Inspired by the ongoing trackers protest in canadian capital of ottawa protesters in new zealand have now taken out their trucks and campervans demanding and to the vaccine and mosque mandates and other covered mandates in new zealand the convoy converged outside the parliament ahead of prime minister jacinda arden's first speech of the year the protesters largely unmasked surrounded the parliament building also known as the beehive with thousands driving around the city with horns blaring hauling for an end to the coveted restrictions that have been placed in new zealand for nearly two years,
Prime minister jacinda and responded saying that the protesters were not representative of the majority i think it would be wrong to in any way uh characterize what we've seen outside as a representation of the majority the majority of new zealanders have done everything they can to keep one another safe new zealanders have been under some of the most stringent coveted 19 restrictions in the government announcing last week that the border restrictions are likely to stay in place till october that is when the government will begin opening the borders in a phased manner with tourism hits,
And jobs lost the mandates have led to frustration among people i am here today to protest against the mandates as i lost my job due to the mandates and i absolutely love that job um yeah currently i'm trying to find a job which is really really hard at the moment for me and i don't think people really know like the sacrifices we've made and that like i know this is my choice that i chose not to get vaccinated but the complications had on my family losing friends feeling isolated even mental stuff like you know suicide and that is just really crazy um yes i just love to spread a little bit of awareness and for people just to feel a little bit of compassion,
Because what we've gone through is just horrible the police has so far refrained from making any arrests the wellington council too has shown reluctance in issuing tickets the country of 5 million until now recorded 53 deaths due to coronavirus and over 18 000 confirmed cases so far about 77 of the population is fully vaccinated the prime minister has father say that no more lockdowns will be the in the nation is now obtainable in your country download the app now and get all the news on the move obviously every new zealander has a right to protest but there are also rules around what is able to happen on parliament's forecourt and of course we would expect um that people have behaviors that don't disrupt the ability of others to go on with their lives,
As well as but i'm still reminded that relative to the people that are at parliament now on the same time that they're there tens of thousands of individuals went out and acquired vaccinated it is not meditative of where the rest of new zealand is at right now all of us want to actually move on we're working very hard to put ourselves in the best possible position to do that oh look at this and the people shattered in pieces to rebuild our country come on guys she has turned her back on the police all together jacinda ardern became the world's youngest female head of government when she became new zealand's prime minister aged just 37 four years ago swept to power on a wave of popular support quickly dubbed jacinda mania the labour party leader promised relentless positivity in the election campaign,
That she went on to win inspiring voters with her youthful liberalism in the same way that canada's justin trudeau provided an antidote to the rise of right-wing big beasts on the world stage most notably donald trump months after becoming prime minister she announced that she was pregnant and in june 2018 she took six weeks maternity leave returning to work with a promise to cut child property and give new parents more paid leave in 2019 arden was widely praised for her leadership of the response to the christchurch mosque shootings when 51 people were murdered in a terrorist attack this is one of new zealand's darkest days she toughened the country's gun laws and refused to say the name of the attacker in speeches she made he will when i speak be nameless a year after that came the coronavirus pandemic,
Once again ardern was held up as a model of leadership moving swiftly to close the country's borders and using regular press conferences and social media posts to keep the population in the loop just checking in on everyone's saturday by mid-august this year there'd been fewer than 3 000 cases and even in mid-october there had only been 28 deaths in new zealand the zero covert strategy was not without its drawbacks though by focusing on lockdowns rather than vaccines new zealand lagged behind many other countries when it came to inoculating the population easy in and out by the start of july just 9.2 percent of the population had been fully vaccinated compared with 49.5 in the uk it took new zealand until mid-october,
To reach the 50 mark and it's still plain catch-up when the delta variant hit new zealand had to prolong its lockdown where other countries had been reopening and instead of the worldwide praise ardern found herself under fire from some quarters with the australian prime minister scott morrison describing his neighbor's cobic policy as absurd he said no country could stay in the cave forever by the start of october ardern had conceded that she would have to abandon the zero covert strategy and move towards living with the virus like the rest of the world with this outbreak and with delta the return to zero is incredibly difficult,
And our restrictions alone are not enough to achieve it quickly in fact for this outbreak it's clear that long periods of heavy restrictions has not got us to zero cases in some respects kovit might have basked her government's shortcomings which are starting to come to light as attention shifts away from coronavirus a flagship scheme to provide affordable housing has faltered and the goal she set on child poverty and inequality have not been met meanwhile the slow vaccine rollout has made for a potentially fragile economic recovery the reserve bank of new zealand has raised interest rates for the first time in seven years and it's still too early to gauge the extent to which the ardennes response to covet has affected the country's long-term prospects.
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