming and fishing is banned for the next few weeks, I’d say the outfall pipe is a very valid option.

Judith Collins writes:

Just three weeks ago, the Minister of Finance told Parliament that although the upcoming Budget would need some “refining”, for the impact of COVID-19, otherwise the economy was “strong”. He bravely said, “Yes, we have to grow jobs”.

He could have said, we are going into a period of financial meltdown, where, as a trading nation, some markets will dissolve. All the relationship building between nations and trading partners will be for nought if we cannot trade.

Three weeks ago, the Prime Minister was still speaking of proceeding with a mass-gathering to commemorate those murdered in the mosque attacks on 15 March, until suddenly, she wasn’t. New Zealand was given a 4-stage COVID-19 response plan and we were at level 2. Then we were at level 3 and two days later we were at level 4 and in lockdown.

Yep the Government has changed tune so quickly. They even changed strategy from mitigation to elimination which was a massive change (and the right one).

We will wait for the second wave of COVID-19 virus and hope that a vaccine will be found soon and available more readily than hand sanitiser is now. Our supply chains will change. We will wonder if we should import product that can be made at the engineering shop down the road. Yes, it’s more expensive but it’s here. We will be more about New Zealand and less about the World.

I think that will be an interesting focus. Should we have domestic capability in areas ranging from personal protective equipment to hand sanitiser. Because when it is a global pandemic, you may not be able to get it from overseas.

We will regret the ‘dob-in’ culture currently being encouraged. We will have lost some respect for the Rule of Law when we see ‘the law’ being made up on the hoof.

Very ugly how people are encouraged to nark on their neighbours etc.

We will look again at Australia and wonder how their government managed to give every business and sole trader a wage subsidy of A$1500 per fortnight of each staff member and we will regret that our government thought that NZ$585 a week would be sufficient to keep us working when the JobSeeker (“the Dole”) already pays up to $428 a week for not working.

The NZ scheme is actually one of the least generous around. The $585 rate means it covers someone earning around $30,000 a year only.

The UK scheme covers 80% of the cost up to NZ$60,000 a year.

The Australian scheme is almost NZ$40,000 a year.

The Canadian scheme is 75% of wages up to NZ $70,000 a year.

This is the final part (Part 7 and 8) of my family tree covering the Mandls, my father’s mother’s family. Both my great grandparents on this side of the family were Mandls as they were first cousins.

The Mandls were a prominent Viennese family. They have even had a book written about them (and four other families). There are three main branches to the Mandls I’m going to cover. The physicians (which I am descended from), the arms merchants (powerful cousins) and the NZ branch (that sponsored my family into New Zealand).

THE PHYSICIANS

Leopold Mandl is my 3^rd great grandfather and the known patriarch of the Mandls. His father Esriel died in 1815 when Leopold (born 1778) was 37. Esriel’s father Koppel died in 1778.

Leopold was born in Vysocina in Moravia (now Czech Republic). He was a doctor and practised in Hungary before moving to Vienna.

He married Julie Sterk and they had six sons and a daughter – Ludwig (merchant), Ferdinand (doctor), Ignatz (doctor/politician) Bernhard (merchant), Joseph (moved to Australia then NZ), Sigmund (merchant) and Regina (married, had 12 children).

Ludwig and Bernhard founded a grain wholesaler and were very successful, leaving over two million kronen (around US$1 million in today’s currency) to their families.

Ludwig also went into business with Sigmund buying into Berthold Bass which made cartridges. They eventually became full owners and they expanded buying Hirtenberger Patronenfabrik. Ignatz Mandl (my third great uncle) was a politician as well as a doctor. He was a populist political radical (called the idol of the little people) and the mentor of Karl Lueger (Mayor of Vienna). As Lueger went from populism into anti-Semitism, they fell out.

Ferdinand Mandl is my 2^nd great grandfather. He was born in 1829 and practised as a doctor in Romania. He married Friederike Schorr and moved to Vienna. In the mid 1860s he went blind from purulent conjunctivitis. His doctor left his a flask of poison in case he decided he could not live as a blind doctor. But in fact he carried on and become venerated as a doctor as his fellows saw him as someone who understood suffering. He was widely loved and adored by the local population, seen almost as saintly.

Ferdinand had three sons. Alexander (born 1861), Ludwig (born 1862) and Wilhelm (born 1868). Ferdinand died in 1812, aged 83.

Alexander we will return to, as he went into industry, including munitions. Ludwig Mandl is my great grandfather. Ludwig married his cousin Irene Mandl (my great grand mother) who is a daughter of Bernhard Mandl, who is also my 2nd great grandfather.

As previously mentioned Bernhard was a very successful grain wholesaler. They had a villa in the summer resort of Bad Voslau.

Bernhard had three children – Louis, Irene and Julius. Julius (1880 – 1954) became a pioneer of German cinema, and later moved to Hollywood. He changed his name to Joe May.

Irene was born in 1868. She married her cousin Ludwig and died in 1920 aged 52.

Ludwig was born in 1862 and died in Vienna in 1937 aged 75. Ludwig became a Professor of gynaecology in Vienna and was also highly esteemed. My family has a huge book (think one foot wide) of testimonials given to him when he retired. His death was recorded in the British Medical Journal as an eminent foreign doctor.

Ludwig and Irene had three children. Richard Mandl (1891 – 1926), Paul Peter Mandl (born 1892) and my grandmother Fritzi (Irene Frederica) Mandl (1900 – 1994).

My grandparents managed to get my father out to England and then followed him a few months later in 1938 after my grandmother successfully got my grandfather released from custody.

Thanks to a cousin, Charles Mandl (who features later under the NZ branch), sponsoring them to New Zealand, they emigrated here as refugees. As a condition of being allowed to leave by the Nazis, they could only take a few possessions, so left behind the vast bulk of their property.

My father is also a doctor, as was his grandfather, and two generations before that also. Basically the Mandls were doctors throughout most of the 1800s and 1900s.

THE ARMS MERCHANTS

Ludwig and Sigmund (children of Leopold) joined the firm of Bethold Bass which produced cartridges. They eventually became co-owners in 1883. The firm went on to become a leading player in the Austrian munitions market.

In 1887 Ludwig also purchased Hirtenberger Patronenfabrik, a leading cartridge company. Ludwig died in 1893 and his shares went to brother Sigmund. Sigmund died 18 years later in 1911.

Alexander Mandl was born in 1861 in Romania and was my 2nd great-uncle. He joined Hirtenberger in 1893 aged 22. The company was very successful and had 2,000 staff in 1913. The advent of WWI saw them grow to 4,188 employees in 1916.

The defeat of Austria in WWI led to Hirterberger being forced to stop most munitions and they instead focused on hunting ammunition. In 1920 they had 663 staff.

Alexander Mandl had a son Fritz Mandl (Friedrich) who was born in 1900. He was my first cousin twice removed. He joined Hirtenberger Patronenfabrik in 1920, aged 20. The firm acquired factories in Poland, Netherlands, Switzerland and Hungary. It became one of the big four munitions companies in the world. They exported 90% of what they produced as they were banned from supplying Austria.

In 1930 Fritz took over as general manager. They also expanded into making aircraft. He was thought to be the third richest man in Austria (worth around US$300 million in today’s dollars) and one of the richest men in the world

He was a powerful figure in Europe and was said to be able to break a European prime minister faster than he could snap a toothbrush in half. Both Mussolini and Hitler courted him and attended his parties.

Fritz Mandl was a supporter of fascism and a pretty terrible person. Despite being of Jewish heritage, he was sought out by Hitler as a potential supporter of the Anschluss (annexation of Austria by Germany). In fact one of his nephews was at home when Hitler visited and Hitler asked to see his school report card, commended him for his grades and signed it for him.

In 1933 he married his second wife of five, 19 year old Hedy Lamarr. Lamarr was then a famous film actress. In fact she was billed as the “world’s most beautiful woman”.

My father as a three year old had Hedy Lamarr sometimes come over and play with him. Hedy Lamarr was the wife of my first cousin, twice remioved.

Lamarr was not just a film star. She helped develop a radio guidance system for Allied torpedos using a frequency-hopping technology which is used today in bluetooth and wifi. Am amazingly talented woman.

She left Fritz Mandl and went to the US. After she left Austria, she became a famous Hollywood star.

A 2017 film on her life is Bombshell: The Hedy Lamarr Story. And a TV series on her life is also under production with Gal Gadot playing Hedy. She was a remarkable woman and I am looking forward to the TV series.

THE NEW ZEALANDERS

Joseph Leopold Mandl (sometimes called Moritz Mandl also) was born in Vienna to Leopold Mandl and his wife Julie in 1837. Joseph is missing from almost all official documents about the Mandl family.

He took part in the Battle of Solferino in 1859, aged 21. It was a terrible battle which led to the founding of the International Red Cross. It lasted nine hours and around 40,000 were killed or wounded.

My third great uncle defected from the Austrian Army. This was considered disgraceful at the time and hence he was removed from the official histories.

He went to Victoria, Australia in 1860 and then moved to the West Coast of New Zealand where he worked on the Tuapeka and Waitahuna gold fields. He then went to Hokitika and worked as a store keeper.

He was elected Mayor of Hokitika three times in 1889, 1890 and 1895. Quite incredible that a disgraced deserter from the Austrian Army can come to New Zealand and end up as a Mayor.

He was a generous donor to the Westland Hospital, which named a ward after him in 1923- the Mandl Ward. The ward remained until 1985.

But he did more than just that. He set up his own brewery in Hokitika in 1872.

The Mandl Brewery later in 1927 formed Westland Breweries with four other breweries. In 1970 Westland Breweries became Monteith’s Brewing Company so my 3rd great-uncle was an owner of Monteith’s!

In 1863 he had the first of five children with Annie Isabella Devlin who was born in Edinburgh 1842. They were married in 1870 in a Catholic Church, so Joseph may have converted. Many of the Mandls were not religious, even though they were a Jewish family.

The five children were:

Margaret Mandl born 1863, died in 1927 aged 63. She became a Nun.

Julia Mandl born 1866, died in 1951 aged 85. She married Thomas Hall Coltman who was the well known proprietor of The Grand Hotel (Willis Street) in Wellington, followed on his son (also called Thomas)

Charles Leopold Mandl born 1872, died in 1939, aged 66

Rachel Mandl born 1874, died in 1956 aged 82

Mary Mandl born and died in 1876

Their mother died in 1877 aged only 35.

Charles Mandl studied medicine in Edinburgh where he met his wife, Susan Adamson. They had one child and he was a GP in Foxton and then Wellington. He served in the military in WWI (ironically my grandfather also served, but for Austria).

It was Charles who sponsored my grandparents and father to come to New Zealand as refugees. He did this despite being a distant cousin, and without him they would not have been allowed into New Zealand. Sadly he died while my grandparents were on the boat journey here, so my family never got to meet the man who made it possible for them to move to New Zealand.

Julia Mandl and Rachel Mandl did befriend my grandparents and father, despite being relatively distant cousins.

However Charles had a son Moritz Mandl (1902 – 1984) and Moritz had a daughter Margaret Mandl and Margaret’s daughter Jayne (my 4th cousin) made contact with my family a few years ago and we now catch up every so often. So very pleased to have met the family who are responsible for my family being in New Zealand.

So three very different branches of the Mandl family. My direct relatives were doctors practising in Vienna for around 125 years and highly esteemed and even adored.

The cousins who went into munitions were very different. One branch of the family being devoted to healing, and another branch very rich and powerful from munitions, and cuddling up to fascism.

And then we had the New Zealand branch where a disgraced defector from the Austrian Army came to NZ, became a Mayor and publican, and his son was responsible for my grandparents and father being accepted a refugees here.

It’s a fascinating family and I’m very proud to be 1/4 Mandl.

An excellent in depth article by Stuff into the murder of Kirsty Bentley.

There’s little doubt that she was killed by a member of her family, but what I can’t work out, is whether it was her father or her brother or both of them.

Sadly we will probably never know.

The Herald reports:

There is now no doubt – fishing, swimming, surfing, hunting and tramping are banned under new lockdown laws.

Kiwis had previously been advised not to take part in these activities during the Covid-19 lockdown but the ban was made official in fresh laws released on the Government’s Covid-19 website today.

People cannot leave home to hunt, tramp, swim, take part in other water-based activities, such as surfing and boating, or do anything that may put them in danger or require help from rescue services.

It would be interesting to know how often people undertaking these activities do require assistance.

But good to have a specific list now, rather than have it depend on the discretion of each police officer.

Sean Plunket writes:

The question of this Minister’s removal is not a debateable point.

At a time when our government and authorities need to have a moral high ground and exercise an unimpeachable authority to ask great sacrifice of citizens this Dr of Theology’s fall from grace is beyond redemption.

His selfish bike ride is like a member of Churchill’s war cabinet hanging party lights on his house during the blitz.

He has insulted every health worker, police officer and citizen of this country and made a fool of his Prime Minister.

HDPA also writes:

The Health Minister doesn’t deserve to be fired.

But he should be fired.

Let’s be clear about the rule he’s broken.

Last week, retired Police Commissioner Mike Bush was asked whether someone could “go for a drive, say to the local beach or… a local park?” and replied “There’s a short answer to that – no.”

David Clark doesn’t deserve to be fired for breaking that rule, because the rule is arbitrary. Really, what is the difference between David Clark driving 2.3km to the park or biking 2.3km to the park? No one was hurt because he got in his car. He didn’t break his bubble.

But… what he deserves is different to what should happen.

The Prime Minister should fire him.

If she wants the rest of us to take these rules seriously for the next three weeks, she’s going to have to set an example.

Of course he didn’t. In fact he hasn’t even apologised to the public (only to the PM). And the PM suddenly cancelled her Friday press conference so she could avoid questions on Clark. Yet still had time to do a Skype interview with Nigel Latta, which was an interesting choice as back in February he was comparing coronavirus to the flu.

Sam Sachdeva also notes:

Clark did not help himself with an initial statement saying that “as a Health Minister I try to model healthy behaviour” – implying he should be praised rather than chastised for his break.

This partly explains why he has been effectively sidelined during this crisis, even though he should be one of those leading the response to it. You need good political judgement.

The ODT reports:

Southern GPs say they want greater clarity around a probable increased level of testing for the Covid-19 coronavirus, and qualifying criteria for patients.

GPs contacted by the Otago Daily Times yesterday said changing governmental criteria defining who could be tested had led to troubling confusion including test material being refused. This was because up to 50% of swabs were being rejected by laboratories for failing to meet the latest guidelines.

New testing criteria were released late on Wednesday, meaning those with symptoms but no connection to overseas travel or another coronavirus case could be tested.

Dunedin North Medical Centre GP Dr Daniel Pettigrew said although he understood shifting test criteria, changes led to a waste of resources.

“We’ve probably had about 50% of our swabs declined by the lab, because they didn’t fit governmental case-definition criteria at that time.

“The problem seems to be a disconnect between the information provided at public briefings, and whatever’s filtering down to the labs.

“Having taken the swab, it seems pointless not to test it if the capacity is there.”

It is simply nuts that the Government keeps saying we are only testing at 50% of our capacity and that we want to test, test, test yet 50% the Southern DHB lab is refusing to test 50% of swabs.

Imagine how disheartening this is for GPs at the front line. They have made a clinical assessment that a patient should be tested for Covid-19, they have taken a swab, but the government owned laboratory refuses to test their patients despite having capacity to do so.

This is why the Minister of Health should be in Wellington. He should be angry. He should be threatening to fire people unless this is sorted.

Rick Neville writes at Stuff:

Like many people, I felt sick when I heard the news Bauer NZ is shutting down its publishing operations in this country.

Surely it’s just for the lockdown, I hoped when first told. But no, it’s for good.

Bauer, a German publisher which bought the business some years ago from Australasian publisher ACP, has put out serious titles including NZ Listener, Metro and North & South, and longtime family favourites Woman’s Day and Women’s Weekly. They also own Property Press, the biggest real estate publisher in New Zealand.

Then my sorrow turned to anger. Anger that the Government had not included magazines along with newspapers as an essential service. And anger because of the hypocrisy in the Government’s backflip to save the RNZ Concert Programme yet see a far more valuable contributor to New Zealand’s social, cultural and political fabric go to the wall.

Rick Neville is the editorial director of the Newspaper Publishers Association and an industry veteran.

He is right to be angry that the Government banned magazines from continuing, with a daft distinction that newspapers were essential but not magazines.

Magazines should have been included with other publications as an essential service. Subscribers receive them in the post and most other copies are bought through supermarkets, no different from the wide array of other goods freely available on supermarket shelves.

The staff are working from home, printing and distribution is highly automated, and so there is virtually no public health risk. 

Vast overkill from the Government.

The Government has said the wage subsidy was offered to Bauer but rejected, and the Prime Minister has intimated Covid-19 was the excuse the company was looking for to close.

The only explanation I can think of is that such is the fall-off in advertising and circulation revenue caused by the lockdown, the wage subsidy would have met only a small proportion of the shortfall.

The Government’s line is spin.First of all the income for the magazines would be zero because the Government had banned them.

The wage subsidy would cover a small proportion of staff wages which in itself is only a small proportion of total costs of producing magazines.

Stuff reports:

Mayor Andy Foster on Thursday said the plan could create a $70 million financial hole for the city, much of which would be covered by borrowing.

He said the council was proposing to defer fourth-quarter rates bills, currently due in June, for six months for commercial ratepayers, as well as residential ratepayers affected by the outbreak.

This gives the illusion of helping ratepayers, but doesn’t.

Families and businesses are suffering from a massive drop in income. For many it will not be temporary. The Council needs to freeze rates, not stick it up by 8% yet say oh you can pay it a few months down the track.

Ratepayers need a rates freeze, not a deferral.

Originally, it appeared a rates freeze was off the table. However following the workshop,12 of 15 councillors signed a letter to council chief executive Barbara McKerrow, requesting a zero rates and user charge proposal be put forward.

Good to see some signs of life from Councillors.

Every Council should be demanding that staff produce a zero rates increase option for them to consider.

I don’t think people realise how much of a fiasco covid-19 testing is. You get some idea in this article:

Healthcare workers say coronavirus tests are being withheld because of limited supply, despite the prime minister’s insistence clinicians have both the resources and permission to test.

A new coronavirus testing criteria was released late on Wednesday, permitting the testing of patients with Covid-19 symptoms but no connection to overseas travel or another coronavirus case. 

Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern, who announced the expansion of the criteria the day prior, again said there was ample testing capacity at a Wednesday press conference — it just hadn’t been used by clinicians.

But a Wellington GP, who spoke to Stuff on the condition of anonymity, said there were not enough testing swabs for the number of patients presenting Covid-19 symptoms. His clinic had ordered 30, but received five as the laboratory was trying to preserve supplies.  

There have been numerous stories now about people who have Covid-19 yet were rejected for testing at an earlier stage. This is manifestly a failure if someone who has Covid-19 isn’t allowed to be tested for it.

The problem is that the Government is not co-ordinating between the different parts of the health system when it comes to testing. There are three main actors. They are:

1. Doctors/GPs
2. Testing Centres
3. Labs

Now you would think that if a Doctor or GP decides a patient should be tested, then they would be tested. That would be the sane outcome. Trust the GPs. This already happens with other tests – a GP has authority to order a test.

Some GPs have the ability to take a sample themselves, others refer them to a testing centre. The first problem is that a testing centre won’t test someone just because a GP has referred them. They will apply their own discretion.

But the bigger problem is that laboratories themselves are also applying their own decision making to testing. So you have the bizarre situation where GPs or testing centres have decided a patient should be tested, have taken a sample and sent it to the lab. But the lab them decides not to test it!!!!

To make the situation worse, there is no data on this. The Government has not even been releasing daily data on tests done, but generally only releasing average data for the last seven days which hides the most recent data.

There are only 8 – 10 testing labs in NZ. The Government should be releasing daily data for each individual lab showing how many tests were submitted that day and how many were actually tested. Then GPs and the public could see how many tests are being refused at each lab.

But most of all the Government should be instructing the labs to accept all tests that have been authorised by a doctor, unless they have reached their capacity. As the number of tests has been less than half the stated capacity this shouldn’t be an issue.

The WHO and even the PM now are saying test, test, test. But the health bureaucracy is preventing this. Maybe the Minister of Health could focus on sorting this out.

It’s fair to say Lizzie is generally a fan of the Government, so good to see her calling them out over their spin on Bauer closing.

Also the Government has been lying over the issue as Rebekah White points out:

Now if Bauer were seeking essential services status that shows they might have given it a go at carrying on if they were given it.

The decisions on which media were essential was made by the Ministry of Culture and Heritage, which reports to Ardern not Faafoi. So it is indeed disingenuous for Faafoi to say Bauer never asked for help.

Also Newshub reported:

Some of New Zealand’s most loved magazines, including The Listener, Next, Metro and Women’s Day have become the latest casualty of COVID-19 with news publisher Bauer Media folded, effective immediately.

But Newshub can reveal the Government turned down a last ditch Hail Mary request by Bauer Media to throw the business a lifeline. …

“Bauer contacted the [Finance Minister] and told them they weren’t interested in subsidies,” Ardern said.

“They didn’t enter a conversation about becoming an essential service, they didn’t seek to continue to operate during lockdown, and they didn’t want to use the Government support to keep their doors open.”

But Newshub can reveal Bauer asked the Government to bail it out – to buy its magazines and to save jobs as a last minute lifeline, for bottom-dollar.

So the Government implied Bauer had not sought any assistance at all, when in fact they had specifically asked Robertson to bail it out or buy the magazines.

Now as it happens I don’t think the Government should have bailed them out. I think they should have reversed the ban on them publishing. But the key point is the Government wasn’t telling the truth when they said Bauer never sought assistance.

Newsroom reports:

The Epidemic Response Committee, chaired by Opposition leader Simon Bridges, was set up to provide scrutiny of the Government’s actions and hold agencies to account for the way in which they exercise their far-reaching powers.

It is one of the few avenues for democratic oversight in Aotearoa at present and is accordingly extremely important. 

Today, the committee examined how the police are interpreting and applying the emergency powers they have been given.

Professor John Hopkins of the University of Canterbury, a specialist in disaster law, is providing expert advice to the committee and set the scene by outlining the laws that give the police and other agencies the emergency powers they are using.

Hopkins highlighted a key concern of lawyers who are observing how events are unfolding during the lockdown: the wide discretion of police officers on the ground. …

Bush said police were receiving advice from Crown Law as to how to interpret the law. That is to be expected and it is correct that the police are asking for legal advice from Crown Law. But that legal advice should also be publicly released. Bush did not commit to that this morning but said he would seek advice from Crown Law on whether the advice should be made public.

There are no signs that the Police are going to release it, or their internal guidelines.

The special committee has been given the powers of the Privileges Committee. If the Crown Law advice and the guidelines are not provided by 5 pm Friday, the committee should use its powers under Standing Orders to demand they be produced.

The most concerning part of the committee session was when ACT MP David Seymour asked Bush what the legal basis was for the commissioner’s statement that people could not leave their suburbs.

Our suburb has no dairy, no supermarket and no pharmacy so if the Commissioner is correct, we’re stuffed.

Seymour rightly said Bush’s remarks were heavy-handed and also lacking in specificity. As such, they were not what the public needed from the police at this time. 

What Kiwis require is clear and specific information about what we can and cannot do. And we also need to be very clear that this information is based on specific laws.

It was accordingly extremely disappointing that Bush replied to Seymour by thanking him for his advice and saying “I’ll certainly give it due consideration.” Those watching were left with the clear impression that Bush would give Seymour’s views no consideration at all.

In fact, Seymour was doing exactly what the country wants and needs from the committee at this time: seeking to hold the police to account. 

Again the Police has a very clear job – to enforce the law. There are numerous reports of them going beyond this. One person was told by the Police they are not allowed to be swimming at the beach – despite them living by the beach. Unless Cabinet has passed a regulation or law saying you can’t go in the water, then the Police should be restricted to ensuring people are not congregating etc.

Yes the future is great. All we need to do is the following:

• Ban all businesses from operating
• Ban people from travelling
• Close all the schools
• Shrink the economy by 30%
• Put 200,000 to 300,000 onto the unemployment benefit

And we can reduce traffic pollution. Yay.

Stuff reports:

Health Minister David Clark drove to a Dunedin park two kilometres from his home to ride a mountain bike trail, as New Zealand marked a week in lockdown. 

Clark, who earlier on Thursday told Stuff the coronavirus response was his “singular focus”, said he didn’t “want to give anyone the perception” that he was taking the lockdown lightly, after his van was photographed at Logan Park — a 2.3km distance from his home.

Kiwis have been ordered to stay at home for a four-week lockdown — a severe measure hoped to break the community transmission of Covid-19 — but there has been considerable confusion about the type of exercise permitted. 

Huge hypocrisy from the Minister of Health of all people.

The Government at varying times has said don’t drive anywhere but to the supermarket. You can leave you home to exercise, but you should walk there, not drive etc.

The Police have also said you shouldn’t do activities that have any element of risk, as that could stretch the health system and require people to assist you. They even seem to be banning swimming. But mountain biking cost ACC $19 million last year with almost 6,000 claims.

So us plebs aren’t even sure if we can drive to the beach, and if so can we go into the water. But the Minister of Health drives to a mountain bike park, so he can ride some trails.

“I know single parents with grumpy kids and no job who are sticking, under huge stress, to the police rules to only do essential travel. I was horrified to see the minister’s car parked at at the normally busy local mountain bike trail carpark,” the source said. 

“There were no other cars there and I wondered what ‘essential business’ was being done. Are ministers and their families above the law?”

There were no other cars there because people thought they’d be arrested or cautioned if they were there.

So a huge case of hypocrisy from not just a Cabinet Minister, but the Minister of Health himself.

Just remember everyone do what the Minister says, not what the Minister does.

UPDATE: What is especially terrible about this is the message it sends all the front line health workers. They’re out there dealing with the impacts of the pandemic, and their Minister is out there breaking (at least) the spirit of the Level 4 lockdown.

The other interesting thing is that he is in Dunedin. How is the Minister of Health not in Wellington helping manage this crisis? Could you imagine Tony Ryall being at home in Whakatane during the country’s biggest health crisis? In fact during the swine flu epidemic, Ryall was doing twice daily briefings on it.

Clark is probably the only Health Minister in the world who is not in the capital city but is back home on a Thursday afternoon.

I won’t even bother to analyse whether Clark should be sacked for this, because we know that the only way to get sacked in this Government is to assault your press secretary!

UPDATE2: A Nelson ED Doctor and keen mountain biker had actually called for mountain biking trails to close during the pandemic. He states:

You may hurt yourself, despite riding within your ability. As a mediocre mountainbiker with three sets of broken ribs, two broken hands, a concussion, and untold cuts and bruises in the last 10 years in Nelson, I am only too aware of this.

I always thought I was riding “within my ability”, we all do. If you hurt yourself, you break your social bubble, and expose yourself and others to danger.

Even coming to the Medical and Injury Centre or Emergency Department puts you and others at risk, and a rescue or ambulance is worse. 

We may not have the hospital capacity to treat you and we want to reserve all our capacity for fighting this illness

So here is a front line health professional saying don;t mountain bike at the moment, and the Minister of Health is off driving to mountain biking parks because he has nothing else to do.

UPDATE3:

The Police and Ministry of Health supported closing down mountain biking trails in Nelson and Tasman. Stuff reported:

On Friday afternoon, the Nelson City Council and Tasman District Council announced they were closing down their mountain bike trails, effective immediately, due to the Covid-19 outbreak. 

Both councils consulted with relevant authorities, including the Ministry of Health and police, before reaching the decision and said there was broad support for closure. 

And more damning for Clark:

Cycling New Zealand president Jacques Landry said they were sticking as close as possible to Ministry of Health guidelines to inform cyclists how, when, and where they should ride, if at all. …

The guidelines put forward on Friday encouraged people to ride short and local to reduce pressure on emergency services, and not to drive out to a riding location. 

And if we go to the Cycling NZ website, they say:

Ride from home.  Don’t drive and then ride.

So the Minister of Health was not following the advice of the national cycling body, which would have been done after consulting with his own Ministry of Health.

It will be fascinating to see what excuse Ardern comes up with not to sack him.

The Herald reports:

People who arrive at the border will receive a call from welfare to make sure they’re okay, Bush said.

But now, those people will be texted by the Police asking if they consent to be monitored via their cell phone.

This was being worked through with the Privacy Commissioner, Bush said.

Bush said in the last 24 hours, the Police have been in contact with 4000 people in relation to the monitoring.

On 1 April I do an April Fool’s post announcing the Government will be tracking people via their cellphones to ensure they are where they are meant to be.

On 2 April the Police announce they have started to do that.

Somewhat scary when satire becomes reality!

The Spectator reports:

Over the past few days, we’ve seen Derbyshire Police send up a drone to film people who were walking alone in the Peak District, Warrington Police announce that they’d sent a summons to ‘multiple people from the same household going to the shops for non-essential items’, the Met in Raynes Park declare that they have been telling off people who were sitting down outside, and Denton Police telling their followers (in a now-deleted tweet) that ‘exercise is limited to around an hour per day’. There are also the small shopowners who have been told either by the police or local authority officials that they shouldn’t be selling Easter eggs as they are ‘non-essential items’. 

The UK Police seem to specialise in going over the top.

A former UK Supreme Court Justice notes:

I mean, the tradition of policing in this country is that policemen are citizens in uniform. They are not members of a disciplined hierarchy operating just at the government’s command. Yet in some parts of the country, the police have been trying to stop people from doing things like travelling to take exercise in the open country, which are not contrary to the regulations, simply because ministers have said that they would prefer us not to. The police have no power to enforce ministers’ preferences, but only legal regulations – which don’t go anything like as far as the government’s guidance. I have to say that the behaviour of the Derbyshire police in trying to shame people into using their undoubted right to take exercise in the country and wrecking beauty spots in the Fells so that people don’t want to go there, is frankly disgraceful.This is what a police state is like. It’s a state in which the government can issue orders or express preferences with no legal authority and the police will enforce ministers’ wishes.

This is critical. The role of the Police is to enforce the law, not the requests of Ministers. This is why it is important to have clear definitions of what people are allowed to do and not do during the lockdown.

And Andrew Geddis has an excellent piece on the confusion in NZ where different parts of the Govt say different things on what you can or can’t do.

Labour has some very useful MPs they could have appointed to the Covid-19 committee.

They could have appointed Liz Craig. Liz Craig isn’t only a doctor, but a public health physician. You would have thought a no brainer for the select committee. In fact she is a former director of the New Zealand Child and Youth Epidemiology Service of Otago Uni.

They could have appointed Greg O’Connor who was a police officer for almost 40 years and spent 12 years as head of the police association. Would be a great choice considering the huge role police have in this.

They could have appointed Paul Eagle who was Deputy Mayor of Wellington during a major earthquake.

They could have appointed Deborah Russell who is a tax expert, which would be very useful for the economic response.

They could have appointed Louisa Wall who has worked in the health sector (including Manager of Maori Health Research at the Health Research Council) and is the current Chair of the Health Select Committee.

Instead Labour put up three MPs, who are all current or former Whips. A big part of being a Whip is expertise in standing orders, enforcing party lines and closing down debates.

I know the three Labour MPs chosen (McAnulty, Dyson and Wood) and this is nothing against them. But why would you for example choose a bookie over an epidemiologist?

The only possible reason is you don’t want MPs with expert knowledge actually scrutinising Ministers and officials. You want MPs to run interference for the Government.

Otherwise your committee would be Liz Craig, Greg O’Connor and Louisa Wall.

Stuff reports:

Bauer Media Group has announced its intention to close its publishing business in New Zealand due to the severe economic impact of Covid-19.

The closure brings to an end many decades of publishing in New Zealand and affects all staff.

Bauer Media NZ publishes entertainment, lifestyle and current affairs titles including the NZ Listener, Woman’s Day, New Zealand Woman’s Weekly, North and South and Next, along with a digital network.

All New Zealand Bauer staff have been advised on Thursday morning that the business is no longer viable and that it intends to close. …

“Magazine publishing in New Zealand is currently suspended as part of the New Zealand Government’s decision to move to the Covid-19 level four restrictions.

This is a direct result of the Government deciding not to allow all media to keep operating, but only those they deemed essential. As I argued, all media is essential – especially in times of a national emergency.

The NZ Listener, Metro, and North and South have been massive contributors to journalism in New Zealand. They exposed wrongs, they held Governments to account and they were beloved by many readers.

If the Government had not banned them from continuing, they might have been able to survive. But when you’re banned, your revenue is zero.

Avery sad day for journalism in New Zealand to have so many great magazines now consigned to the scrap heap of history because the Government decided they weren’t essential and banned them from operating during the lockdown.