On 12th October 2020 or thereabouts our government signed an agreement with Pfizer for the supply of Covid 19 mRNA vaccines. The provisions of this agreement have never been revealed to the New Zealand public. Almost certainly the agreement granted Pfizer immunity from liability and prosecution should any safety issues arise.
If information from other countries is to be believed, it also restricted the right of New Zealand health authorities to independently investigate or analyse the composition or contents of the vaccines.
The signing of this contract was the opening act of a process which has led to the gradual renunciation of New Zealand sovereignty, placing the health of the nation in the hands of foreign concerns disinterested in New Zealand’s welfare.
It was also the first pandemic expenditure of many that would eventually add up to $100 billion, the biggest single issue expenditure in our government’s history outside of wartime. An expenditure that has broken the bank and mortgaged our future.
We were all set to fly blind in the hands of a multinational company well known for cutting corners when it came to safety and reliability and we were committed to paying a hefty price for the privilege.
Following this first step, there were going to be many other milestones along the way which, as you know, have changed the character of our island nation from independent self-reliance and proud championship of social justice to a pathetic denial of obvious truth, disregard for the health and rights of the individual, and dictatorial manipulation of information.
This week many of you will have watched the documentary SILENCED, a measured response on the part of a significant group of professionals, a media personality, and New Zealand doctors who chose to follow medical ethics and ask questions. As a result, they were deregistered by the New Zealand Medical Council. It is essential viewing and notable for a careful and considered examination of many of the main issues. The documentary highlights just how much our political and constitutional landscape has been altered by the pandemic.
At the conclusion of the documentary, the terms of reference of the Royal Commission of Enquiry into the pandemic response were discussed. Unbelievably, these exclude consideration of vaccine efficacy and safety including adverse effects, epidemiology of the virus, court rulings, and the specific clinical decisions taken during the pandemic regarding vaccine mandates, lockdowns, and masking rules.
The Royal Commission will be recommending how the government should respond to the next pandemic (yes, apparently it is a given that there will be another pandemic) but incredibly it is going to do so without considering what went wrong during the current one. By implication, this is going to radically affect us moving forward in diverse ways that we need to begin to analyse now in order to preserve our future health and safety.
POLITICS
Above all, pandemic policies have altered standards of political honesty and accountability. From Ardern’s podium of truth came the idea that ‘truth’ is what I tell you it is and I am not required to offer supporting evidence or answer questions. In essence, truth has become whatever a political party decides it is and any counter opinion may be dismissed as disinformation.
It has become acceptable to fund the media to support government policy and exclude dissent at the behest of government.
It has become acceptable for politicians to dismiss the concerns of constituents and fail to communicate with them if their concerns run counter to government policy—a dictatorial strategy. Blocking emails by content or name has become routine.
It seems politicians and civil servants have been able to avoid responding to OIA requests as a matter of routine. Politicians are not required to respond to OIA requests about past actions if they have moved on from a particular ministerial role.
In other words, politicians are no longer serving people, they are overruling them.
COURTS
Courts routinely chose to ignore the provisions of the New Zealand Bill of Rights when hearing cases concerning pandemic matters. In other words, they felt free to overrule basic freedoms of speech, medical choice, and peaceful protest.
Moreover, Judges have acquiesced to the power of the State without sufficient process. In not one pandemic court case during the last three years, have procedures allowed defense lawyers to cross examine the expert scientific witnesses called by the state. An apparent denial of basic justice.
In effect, government actions were placed beyond the scrutiny of law. State sponsored actions were placed beyond the reach of legal redress.
HEALTH
The State has forged a partnership with medical authorities and pharmaceutical companies that bypasses basic tenets of safety and informed consent.
Irrevocable decisions to go forward in partnership with pharmaceutical companies are being taken by governments around the world almost every day including ours. The Washington Post announced 10th April 2023 that the US government has granted $5 billion dollars to ‘Project Next Gen’ designed to make and market new biotech vaccines. The UK government has partnered with Moderna to research new vaccines and guaranteed Moderna that it will purchase and use them. The NZ government is funding efforts to research, manufacture and market mRNA vaccines here.
Partnerships between governments and pharmaceutical companies are extremely concerning and leave us wide open to abuse and corruption.
Medical authorities have ignored research confirming the huge potential of natural and complementary approaches to improve Covid outcomes. In fact, they have sought to suppress information about their use, instead relying exclusively on novel biotechnology interventions known to be risky and permanently mutagenic, yet immensely profitable.
EMPLOYMENT
The provisions of employment law, designed to protect job security, prevent discrimination, and offer compensation to those affected, were bypassed by universal vaccine mandates. Professional reputations and careers were destroyed.
This has fundamentally changed the relationship between employers and their employees. Employers can now take a controlling interest in the health status and choices of their employees—a paternalistic interest that redefines employment as a form of indentured labour.
EDUCATION
One of the most disturbing aspects of pandemic policy has been its impact on children and students.
Children and students have been coerced to vaccinate by their respective educational institutions and through government advertising. They were misinformed about the known risks and simply left with the false ‘safe and effective’ mantra, along with the knowledge that the collective enjoyment of sports and cultural activities would be off limits if they didn’t snap to.
Children were encouraged and allowed to make their own decisions about vaccination outside of the protective canopy of parental advice.
Students faced exclusion from tertiary education if they did not comply with vaccine mandates.
The integrity of family life is at the heart of social stability and progress. Government policy has weakened family integrity. This is evident in the dramatic fall in school attendance and the rise in violent teenage crime.
There will be long term effects on the next generation—the future leaders of society. It is notable that the control of education has always been a tool of repressive regimes. Hitler would not have been able to command the absolute obedience that he did without the Hitler Youth.
Home schooling, correspondence school enrollment, and online distance education have all boomed during the pandemic years for a variety of reasons. There is a growing realisation that Ministry of Education curricula can be very restrictive and in some cases promote a social framework contrary to values held by most families. For example, regulations requiring a specific approach to gender identity issues are expected to be introduced in September.
Of even greater concern are issues around the assessment of truth and validity of information. Navigating the impact of AI programmes like ChatGPT in classroom and homework settings is likely to be beyond the capabilities of most teachers. Aside from their reliance on and promotion of plagiarism, the weakness of such AI systems is their incapacity to sort truth from falsehood—they tend to opt for the most common opinion, something that curiously echoes the government’s approach to pandemic information.
In a highly prescriptive educational environment, most students will comply despite whatever their home environment has taught them. Otherwise, they are in danger of being bullied or socially isolated. I would suggest that those parents who decide to take responsibility for their children’s education at home should realise that opportunities to socially mix with peers from concerned families is essential.
An organisation similar to outward bound which offers three week outdoor adventure and leadership courses for teenagers, could be set up by parents, where, in addition to opportunities for adventure and social development, issues of truth and health can be considered in depth and explored.
Why stop there?
If we are faced, as we appear to be, with a long term fundamental shift in government integrity and control of information, why not consider creating tertiary institutes of health and interdisciplinary studies to fulfill the educational needs of tomorrow today and guarantee historical hard won rights of freedom of thinking, expression and choice? Life is not a one size fits all endeavour.
Why not remove parliamentary privilege—the right of politicians to say anything irrespective of its truth avoiding the normal remedies of law.
Why not outlaw the capacity of party leaders to suppress independent thought among their MPs—known as the whip—which promotes one dimensional policies?
Why not grant the New Zealand Bill of Rights an inviolable constitutional status? Its mild provisions and protections echo ordinary, accepted and historical notions of what is fair and just between people and between persons and the state?
Why not make all parliamentary and government business open to OIA (freedom of information) release?
Why not make government expert witnesses always subject to cross examination in the courts?
Why not prevent the government from funding or influencing the media?
Why not ask for biotechnology experimentation to be outlawed as we have done at GLOBE
Now is certainly the time to stand up for all these, but you are probably going to say most of these are unlikely to happen, and on present evidence you could be right. If you believe that, you must accept that we have to independently plan for a brighter future. Otherwise isolated from one another in a largely uncritical social milieu we could be overtaken and overwhelmed by events beyond our control and excluded from any future. Reality Check Radio is evidence that new trusted institutions can be established. We need this.
