We’ll start this story with a quick run down on the New Zealand Bill of Rights Act.
The Act’s provisions include the right not to be subjected to medical or scientific experimentation and the right to refuse to undergo medical treatment.
I repeat, everyone has the right to refuse to undergo any medical treatment.
And then there’s the right to freedom of expression, “including the freedom to seek, receive and impart information and opinions of any kind, in any form”.
Which is interesting as Leighton Baker, who was arrested when the police stormed the Wellington protest camp, has recently been released from jail, reportedly on condition that he doesn’t discuss the COVID-19 Public Health Response Bill.
If you haven’t been following this legislation: in a nutshell, orders produced under the Health Act 1956 were revoked or replaced by orders made under the COVID-19 Public Health Response Act 2020. The COVID-19 Public Health Response Amendment Bill (No 2) 2021 amends the 2020 Act.
There’s an overlap.
Basically the Director-General of Health can stop anyone doing anything that is deemed to risk spreading Covid-19 but he must be satisfied that the order does not limit, or is a justified limit, on the rights and freedoms in the Bill of Rights.
Our story involves a PCBU.
In government jargon, a PCBU is a person conducting a business or undertaking.
PCBUs are required to keep vaccination records, and prevent affected persons from working unless vaccinated.
It also empowers PCBUs to assess that workers are vaccinated and undergo medical examination or testing for COVID-19.
So how does all this translate into a story?
I had dinner with a PCBU. She owns a hair salon and employs many people. She loves and cares for her loyal clients, some of whom have been coming to her salon regularly for many years.
This is what the PCBU told me:
“I have run this salon for 24 years and for that long a particular client has come in every Friday afternoon. She’s in her eighties and not vaccinated. I have to tell her, ‘You can’t come’.
“Each time the government makes a change to the traffic lights or how they are managing this outbreak, with ever-changing rules, it is so confusing that she calls asking if she’s allowed back yet? And again we have to say ‘not yet’ although we are well over the target for vaccinated people.
“I have to tell my staff they will lose their jobs if they’re not vaccinated. I have to comply or face massive fines. I am so emotionally hurt that sometimes I think should I just walk away but then I have my staff to think of. Some clients adhere to the rules and expect others to do the same. There are huge fines. I don’t know what to do really.”
There are tears in her eyes.
“It’s exhausting talking through a mask all day. The salon has back to back appointments so I don’t often get a break. My chest hurts by 2pm.”
The law change that impacts PCBUs most is the increase of infringement penalties for non-compliance.
The Bill increases the maximum infringement fee from $300 to $4,000 and the court-imposed infringement fine from $1,000 to $12,000.
Nearly 60,000 people have signed a petition asking the House of Representatives to repeal the changes made by the COVID-19 Public Health Response Amendment Act (No 2) 2021. It was presented to Parliament on February 21 and has been reported to Parliament’s petitions committee.
• Storytelling is a means of portraying reality. The fall out of our Covid health response policies is huge. Many people simply don’t see it. If you have a story that you’re willing to tell, please email me kerimolloy2@gmail.com