We’re all affected in some way, some more than others, we may all be in the same storm but we are definitely not all experiencing it in the same boat, writes Ruta Mave.

As I write its Boxing Day, started in Queen Victoria’s day where after Christmas the rich would put small gifts and money into boxes and give them to their servants as a thank you for all their help during the year. Somehow this gift of giving has become one of the largest retail days for turnover than shops do for the whole year. In the Cook Islands because it’s Sunday all shops are closed for the Sabbath, so perhaps some charity and giving will shine at church today, before the madness ensues on Tuesday 28^th.

By the time you read this, the start of a new year 2022 will be looming and what that may bring us is anyone’s guess. But the money is heavy on when the borders open from January 13, the Covid virus will eventually reach our shores.

We remain in our safe Covid free bubble, over 95 per cent vaccinated and bolstered by the booster living the life of Larry, because of Aunty Jacinda. Her decisions and handouts in vaccines and millions of aid is why we don’t have the headlines and devastating numbers like Fiji and Tahiti, and why Auckland doesn’t have the same statistics as Melbourne or Sydney.

Who can forget starting this year on January 6 watching Trump supporters marching on the Capitol in an attempt to overturn a legal and democratic voting result? It shook the world by surprise and pretty much set up the rest of the year.  Even after the team of 5 million achieved the Covid elimination strategy and was the only country allowing people to gather together to watch the America’s Cup races, go to concerts, shop freely and then travel quarantine free to the Cook Islands and Australia, all was forgotten after Delta arrived and for the safety of all, New Zealand went into lockdown. Not as long as Melbourne but long enough to get people edgy and upset which led onto marches on parliament and Auckland during lockdown. In the USA Trump led from the podium, in Auckland it was Brian Tamaki who called Destiny church members to hit the streets. The weekend he wasn’t there only 100 to 200 turned up and no one marched.

We’re all affected in some way, some more than others, we may all be in the same storm but we are definitely not all experiencing it in the same boat. From life rafts to super yachts this world pandemic has been unduly brutal for some and extravagantly rewarding for others. While hundreds die without hospital care of Covid, others are flying into space with billionaires.

As a nation we made some moves this year like the smart grant funding where some people got $100,000 to play old songs and others to set up agricultural exploits that have not shown any production to date. Meanwhile we’ve had several weeks of no eggs from Fiji, no frozen chickens from America. We gave people hundreds of thousands for agriculture; we have chickens running wild all around us but nothing to eat.

The government has secured millions in loans from ADB and grants from NZ, none is fully preparing the hospital to cope with a predicted 2400 cases and 10 deaths. Of the $645 million in infrastructure projects planned, most of them are for increasing the comfort of politicians in new government buildings. No additional buildings or bed space at the hospital, instead there is talk of a private tourist accommodation will be hired to take on the infected tourists if needed. Its been a year still no place for the Pa Metua, (Prime Minister) Mark Brown subtly suggested ‘we’ need a house for the Prime Minister to live in, because ‘we’ need to be seen as a developed nation.

In 2019 MPs from the Government and Opposition gave themselves a 45 per cent wage rise. Mark Brown announced he will look at wage increases for police, teachers and health in the next three years, the past two years their jobs have increased exponentially and still no wage rise.

The new sheriff in town has shaken some rotten apples from the tree, he’s joined by a new police commissioner. Arrests of the Punas and (suspended) DPM Robert Tapaitau for suspected fraud is a start.

The first flight back with tourists after closing in 2020 had no fanfare, no organisation, nothing like the sendoff we had in Auckland. Tourism, have you improved? Will you be better next month?

We have to move forward into another year, we can’t know what is ahead when the year 2022 sounds like 2020 too. Instead of waiting for the rug to be pulled out from under us, we must learn to dance on a shifting carpet. Happy New Year.