Articles in ‘Opinion’

I suspect that most New Zealanders don’t give a lot of thought to the size of the government debt. But every now and then the media reports that the Government is spending vastly more than it takes in in revenue, with the result that the amount the Government has to borrow goes up by billions more. Surely this is mortgaging our future, and the future of our children and grandchildren? · Actually, thanks to a piece of legislation passed at…

Quite a few years ago the phone rang in my office, but I refused to answer it. I had “hit the wall.” In the space of one year, I lost my mentor, my assistant left, my father died, we began home schooling, and we lost a child before it was born. Eventually, I didn’t want to answer the phone - I could not face another problem or loss! Whether it was emotional burnout or depression, it all felt the same to me. · Recently I was asked to talk to a…

David Lange is one of the most tragic figures of our modern political history. Highly articulate and entertaining, he was ushered into power in a landslide in 1984 during an economic and financial crisis. Feted as the youngest Prime Minister of the 20th century, he dazzled the nation with his wit and intellect. By the time he resigned in 1989, however, he was seen as a weak and malleable leader who had backed policies he would later regret…

In the middle of October, something astonishing happened: the Government and the National Party held a joint news conference to announce that they had agreed on the way to make housing more affordable. · According to many opinion polls, the ludicrous level to which house prices have risen in New Zealand is the issue which is of greatest concern to the New Zealand public. And that’s hardly surprising. Relative to incomes, New Zealand house…

Zoonotic diseases are diseases that are transmitted from animals to humans and they have been in existence (as any search will yield) since the origin of Homo sapiens 200,000 years ago or, roughly, since Adam. Given a globally increasing population density, where the current total is 7.9 billions, one ought to anticipate an increase in zoonotic diseases of which coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) is a typical example. · A characteristic of all viruses…

Communities and councils around the country are starting to make their voices heard around the effects the Government’s proposed Three Waters Reforms will have, with several mayors calling for the programme to be ‘paused’ on the grounds that there has been insufficient public consultation. The Government’s Three Waters Reform Programme was launched in July 2020 and aims to change the way three waters services – for drinking water, stormwater…

During a real pandemic people know it is real because most extended families and most small communities experience multiple deaths, although if it ever happens again most of the people who get sick will recover because most of us have a healthy adaptable immune system and because we now have much better medicine. It is unclear what killed people during the Spanish flu a hundred years ago but if they died from pneumonia and other dated…

Sue Grey speaking at the Health Select Committee to share her view on the COVID-19 Public Health Response Amendment Bill (No 2); 14 October 2021.

Thank you very much to the committee for allowing me to present on behalf of NZDSOS. · I represent New Zealand Doctors Speaking out with Science who see the covid-19 response as exaggerated and profoundly harmful. Instead of mandating experimental vaccines and ongoing lockdowns, our group advocates for returning to protection of the elderly, increased capacity in hospitals and early treatment of covid-19. · There will be legal experts who will…

The most recent twist in the covid-19 saga is forcing hard-working New Zealanders to believe in the story of the ‘deadly virus’ and ‘saviour’ vaccine. This will inevitably mean many will now be forced to choose between their jobs and their sense of autonomy over their own body and health. The death of the elimination strategy has meant that the accelerator has been applied to the vaccine pedal. Hang on a minute, where is the evidence to back…