New Zealand political discussion thread

[SnowLabrador]

New Zealand now has 0 active cases of Covid-19! Jacinda Ardern announced that at midnight tonight, we are moving to alert level 1. Social distancing measures and limits on mass gatherings will be gone. The borders will remain closed and contact tracing measures will still be in place. It's basically back to normal life here. This is such a relief, and an amazing achievement.

I am extremely jealous of you.

[SnowLabrador]

I admittedly don't know too much about New Zealand politics, but this David Seymour guy doesn't sound like he should be taken seriously.

[SnowLabrador]

I heard that New Zealand will open its borders on November 1 to fully vaccinated foreigners, although they'll need to quarantine for 2 weeks still. Honestly, I love Ardern, but this is a big mistake in my opinion. They should only allow people from countries with zero COVID, because one case turns into hundreds before you know it.

[SnowLabrador]

I heard that New Zealand will open its borders on November 1 to fully vaccinated foreigners, although they'll need to quarantine for 2 weeks still. Honestly, I love Ardern, but this is a big mistake in my opinion. They should only allow people from countries with zero COVID, because one case turns into hundreds before you know it.

Never mind, I misread the article. My bad.

[SnowLabrador]

What's wrong with keeping everyone in lockdown until herd immunity is reached through vaccination? Ardern has all the power here. F the economy, I care about human lives, dammit!

[SnowLabrador]

I wish I'd had the presence of mind to move to New Zealand before COVID started. Instead I have to live in the worst country in the world, the depraved US of A.

[SnowLabrador]

I wish I'd had the presence of mind to move to New Zealand before COVID started. Instead I have to live in the worst country in the world, the depraved US of A.

New Zealand is very expensive, and depending on your precise metrics, may offer you a lower standard of living compared to the US.  What makes you think the US is anywhere close to the 'worst'?

Lack of universal healthcare and the fact that 47% of the country are willing to vote for a genocidal maniac, probably more in 2022.

[SnowLabrador]

Congratulations on your second dose, but I really don't think New Zealand should open to Americans ever again. My country is depraved, and there's a solid floor of 30% that won't get the vaccine no matter what.

[SnowLabrador]

I read this thread and I'm hugely embarrassed to be an American. The last year and a half have been absolute murder on my self-esteem.

[SnowLabrador]

Not even Trump losing an election he should have won - given incumbency and the economic boom - cheered you up? I suppose some people are hard to please.

Trump should have lost like Herbert Hoover, his failures were at least as egregious. Instead he lost like Gerald Ford, and got a higher percentage of the vote than he did in 2016. It wasn't the broad rejection of fascism we needed.

[SnowLabrador]

Hoover had an epoch making economic crash on his watch, Trump didn't. Not much else to say tbh.

Thanks to him over 733k Americans and counting are dead, and the economy did crash. I'd say that's worse than the Great Depression.

[SnowLabrador]

Jacinda Ardern's three year old daughter, Neve interrupted a national address on COVID-19

Working from home can be tricky for parents, even when you're the prime minister of New Zealand.

On Monday night, Jacinda Ardern was giving the nation a live update on changing Covid restrictions when she was interrupted by off-screen calls for “mummy.”

"You're meant to be in bed, darling," Ardern told daughter, Neve, 3.

"Pop back to bed, I'll come and see you in a second."

“Sorry, everybody,” Ardern said as she turned back to her national audience. She laughed off the interruption, following up with, "Well, that was a bedtime fail, wasn't it?"



Ardern, who has been praised for her clear and frequent communication with the public throughout the coronavirus pandemic, joked that she thought she had found a safe time to broadcast.

“Does anyone else have kids escape like three, four times after bedtime?” she asked, noting that fortunately, her mother was there to help.

Toward the end of the eight-minute livestream, Neve could be heard again, wondering what the hold-up was.

“I'm sorry darling it is taking so long,” Ardern said before cutting the livestream short to give bedtime another try.

Awww, that's cute. On a more serious note, I heard that Ardern has personally called the families of all 32 New Zealanders who have died from COVID. Is that true?

[SnowLabrador]

I go back to this thread occasionally, and I think about how jealous I am.

[SnowLabrador]

I go back to this thread occasionally, and I think about how jealous I am.

You can emigrate to New Zealand if you want to, you know.

The borders are still closed. They're not going to take refugees, not that I blame them.

[SnowLabrador]

This news makes me feel guilty for some reason. I love Ardern, but if I were her, no American would set foot in NZ again.

[SnowLabrador]

Just as well you aren't her, then.

To be fair, Ardern's opposition wasn't nearly as rabid and anti-science as Republicans are here.

[SnowLabrador]

This makes me feel extremely guilty, since all the freedom convoy protests were inspired by the US.

[SnowLabrador]

Why the hell would New Zealanders throw out Ardern? She had the second-best COVID response in the world after China's. Obviously other factors come into play, but she's great at PR (which she deserves, to be sure.) I'm pretty surprised that her poll numbers are going that far down.

[SnowLabrador]

While Jacinda Ardern is a very strong leader who's worthy of great respect, I think it's also important to acknowledge that New Zealand doesn't have the same institutional factors helping the right-wing that the United States does.

[SnowLabrador]

Though until a few years ago, the centre-right appeared to be in a period of hegemony there.

They don't have Fox News or anything like it, though, do they?

[SnowLabrador]

New Zealand has moved to the orange traffic light setting. This means that social distancing requirements are now gone. The only restrictions left are mask mandates and self-isolation for confirmed cases and household contacts. Masks have been removed in schools and dancing has been allowed again at nightclubs. The Covid Response Minister did get confused about the rules in his own press conference, but the general rule seems to be that masks are still required inside.

Seems very incongruous with the general relaxations to me.

Well, COVID transmission risk is much greater indoors. Outdoor activities are relatively safe.