‘Jaffas’ want debate shift away from the border
In Auckland, every day this last week has felt like one of those days when your partner is breathing too loudly. We’re restless, irritable, can’t settle into anything and always have one eye on our phone notifications. Everything just feels so bloody hot, from the batteries in the phones, to the carpet where we’re pacing, to the muggy midnight hours of Auckland’s insufferable summer nights.
Of course, we’re all collectively clenching for yet another level change since the Kmart cases.
We can’t relax into our normal lives, so we’re all about one stubbed toe away from having a breakdown in Bunnings and hurling pot plants at strangers. We’re yo-yoing between paranoia and recklessness, scanning into every dairy during the week but getting plastered and pashing the whole club on weekends.
But we’re not angry. We’re just at the tired, twitchy, tetchy stage when stoicism wears off, and we’re left with only exhaustion and acceptance.
In fact, the only people who’ve got the energy to be angry right now aren’t Aucklanders. They’re TV presenters, talkback hosts and politicians.
And one of the things they’re most angry about is closing the border.
Every time there’s an outbreak, and frequently in between, they come back to this argument. It’s been going on since April last year now, and shows no sign of abating. And infuriatingly, it’s often Auckland (by virtue of us being the biggest outbreak risk) which is held up as asking for this and needing this the most.
It feels like the city is being dragged into an argument loop, which spirals ever closer to seductive oversimplifications like, ‘‘we’ve got to look after our own!’’ and, for the first time in the country’s emotional history, ‘‘think of the poor Jaffas!’’
And look, it’s certainly a fun novelty to be an object of national sympathy. But in all reality many Aucklanders can’t help but find this argument a massive distraction.
And, like the rest of the point-scoring and bitching, we’re over it.
Sure, we’ve all been momentary suckers for the seductive simplicity of just shutting the border. But then we sober up and think about it, and know we can’t justify it.
Not only are there international laws against stopping citizens returning home – and you’re on shaky ground trying to argue an exemption from them. Not only has the PM made it pretty clear that this is never going to happen. But above all, it contravenes the number one rule of being a New Zealander, which is don’t be a d..., bro.
We’re a traveller nation, we’ve always sent people overseas with the promise we’ll be waiting here when they get back. Turning our back on that promise now, when Kiwis need home more than ever, feels like the ultimate d... move. Especially when so many of us have had, or are waiting for, relatives trying to come back, and know how painful the heartache is. And doubly so now we’ve been enjoying the global glow of being the world’s favourite compassionate, liberal country right now.
In all honesty, we just don’t want to spend any more time on this argument. Auckland doesn’t want to be used as an excuse for everyone battening down the hatches and standing at the cliffs with a shotgun. And we certainly don’t want to be the ping-pong ball between talkback hosts and the Government.
What we really want is to accept that the borders will stay open – and have a discussion about the practical, immediate improvements that will protect Auckland. Because honestly, that’s where a large part of the border is.
Like the University of Otago’s February paper of suggestions, such as only using MIQ hotels in big cities for the lowest-risk travellers (eg from Australia).
Or prioritising vaccinations for South Auckland, as Pasifika Medical Association chief exec Debbie Sorensen argued this week. Or adding on saliva testing, improving ventilation in Auckland hotels and listening to MIQ workers’ concerns.
These are the debates to engage in, not the endless Twitter spat of to close or not to close.
And the more time we keep looping around this question, the more time we take away from these far more pressing, although far less sensationalist, discussions.
So, if we really are thinking of the poor Jaffas, then we need to admit that Auckland is exhausted and not in the mood to start a fight with the Government (which we’re largely still on board with).
We just want to talk about a more tailored strategy for the 1.6 million Jaffas currently checking their phone updates every half hour.
Every time there’s an outbreak, and frequently in between, they come back to this argument.