Here’s a line for you: “True leadership means tough decisions in difficult times”. 
That’s a quote from a European politician which I think is very relevant to the current situation with the Bandwagon 2022 occupiers still camped outside Parliament.  
It’s relevant because the Government seems to be avoiding tough decisions at all cost and, as a result – in my view – is demonstrating a complete lack of leadership. 
Doing what it’s doing, and refusing to meet with the occupiers, isn’t leadership. It’s not a tough decision. It’s a cop-out. 
I’m not saying the Prime Minister going and talking with them would be a sign of true leadership, either. That would be desperation on the Government’s part, as far as I’m concerned. 
And it would come to nothing because the occupiers – if they managed to find someone to speak on their behalf – would tell her ‘we’ll pack up the tents and portaloos, if you get rid of the vaccination mandates’.  
And she will never agree to that. Not now anyway. And nor should she. Why on earth would you get rid of the mandates when we’re about to hit peak Omicron and we have absolutely no idea when this pandemic is going to end?  
What these occupiers are demanding, is absolutely nuts. They’re in la-la land. 
So, what would true leadership from the Government actually look like? And what are the tough decisions it needs to make? 
In my mind, it comes down to just one decision. And depending on what it decides, that will determine whether it is capable of leading us out of this shamble. 
Or whether it’s just going to leave everybody in limbo land.  
People like the poor old mayor of Wellington, Andy Foster, who is being berated by some of his fellow city councillors for meeting with the protesters. 
Foster apparently met with some of the occupation “influencers” sometime over the last couple of days. 
And you can understand why can’t you? He’s getting nothing from the Government – other than loud music and sprinklers – and he’s desperate to see this thing dealt with, once and for all. 
But what can he do? He can’t get rid of the vaccination mandates. He can’t do anything. 
And now he’s got other Wellington councillors saying his act of desperation was “extremely dangerous” and an embarrassment to Wellington. 
One of them even said it was “un-mayoral”, what he did. Whatever that means. 
But he wouldn’t be doing this if the Government wasn’t sitting on its hands and hoping it’ll all go away sometime.  
It won’t just go away sometime. And I know we’ve heard from people here in Canterbury who have gone up to Wellington to show support for the occupiers and who have told us it’s all peace and love. 
But I don’t care whether it’s peace and love or whatever. The fact remains that what these people are doing is illegal, they are causing significant disruption and anxiety, and they cannot be allowed to stay there. 
So, how might the Government show true leadership by making tough decisions in difficult times, as per the quote I mentioned earlier? 
And what is the one question it needs to ask itself?  
Well, this is what I think. I think things are now at the point where the Government must ask itself: “Do we order the Police – and perhaps the Army too – to shut this whole thing down and kick the occupiers out? Or, do we keep doing what we’re doing?” 
If it decides to keep doing what it’s doing – nothing will happen. Nothing will change.   
But if the Government decides to go the whole hog and shut this occupation down – using the Police and perhaps even the Army – then that, in my opinion, will be true leadership. The true leadership that is desperately needed to get this sorted once and for all. 
It would, of course, fly in the face of the Police Commissioner’s preference for policing by consent. And his fear that using force to end the occupation would be a shift back to the old days of the...

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