By Chris Trotter*
Brian Tamaki's feelings of disappointment must have been overwhelming. Looking down from the steps of the Auckland Museum at the 800-1,000 people who turned up to his anti-lockdown rally, the would-be national messiah’s most vivid impression could only have been one of empty space.
Where were they? The tens-of-thousands of angry Auckland citizens he had felt quite certain would answer his call? Where was the great sea of human-beings whose roars of support he’d imagined washing over him like the love of God? What had gone wrong?
It is important to remember when dealing with Tamaki that his political instincts are, like his Destiny Church, strong, few and poor. This is, after all, the same man who, in the run-up to the 2005 General Election, was absolutely convinced that his newly-founded Destiny NZ Party would receive hundreds-of-thousands of votes. In vain did more seasoned observers of politics warn him that anything over 1% of the Party Vote would be a small miracle. He was having none of it. God was on his side. What God gave him, however, was 0.62% of the Party Vote.
Most people would have drawn the obvious lesson from such a debacle – and quit while they were behind. But Brian Tamaki is not most people. After fifteen years, he and his wife, Hannah, were ready to try again. Predictably, to everyone except Mr and Mrs Tamaki, Vision NZ fared even worse than Destiny NZ at the ballot box. Its share of the Party Vote was just 0.15%. Across the entire country fewer than 5,000 people were willing to give Hannah and her visionaries the tick. God’s messages are nothing if not clear!
And still “Bishop” Tamaki perseveres. Still, the visions come of the masses answering his clarion call to rise in rebellion against the manifest sins of this fallen, godless world. (Of course, if the world truly is fallen and godless, then expecting a big turnout against its sinfulness is straining Christian hopefulness to its limits!)
It has yet to dawn on Tamaki that his eschatology is all wrong. If the gospels make anything at all clear, it is that, on the highway to Hell, the traffic is always bumper-to-bumper. In Christian theology, however, the off-road track to salvation has always required a spiritual four-wheel-drive – “and few there be that find it”. Rather than inspiring him, Tamaki’s dreams of huge crowds shouting his name should terrify him. Theologically, they are likely to hail (heil?) from a location well to the south of the Pearly Gates!
Ironically, it is precisely this Christian conviction that “many are called, but few are chosen” that salves the consciences of religiously-inspired anti-vaxxers.
As anyone familiar with the Book of Revelation knows, the imminence of Christ’s second coming is attested to by the rise and rise of an all-powerful totalitarian regime presided over by the Antichrist. More and more will be demanded of the Antichrist’s hapless victims – until they are wholly corrupted and damned. Only a tiny handful of believers will find the moral courage to resist Satan’s lies. Persecuted and martyred for their faith, they will be God’s chosen few. His soul survivors.
So, you see, it really isn’t that big a jump from the Book of Revelation to Facebook. From defying the Antichrist, to refusing to submit to Jacinda’s jabs. Especially when being a member of a tiny, irksome minority is not seen as proof of ethical imbecility, but of moral superiority. If only more people would “do their own research” then they, too, could be saved.
For those who prefer to stay out of rabbit-holes, however, Tamaki and his ilk pose some particularly thorny problems.
A great many Aucklanders watched their television screens with mounting fury on Saturday evening (2/10/21). Why were these people being allowed to break the Covid regulations with seeming impunity? What was the point of following the rules, and being a decent, conscientious citizen, when these fools were flouting the law under the very noses of the Police – and getting away it? Why were people being allowed to protest in a time of Covid?
The simple answer to that question may well be that, in a time of Covid, the Police are too thinly-stretched to shut down a large protest. Faced with the prospect of mass illegality, the usual Police practice is to bolster local numbers with officers drawn from other parts of the country. In a time of Covid, however, moving large numbers of people around the country is fraught with considerable epidemiological risk. With regional borders closed, the call on Police resources is further amplified by the need to maintain effective check-points. The Auckland Police were also required to maintain their presence at the city’s MIQ facilities.
Police Commissioner Andy Coster may have had no choice except to “negotiate” with Tamaki. Rather than open confrontation, he may have opted for shrewd calculation. If he could extract promises from Tamaki (such as maintaining social distancing and wearing face-masks) which his ill-disciplined followers subsequently failed to honour, it would play out much better for the Police than supplying protest organisers with disturbing images of Police officers forcibly detaining Tamaki, and others, which the “Bishop” and his backers could later exploit for propaganda purposes. After all, the public’s initial shock and dismay at Police inaction could easily be assuaged if, as soon as Tamaki’s followers were safely dispersed, the man himself was very publicly arrested and charged.
That barely 24 hours after his first, Tamaki was publicly promising to hold more rallies, strongly suggests that he and his advisers were, indeed, thoroughly disappointed with the outcome of Saturday’s effort. The low turnout (remove Tamaki’s loyal congregation, and the number of non-Destiny protesters plummets to around the 200 mark) indicates a population which, in spite of his own, and the Right’s, best efforts to stir-up mass dissatisfaction with the Government’s handling of the pandemic, remains steadfast in its determination to keep the Covid faith.
Bruised and battered by events though Aucklanders (and now the people of the Waikato) may be. Frightened by the Delta variant’s stubborn refusal to lie down and die, though the rest of the country has become, there is much more evidence of Christian faith, hope and charity in Jacinda’s “Team of Five Million”, than there is in any number of false prophets, “Gotcha!” journalists, and “Let the Devil take the hindmost!” business leaders.
In the end, Tamaki’s disappointing rally was, curiously reassuring. Let’s not forget that the last time the Auckland Domain hosted a mass political gathering, it saw 20,000 Aucklanders turn out to reaffirm their Prime Minister’s “They Are Us” defence of New Zealand’s devastated Muslim community. While the latest Census figures confirm that New Zealand is no longer a Christian nation, its citizens’ refusal to be moved by sly political sophistry and cheap religious theatrics proves that they have not forgotten its founder’s redemptive message.
*Chris Trotter has been writing and commenting professionally about New Zealand politics for more than 30 years. He writes a weekly column for interest.co.nz. His work may also be found at http://bowalleyroad.blogspot.com.
94 Comments
I agree with the part about Tamaki being a nutter, but not with the part about people having faith in Ardern. The whole "be kind", "team of 5 million", #aroha approach isn't working anymore, and now she's turned to a strategy of fear, blame, and thinly veiled threats instead. That's a pretty strong indication that she needs a stick to keep people in line. They're not just going to follow her lead, something with I think is starting to be reflected in the polls.
https://www.change.org/p/nz-police-commissioner-charge-brian-tamaki-ove… He is getting much more support now for this rally....and we hope he reaches the hundreds of thousands, it not millions, of supporters for this cause!
I'm glad that the police did not arrest Tamaki at the time ... he's an attention seeker ... why fall for his game , why fan the flames of his political ambition ....
... his rally was a fizzer ... rightfully so ... 99.85 % of the population reject him & his rhetoric ...
You're likely correct GBH, but I think there would be far more that the increasingly infamous Bishop Tamaki would like to admit, who would take great delight at seeing him sat on by a member of our Police. In particular I think that the Police Commissioner should ensure it is a female member just to ensure that none of the fundamentalist perspectives of the bible leak through!
His rally was NOT a fizzer. There are now massive fines you could face being arrested and charged so that's a big reason not to attend. So now lets consider what actually happened, no arrests. Now think about what will happen if he organises another rally knowing that there will be no arrests ?
I would agree that National pretence of loving others (in Christian faith or otherwise) is fake. But only a totally biased, unfair person, who is not looking at the situation from the perspective of what is good for New Zealand and her people, but how he can score a political point for his team, would pretend that the same is not equally true for Jacinda and her team.
Don't be so daft. I'm no Prime Minister Ardern fan but she's still polling way ahead of anyone else in New Zealand for preferred Prime Minister. Absent a catastrophic misstep or an inspired opposition leader she's can pretty much bank the cheque of having most seats, if not an outright majority, next election.
Prime Minister Ardern is an astute politician and reports of her early political demise are laughable. Don't underestimate her ability to just manage expectations using soft signalling, reading public anxieties and spinning the media machine to her advantage.
The thing with this lockdown is that for every person that protests the lockdown by protesting & waving flags. There are a 100's who protest it by just igoring the rules & going about there life in as normal manner as possible. Visiting friends & family & having a yarn to whoever they see fit.
Alan Ivory
Does letting banks create money and blow up assets to stratospheric levels causing mass inequality and wealth transfers along with destroying productivity and creating a low wage economy help to keep kiwis healthy?
Creating desperation and depression and makes life difficult. Even before the pandemic society was full of obesity and alcoholism along with smoking related issues and diabetes on the increase. Health outcomes were worse than our grandparents with insulin resistance and heart disease on the rise. Suicides at record highs especially for men. More young people on ritalin and prozak.
And you say keep kiwis healthy? Lockdown is probably creating more health issues.
Partisan hack much. But hey as you say it's about keeping kiwis healthy.
All of our problems link back to the debt based monetary system that trotter and Alan ivory ignore. If the govt wanted to keep kiwis healthy it would stop banks destroying society.
The article rightly holds Brian Tamaki in low regard.
I was greatly concerned when back in about 2011 he was expecting his congregation of generally struggling families to sell their homes and donate the money to him to build a Church in Manakau . . . while he lived in a expensive home in a beach suburb.
However, I was even more concerned when a couple of months later I was in Cairns and ran across Brian Tamaki and whanau on two occasions seemingly having a great holiday . . . the first occasion at a restaurant really enjoying themselves and the following day laden with shopping bags.
Personally, I am sick and tired of this educational approach nonsense. I can't believe how soft we've become as a nation towards rule breakers. Not just in terms of Covid-19-related enforcement, but in general. I was reading yesterday that someone got home detention for chasing after someone for 10 minutes in a car and firing a gun at them. What on earth has become of our judicial system?
Unfortunately in Israel you need your booster shot or your vax passport is expired.
Double vaxxed have 6 months to get the booster or they are considered unvaccinated.
I'm guessing this was the ploy all along. Your papers are not in order if you don't get your vaccine booster every year. Showing your papers will be permanent.
To be fair though, immunity is what's important, not just vaccination status. People are too busy talking about getting needles in the arms of 90% of the eligible population to realise that the assertions in Hendy's paper require 90% of the total population to be immune, not just vaccinated.
It's been 10 months now since we first started vaccinating people, which means they're falling off the back of the wagon now in terms of immunity, but we still count them in our vaccination statistics. These are people working on the front line. They need their booster shots.
Correct its like keeping the 6 monthly WOF on your pre 2000 car current, it comes round so fast you don't bother in the end. Vaccination rates are going to drop like a stone once the people realise you need a booster every 6 months. In the end it will just be the elderly getting jabbed in rest homes.
Pity you misrepresent the assumptions used in the Te Pūhana Matatini modelling. The two vaccination scenarios modelled are % of population 12 yrs and older vaccinated, and % of population 5 yrs and older vaccinated. Both scenarios assume even vaccination % levels across the age groups.
Are flu jabs compulsory?
I've never had a flu jab and I guess half the population haven't either. Even among those that have had the covid vaccine.
Last time I checked the govt was not locking down the country for not getting an influenza jab.
In regards to so what.. Well are you up for papers please for a covid flu that has a 99 percent survival rate. I suppose you support a society like the movie Equilibrium.
"99% survival rate" --- 1% of a large number is still a very large number. Let's say even 20% of NZ get it - 1m, then 1% die = 10k people. That's a big jump from 27 mate. Let alone the pressure that put's on health systems and delays to other needed treatment because of anti-vaxxers.
To compare it with seasonal flu is the usual muppet conspiracy theory go to strategy. Seasonal flu has 99.9% survival rate.
Source?
According to WHO, 2% of those reported with COVID have died.
WHO Coronavirus (COVID-19) Dashboard | WHO Coronavirus (COVID-19) Dashboard With Vaccination Data
It is easier to sample dead people than living, confirmed deaths are over-sample compared to confirmed cases. The real figure is somewhere between that 98% and the internet meme of 99.997%.
I saw a Cambridge Uni study which I thought put the figure at 99.7%, but cannot find it now.
I did find this WHO bulletin.
I seem to remember the big wheel thing in the sky suffered its share of wreckage too. That's the thing about humans, they can't escape who they are, regardless of how far they run! It was a while ago I saw the movie, but didn't privilege fail and everyone lived happily in an egalitarian nirvana in the end? The big wheel thing probably subsequently lost its gloss.
I think that view needs to change Ponzi. We have developed a culture around cold and flu that suggests they are 'minor' ailments. We continue to go to work in the infectious stages, and so ensure many more people catch them and get ill, causing a lot more lost productivity than is necessary, and a few deaths which we have wilfully ignored. COVID has taught us that that attitude is dangerous, not just to individuals, but to society as a whole. The spreads of those ailments would reduce dramatically if we learnt from this and stayed home until we got over them.
Perhaps PonziKiwi has a point after all…? There used to be a time in New Zealand and around the world when there was no need for two people to go and earn an income to survive and having a family. Does anyone these days even think a bit harder about why we have so many issues and what is at the beginning of the pyramid?
Our entire view of the world has changed, shaped by the politics of the time we are born into, while there are still strong elements of tribalism evident. Ponzi makes a very interesting comment further up this stream about the banks creating money. Yesterday I listened to an interview on RNZ where Jesse interviewed a anthropologist who works as a journo for the Financial Times. She identified that when attending a banking conference, that the bankers were entirely ignorant of their own culture with respect to the world and the impacts of their actions and decisions. She was apparently the only analyst or journo to predict the 2008 GFC. Very interesting and really reinforces a point I try to make about the purpose of Governments and the need to regulate industry, especially banking.
Culturally we need to change our behaviour on so many things because they are harmful to those around us. The rich and powerful, politicians and influential need to be constrained and made answerable for the consequences of their decisions. In this and other streams some make the point about 'freedom', and their individual right to choose. But the question arises does anyone's individual right to 'freedom' exist when that choice or the consequences of it impact negatively on another's right to be safe, and healthy, and free?
98% survival rate when I look at the stats, although I'm not sure if the total infection numbers represent "repeat visits" from the virus. If so then the death rate could be higher. On top of that, there is some clear unknowns with countries like India and China where the actual death toll may not be known (or allowed to be known).
Anyway, of that 98% how many are suffering long term health impacts? COVID isn't just the flu with a higher body count.
Its a great article - probably very accurate - but in the end the lack of police or governments action is way more concerning than Covid -- There is no point in any laws - if large numbers of people can publicly break them with impunity. Covid will kill a significant number of unvacced people -- way less than cancer or heart issues do though - but a breakdown of law and order will kill our society.
I think you will find the Vaccinated 3.3 million part of the team are moving swiftly into a new position more along the lines -- of i dont see why i should be subject to such limitations of freedoms - to protect those not vaccinated - when those groups are continually breaking the very rules that are in place just to protect them .
If its a nice sunny weekend in Auckland in 6 days time -- look out for a very significant change in behaviour from the so far extremely compliant 3.3 million !
Kpnuts
I get my second jab in 2 weeks. But I feel uneasy with words like complient. You must obey and get the jab.
I am doing my bit by getting vaccinated. But I will not enter a pub or gym again or travel if I'm required to show my papers. That's totalitarianism and that doesn't sit well.
I guess if you don't want to show any 'papers',you definately won't be travelling...as I'm thinking you must be against holding a regular passport as well,or driving as you wouldn't be holding a drivers licence if the the police pull you over?
Dog licence,gun licence,sheesh,the commies are every where lol...
Ponzi
If required it wouldn’t be the first occasion proof of vaccination has been required.
In my younger days, to travel to most countries one required a Yellow Card to prove (a live) inoculation against smallpox.
Having had both the double Covid jab and smallpox inoculation there is no comparison - the smallpox seriously laid me low for three days.
As an aside, what the anti vaccers overlook is that high use of vaccines have eliminated - or mostly so - common diseases such as polio, smallpox and measles which were all once common and my generation of Kiwis were very familiar with the consequences of polio and measles.
People
Using the small pox or polio argument is totally different. Ironically child vax rates are incredibly high for our standard vaccinations we take for granted.
But last time I checked event cinemas or Eden Park are not asking for proof of polio vaccine status as conditions of entry.
Passports for travel duh not the same. If I go to Australia I don't need to show my passport to get a beer or something to eat. Ironically when I was a kid and my gran went overseas, you could practically walk through the departure area with her. It was all very casual unlike today. But obviously since 9/11 it's like a fortress.
Vaccine passports for everyday living is a pandoros box. It's way beyond having a passport for traveling. You effectively are monitored and can't live without showing your papers.
Using small pox and yellow fever arguments are totally different to what's being proposed. The drivers license argument is stupid and straw man's. Just like I wouldn't let an unlicensed doctor operate on me. Comparing this to show me your papers please is not the same.
printer8, you keep ignoring people pointing out that your vaccines you cite, and I have had too, are not the same as mRNA. And if you say otherwise, are you then happy to sign a contract that indemnified me and my 12 year old daughter for any future health issues relating to that injection?
I'm not a Trotter or Tamaki fan. They're both a bit OTT for my liking. Trotter is still trotting out his universities lines, now hardened by age & anger. He is part of a key section of society teaching people they are wrong. It doesn't matter what you do or how you do it, you are wrong. And more than that, we will cancel you!!!
Tamaki, on the other hand, has worked out that getting people off the booze & into his church is a better lifestyle for everyone involved. And it's true. Giving 10% to the church is far better than spending half your earnings (I won't say wages) at the pub & the wife & family agree, as they don't tend to get beaten up that much. Brian & Hannah thereby, do a mighty job of saving the weak & workless from their miserable selves, as well as creating a greater good - for themselves.
Yes, his obnoxious and 'out there' approach has actually helped a lot of families get a better lifestyle than our economic/social system could ever provide.
I wonder whether there are quite a few people who quietly supported Tamaki's rally (from their homes!) in the sense of being sick of the extended lockdown, and a sense of entrapment by a government wo are no longer winning hearts & minds. So a kind of litmus test.
Maybe - & a lot of dysfunctional family & men are now free of alcohol abuse, domestic problems, kids awol - and are functioning well & contributing to their community. It takes a kind of warrior confrontation to fix deep seated problems that all our WINZ benefits and social workers can never fix.
Yes, far better than that other load of hoardes living off our donations....Labour, National, Greens, Act, all dipping their hands and rubbing their hands with Glee....Strange World. Sarc.
Maybe a permanent fix is required....I will be the Dicktator....not the Bishop, nor the Born Leader.......And you can all be my Psycophants.
Strange how things have swapped....Must be something in the water....in NZ...the Home of the Team of 5 Million.
The solution seems rather simple to me. Set a vaccination percentage that needs to be reached and then open up. Having a few unvaccinated spreading it around may be beneficial as we all probably need to catch it to build long term immunity. Most people will have mild symptoms especially if they are vaccinated. Even those not vaccinated will be mostly fine.
Government needs to harden up and make the tough decisions which is what we vote for and pay them to do.
There are 2 reasons why there weren't more people at the demonstration:
1) well it's organised by Destiny's church which is certainly not the majority's cup of tea
2) the reason for the demonstration was unclear and multi faceted, being not only against lockdowns but also against vaccines
I'm convinced that if a similar rally was organised by anyone else but Destiny's church and the reason was clear and singular, being ending lockdowns (without an anti-vaccine message), there would be many thousands participating in the demonstartion
its obvious that those that are not vaccinated will never be vaccinated. So Jacinda needs to stop threatening the rest of the population because of these groups. It is also obvious that you will not eliminate covid while these groups are on their own agenda. So whats the plan? Just to keep L3 and hurt the rest, because delta ain't going anywhere.
I have a few seemingly contradictory views around this.
1. He should be prosecuted if the government is to hold any moral authority.
2. Tamaki is a parasite preying on the poor and even worse provides terrible moral guidance.
3. Im glad he did it. The govt only seems to react when enough of the public are angry. It's time to move on from elimination as it is no longer possible (I have R=1.3 at L3) they are losing the public and the rest of the world has moved on. Set a date 3 weeks from now when Auckland goes to level 2. If people STILL haven't got their first dose they can get double dosed by level 2 if they act quickly or at least within the first week of level 2. Unfortunately I think a small but significant part of the population will not get vaccinated until their friends/family get sick or die. So be it, they have had the opportunity. If this will mean the army needs to set up field hospitals to deal with the sick so be it.
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