Government has too many unanswered questions

It’s not just last Friday’s deadly knife attack on seven innocent supermarket shoppers by a well-documented, dangerous, ideologically driven terrorist with a very questionable refugee status that has left a slew of unanswered questions squarely at the government’s door.

There is a legion of other questions yet to be answered on a range of other matters too. For instance, the circumstances of the origin of the Delta outbreak in New Zealand from a traveller from Sydney that is costing the nation $1billion a week; questions around the management of MIQ facilities – the suspected leak from the Crowne Plaza Hotel and details on the sole absconder from Novotel Ellerslie, to name just two.

Then there are questions on the delays on procuring enough vaccines for the entire eligible population; the belated deals struck last week with a country or countries that we have no knowledge about for a price that hasn’t been disclosed and questions about the hurried approval for Novavax as a booster vaccine that is supposed to arrive next year, without the nation’s vaccine community having known nothing about it – finding out only through the media.

Let’s look at the Lynn Mall knife attack: Though the Prime Minister was at pains to stress that the government had exhausted every avenue to deport the terrorist, there appear to be questions whether this was indeed the case. Sections 163 and 164 of New Zealand’s Immigration Act 2009, has clear provisions on the circumstances where deportation is possible.

There is valid argument that he had other cases pending disposal before action based on those clauses could be activated, but did this outweigh the danger he posed to New Zealanders as was amply and, unfortunately, bloodily borne out by his action on September 3? Clearly, those seven New Zealanders have been failed by the administration’s delays in dealing with this individual’s case, not to speak of the dozens who were left terrified and a nation that was left shocked.

Legal experts and human rights organisations like Amnesty International are now warning the government not to take a knee-jerk approach to overhauling legislation in a hurry, as the government has set itself a deadline of this month’s end to come up with revamped legislation to avoid the repeat of such dastardly incidents by individuals who are known to be potentially dangerous and have extremely questionable immigration statuses.

We can only hope that we do not land up with a legislation that will create more issues vis a vis our international obligations simply because we breeze through the changes, as the government appears to be simply because of the dithering by so many concerned agencies all these months. 

The Prime Minister said there are “very few” others like the terrorist who was shot dead that are also under surveillance. If 30 police officers were tasked in tailing the mall stabber for over two months 24 hours seven days a week. One can only guess how many are involved in surveillance of the “very few” others who are thought to be between 30 and 40?

New Zealanders not only deserve to know how much of taxpayer money is being spent on these individuals but we need more details on them for our own safety. The apparent secrecy and the protections being accorded to them seem to be far more than the concern for the safety of life and limb of New Zealanders.

Why is it that a deadly event that puts innocent, unsuspecting New Zealanders in harm’s way is required before the government and the powers that be are spurred into action? Why can’t the government be more proactive when it comes to their safety?

The old ‘She’ll be right’ Kiwi attitude is no longer good enough for dealing with the safety of New Zealanders and protecting them from the virulence of both terrorists and viruses.