My perception of New Zealand’s battle with COVID-19, along with the seemingly endless run of returning citizens responsible for the continuation of this battle, according to many, is misguided.
In the opinion of these people, my opinions are shallow, heartless, unjustified, unfair, mistaken, misdirected, misguided, unkind, heartless, callous, erroneous and ultimately, wrong.
In my opinion, the actions of this influx of returning Kiwis, which commenced around mid-June – most from Africa, India, UK or US thus many bringing with them strains of the Novel Coronavirus – in fact around the same time that New Zealand reached the ’22 days COVID-free’ mark, are arrogant, selfish, entitled, and ultimately shitheaded.
New Zealand is a 5 million-strong team of people who, following a prolonged period of lockdown managed to basically eradicate this virus from its airways; now hordes of people claiming to be New Zealand citizens but living overseas are deciding that, given the degenerated state of their adopted homeland and given also they’re pretty sure they still have a New Zealand passport lying around somewhere, they want to utilise these ‘basic human rights’ of theirs and, although it hadn’t been in their plans to ever return, now that things aren’t looking so good for them in their adopted land, head back to the safety of New Zealand.
Through my candid stance on this matter I have received much denigration from people around the world, invariably ‘New Zealand citizens’ compelled to maintain their stance, “It’s people like you [me] who give New Zealand a bad name.”
Overseas travellers, Kiwi expats, along with any other New Zealand citizen who is currently abroad and think they might like to come back to their mother nation, months ago, was advised to do so quickly; months ago responsible citizens returned to New Zealand’s shores.
Why then, further months after the advisement to travellers to quickly get home, are there further dribbles of shitheads dawdling through New Zealand’s borders, checking into Government-funded quarantine, potentially kicking up a stink because their choice to belatedly come home isn’t going exactly as they would like or that, amid this unprecedented time where a pandemic threatens global stability, something or someone is in breach of their human rights?
For the record, quarantine has been Government-funded for over six months; don’t start moaning that ‘your country has turned its back on you’ because ‘your country’ feels it has waited long enough for the last dribbles to stop, or because ‘your country’ is done putting up with entitled shitheads checking into quarantined hotels only to later jeopardise the health of everyone by flouting quarantine rules.
In fairness, I don’t give a toss if my upholding these views gives the nation a ‘bad name’; at least I’m not giving it COVID.
Article by Tim Walker
Edited by N Ty-Tilled
Photography by Chet T Dud