Lady Deborah Chambers: Trust Litigation and Relationship Property Lawyer on the need for an apology for measures undertaken during Covid

There's a belief an apology is due over some Government measures undertaken during our pandemic response. 

Phase One of the Royal Commission Inquiry has delivered 39 recommendations.  

It highlights that Government messaging was initially effective but became more challenging as objectives shifted. 

It notes some vaccine requirements were too broad and continued too long. 

Trust Litigation and Relationship Property Lawyer Lady Deborah Chambers told Ryan Bridge people who lost their jobs due to mandates remain angry. 

She says there's a large group of people who remain hurt, which negatively impacts our social cohesion. 

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
The first phase of the Royal Commission inquiry into the

(00:02):
COVID response has been released, and while it says many
things were done correctly, it's highly critical of the government
response at the time, particularly around mandates and the length
of lockdowns. Lady Deborah Chambers Casey wrote an opinion piece
at the time, and I spoke to her then. This
is the first line from it. The emergency legislation in
response to COVID nineteen giving our government the right to

(00:25):
control our freedom of movement is no longer demonstrably justified
in removing the fundamental rights to which New Zealanders are entitled.
And Lady Deb's with me this morning. Good morning, Good
morning Ryan, great to speak to you again. How did
you feel or what did you think reading that or

(00:46):
having a look at that report yesterday?

Speaker 2 (00:49):
Well, I thought there was some good news there in
that Tony, Professor Tony Blakeley has grappled with the some
and the hurt caused to a lot of New Zealanders
and the harm caused to a lot of New Zealanders
by our government's response to COVID, and he also obviously

(01:13):
has some pretty good ideas about a heart to cope
next time, but he does grapple with this issue of
excessive use of lockdowns. And he's also, as we know,
very critical of the mandates, particularly towards the end period
of the epidemic.

Speaker 1 (01:29):
Do we need some kind of accountability for this?

Speaker 2 (01:33):
Well, personally, I think that an apology is due. I mean,
I was pro vaccination, so I wasn't affected by the mandates.
But I know from my interaction and from this report
that those people affected by the mandates who lost their jobs,

(01:55):
for example, are very angry still. You see them and
you hear them in the community and at political things
and so on, that they disrupt political meetings. They are
feeling so angry by that so and that social lack
of cohesion not forgetting and they're quite a big group,

(02:17):
so and they feel very hurt. And also I also
think there's been, as the Commission says, this reduction throughout
New Zealand and confidence and government. So I mean, I
must say I'm pointing the singer Chris Hipkins. Why because

(02:37):
he was Minister in charge of COVID nineteen response, Education, Police,
Health and Deputy Prime Minister. And he's the only one
of the three of them who are still there in Parliament,
and you know his response is so far. Quote it's
a really helpful report. Quote, I accept the Royal Commissions

(02:58):
finding that there were things that could have been done differently. Well,
it's the usual weatl words, isn't it from politicians? I mean,
he would be better and it would be it would
make a difference to people if he said we made
for real mistakes and I'm sorry we did that. I'm
sorry we did that around these issues of mandates lockdowns

(03:20):
and I think am i q as well?

Speaker 1 (03:22):
What about just an apology basically from Hopkins? Yeah, what
about the And we've only got about a minute left here,
lady Deborah, but what about the you wrote this column.
I'm sure you would have got lots of kickback from
lots of corners. Just that that social fragmentation, when one
person put their head above the parapet to say something

(03:45):
that God forbid might contradict the prevailing narrative, you're shot down.

Speaker 2 (03:52):
Yes, yes, that was definitely the case that no other
view was accepted, and it was, you know, very it
was like a fundamentalist religion. It was far too rigid
and far too lacking and taking into account other people's perspectives.
As a sorry state that we were in.

Speaker 1 (04:13):
Lady DEBORH. Chambers, I appreciate your time. Thank you very
much for being with me, my pleasure.

Speaker 2 (04:17):
Nice to talk. For more from Early Edition with Ryan Bridge.
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