Latest / Early Edition with Ryan Bridge / Matthew Hague: Lawyer who represented vaccine mandate opponents on the outcome of the Covid Inquiry

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Matthew Hague: Lawyer who represented vaccine mandate opponents on the outcome of the Covid Inquiry · Early Edition with Ryan Bridge

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: So we've got the COVID Report Phase two. It's come out.
• 0:02
  Speaker 1: Royal Commission found cabinet cat auckland in and a lockdown
• 0:05
  Speaker 1: nearly a week longer than n Ashley Bloomfield had advised, though
• 0:09
  Speaker 1: Chippy is now disputing the exact sequencing of that review.
• 0:13
  Speaker 1: Also says advice on vaccines for under eighteen's was missed.
• 0:17
  Speaker 1: Matthew Hag is a lawyer who defended the client who
• 0:19
  Speaker 1: didn't want a COVID JAB and joins us this morning.
• 0:22
  Speaker 1: Good morning, Matthew, good morning.
• 0:24
  Speaker 2: Right.
• 0:24
  Speaker 1: What's your reaction to the report?
• 0:27
  Speaker 2: It's well, I'm not really been surprised, to be honest,
• 0:31
  Speaker 2: The things that are in the report were being said
• 0:34
  Speaker 2: at the time by many people, and I think what's
• 0:38
  Speaker 2: disappointing is at the time those people who were saying
• 0:42
  Speaker 2: those things were ostracized by the government. They were inconsistent
• 0:46
  Speaker 2: with the one source of truth that the government were
• 0:49
  Speaker 2: putting out at that time and portrayed it as these uncaring,
• 0:53
  Speaker 2: unthinking people. In the report I think confirms that in
• 0:56
  Speaker 2: many aspects that's not the case.
• 0:57
  Speaker 1: Is this are you talking about the second dose for
• 0:59
  Speaker 1: young people in the myocarditist risk, etc.
• 1:03
  Speaker 2: I am. And also I'm talking about aspects of the
• 1:05
  Speaker 2: mandates and the extent of lockdown and testing.
• 1:09
  Speaker 1: Problem is that we if we all have to agree
• 1:12
  Speaker 1: on what we do next time, is anyone going to
• 1:14
  Speaker 1: agree on anything? You know? Like, that's what it's saying
• 1:17
  Speaker 1: that we should do, is have some kind of plan.
• 1:19
  Speaker 1: But then whatever plan we come up with just get
• 1:22
  Speaker 1: thrown out the window, doesn't it.
• 1:24
  Speaker 2: That's exactly right. We had a pandemic emergency planned from
• 1:27
  Speaker 2: the nineties and that was thrown at the window. You're
• 1:30
  Speaker 2: absolutely right. Look, there's nothing to stop in future governments
• 1:34
  Speaker 2: from doing the same thing. But I think the report
• 1:37
  Speaker 2: is a good thing because it does shine a light
• 1:38
  Speaker 2: on some of those some of the flaws. And I
• 1:41
  Speaker 2: don't think people expect perfection, but we need to be introspective,
• 1:46
  Speaker 2: We need to reflect on things carefully. One of the
• 1:49
  Speaker 2: recommendations of the report is the introduction of primary legislation
• 1:52
  Speaker 2: to better protect human rights in relation to some of
• 1:56
  Speaker 2: those mandates and testing in lockdowns, and I think that's
• 1:59
  Speaker 2: a good idea.
• 2:00
  Speaker 1: There was also some interesting numbers in there about about
• 2:02
  Speaker 1: how many people didn't get the job and therefore lost
• 2:06
  Speaker 1: their job, and that kind of drag on their employment.
• 2:10
  Speaker 2: Even today, there are teachers, principles, police officers, members of
• 2:18
  Speaker 2: the forces that are still without a job and we'll
• 2:22
  Speaker 2: probably never go back, which is really sad, not just
• 2:24
  Speaker 2: for them and their families, but for communities. And I
• 2:28
  Speaker 2: think we do need to reflect as a society on
• 2:30
  Speaker 2: those professions that we hold up highly as people who
• 2:33
  Speaker 2: serve our community, but we turn our backs on them
• 2:36
  Speaker 2: when they need society to protect them and their basic
• 2:39
  Speaker 2: human rights.
• 2:40
  Speaker 1: Appreciate your time, Matthew. Matthew Hague, lawyer. He defended the
• 2:43
  Speaker 1: client who didn't want to COVID JAB talking about the
• 2:45
  Speaker 1: Report Act yesterday. For more from Early Edition with Ryan Bridge,
• 2:50
  Speaker 1: listen live to News Talks. It'd be from five am weekdays,
• 2:53
  Speaker 1: or follow the podcast on iHeartRadio