Presented in association with The Unshackled. Trad Tasman Talk (TTT) is hosted by Tim Wilms from Melbourne and Dieuwe de Boer from Auckland. The show debuts every Friday at 8pm New Zealand time and 6pm Melbourne time. Episodes are broadcast live on Youtube via Right Minds, The Unshackled, and The BFD.
Note: Due to the COVID-19 lockdown, this episode was broadcast only via The Unshackled channel and the archive was uploaded to the Right Minds channel at a later date.
Since last week, New Zealand has gone to full scale lockdown, with a total of 368 cases and 0 deaths. Jacinda can now alter any law in the country with the stroke of a pen and parliament has been suspended. The lockdown will last for a minimum of 4 weeks, but indefinite.
Services that have been deemed essential include the supply of alcohol, abortions, legacy media, credit services, racing industry (horse training), and banking. There have been examples from NZ hospitals and blood donation centres that the risk is not being taken very seriously, with very little PPE gear being worn and social distances not being prioritised.
State police in Australia are now enforcing isolation and business lockdowns, but there is no federal lockdown in place. Australia has shut down pubs, clubs, churches, restaurants, and cafes, but most other services are still running in some capacity.
Stores are running at reduced hours and the government is picking winners. In New Zealand, prices are going up.
The New Zealand government has prioritised passing legislation that will allow prisoners to vote in the upcoming election.
The economies of both Tasman nations are in turmoil, with massive GDP drops and high unemployment predicted. Both governments are signing blank cheques to the tune of tens of billion of dollars in debt and money printing. There are lots of jokes about socialism and communism, but in the end, the banks will win and the poor will get shafted.
Is this an overreaction? Bodycount predictions are being revised down, but is that because of drastic measures, and will the 'cure' be worse than the disease?
One thing is for sure: borders are back and nationalism is back in vogue.
Earlier, the Christchurch gunman Brenton Tarrant entered a guilty plea for murdering 51 Muslims and committing an act of terrorism. Sentencing will be in about a month, if the lockdown ends by then. It saves the victims having to go through a trial, but it leaves a lot of questions unanswered.
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