New Zealand has become an "Orwellian" society under the Covid-19 lockdown rules and the country needs to quickly return to a Parliamentary-led democratic state, says former MP Peter Dunne.
"We have a capacity under legislation for a state of emergency to run for seven days at a time. That empowers the Director of Civil Defence and Emergency Management, in this instance working with the Director General of Health and Commissioner of Police, to basically run the country," Dunne told Newstalk ZB this morning.
"The rest - the Government of the day included - are all bit players. And that, with the momentous decisions we are making and the crisis we are facing, is far too narrow a focus and far too big an imposition on our rights and freedoms.
"This is an unprecedented crisis... you don't resolve it by taking control right back into a tight little group, effectively accountable to nobody, making decisions affecting all of us, and expecting us to meekly fall into line."
Dunne said he never thought he would see a New Zealand where citizens were being encouraged to "snitch" on their fellow Kiwis - and had actively done so over the past four weeks.
He said such a move reminded him of George Orwell's 1984 and what a totalitarian society would look like. "And it's not New Zealand," he said.
Dunne said he would have liked to have seen Parliament sitting during the crisis, so that Government and public service decisions could be questioned and tested in the House.
Winston Churchill's war-time speeches were made to Parliament, not press conferences, Dunne said. The momentous decisions were made by Parliament, not officials.
Parliament's epidemic response committee - chaired by Simon Bridges - was only reviewing decisions, not involved in making them, he added.
"The notion that only a select few know what is going on and can be trusted is a dangerous thing."
He said he could not denigrate the response in terms of the drop in cases, but the imposition on people's lifestyles, freedoms and attitudes to each other would have a long-term cost.
Take your Radio, Podcasts and Music with you
