The Choice

So, now we know for sure. The “protesters” who defiled the grounds of parliament and who (according to their own account) intended to create in three of our major cities “maximum disruption and inconvenience” to other citizens, are not interested in democracy – indeed, quite the contrary. Their objective, quite clearly, is to deny and defy the outcome of a democratic election and to overturn an elected government.

The issues which they had earlier claimed were those that motivated them – vaccination and other measures to counter the covid pandemic – are no longer live issues. The only remaining issue is their overall hostility to our elected government and their willingness to use any means, including assaults on the rights and freedoms of other citizens, to establish a regime of indeterminate character but which would clearly not be democratic or respectful of the rights of others.

In some ways, the leaders of the so-called protesters have done us all a favour by making their nefarious objectives so clear. If the issue and choice that now confronts us is to decide between Jacinda Ardern and her elected government on the one hand and Brian Tamaki and his Destiny Church on the other, the response is surely a no-brainer. The “protesters” may have unwittingly shot themselves in the foot by showing their hand so clearly.