Note 1: Unprecedented lawmaking, unprecedented (absence of) public consultation
From my April 2022 paper COVID-19 Emergency Powers: The New Zealand State, Medical Capture & the Role of Strategic Ignorance
NB: This legislation is intended for the ‘control’ of a respiratory coronavirus, using a novel technology, where the data on infection fatality rate, by the time these bills were introduced, demonstrated that healthy populations were not at risk of hospitalisation and death from the respiratory coronavirus Sars-Cov-2. There is no evidence that the principle of proportionality was considered and given due weight based on the evidence in the scientific literature, at time of passing of each of these Acts.
Selection of Acts passed, the timeline and extent of public consultation:
COVID-19 Response (Management Measures) Legislation Bill. 6 days Introduced May 5 2020 received Royal Assent 15 May 2020. Minister in Charge: Hipkins
COVID-19 Public Health Response Bill. No public consultation 1 day. Introduced May 12, Third reading and Royal Assent May 13 2020. Minister in Charge: Parker
COVID-19 Public Health Response Amendment Bill. No public consultation. Introduced July 29, received Royal Assent August 6 2020. Minister in Charge: Woods
COVID-19 Response (Further Management Measures) Legislation Bill (No 2). No public consultation. Introduced & passed August 4, 2020, Royal Assent August 6 2020. Minister in Charge: Hipkins
COVID-19 Response (Management Measures) Legislation Bill. No public consultation (some private consultation). 4 days. Published October 1, closing date for submissions October 5 2020. Minister in Charge: Hipkins
Inquiry into the operation of the COVID-19 Public Health Response Act 2020. One month. Published May 21, closing date for submissions June 28 2020.
COVID-19 Recovery (Fast-track Consenting) Bill. 5 days. Published 16 June, closing date for submissions 21 June 2020, Royal Assent 8 July 2020. Minister in Charge: Parker
COVID-19 Public Health Response Amendment Bill. No public consultation. Published and passed 1 December, Royal Assent 7 December 2020. Minister in Charge: Hipkins
COVID-19 Public Health Response (Validation of Managed Isolation and Quarantine Charges) Amendment Bill. No public consultation. Introduced 20 May, Royal Assent 24 May 2021. Minister in Charge: Hipkins
COVID-19 Public Health Response Amendment Bill (No 2). 11 days. Published 30 Sept closing date for submissions Oct 11 2021. Minister in Charge: Hipkins
COVID-19 Response (Vaccinations) Legislation Bill. No public consultation. Bill introduced November 23, Royal Assent November 25 2021. Minister in Charge: Hipkins
The Parliamentary Counsel Office used to list all Acts and Orders (delegated, or secondary legislation), but now appears to list a selection of this legislation.
Delegated or secondary legislation is law that is not passed by an Act of Parliament but by a government minister, a delegated person or an authorised body.
There are no public checks and balances on the Orders, and there do not appear to be published documents that accompany each order demonstrating the reasoning which underpinned the production of each order.
As this Emergency Powers paper has discussed, science and modelling justifying new measures have been based on case number management and internal modelling; guidelines for doctors appear to be based on internal decision-making rather than reviews of the published scientific literature that can demonstrate firstly, the safety and efficacy of the mRNA genetic vaccine, and secondly, the literature on early treatment, including case studies authored by medical doctors working with patients with complex conditions.
The submitting by sponsors of applications for approval to Medsafe appears to have a stronger relationship with guideline uses than reviews of the scientific literature and the personal agency of Ministry of Health, Pharmac or Medsafe staff. However it is unlikely that sponsors will take such action when sponsors have a financial interest in market entry of new drugs rather than substitution with cheap repurposed drugs. For example Merck markets both ivermectin (which has a long history of safe use, and binds to the spike protein) and Molnuprivar.
Without the PCO listing all Orders in one place it is extraordinarily difficult to appreciate the extent and magnitude of production of delegated legislation. It is unclear whether the Secondary Legislation Act has reduced barriers to the production of the extraordinary degree of lawmaking that has been produced through the PCO.
The COVID-19 Public Health Response Bill should immediately be repealed.
Then we work to heal and protect New Zealanders from the ground up, not via polypharmacy and systemic medical colonisation.