Alofa and I attended a private meeting of small business owners a few days before the traffic light system came in. We thought there might be a dozen others at the meeting, and Alofa thought about making a plate of scones. It was just as well she did not because it was standing room only to our surprise! I reckon there must have been 200 people there.
I heard that an additional 30,000 businesses would go bust this year due to the traffic light system. We will end up with a commercial wasteland from the gutting of the small and medium enterprises that Mum and Dad Kiwi run. When Amazon marches into NZ, they will have it all to themselves. The only small businesses remaining will be the tradies needed to keep the biggies operating. Small retailers will be dead and gone.
Please do not fool yourself: this is where we are heading unless we put our foot down and call an immediate halt to this madness.
Good on them!! Hopefully more will stand up, but I'm not seeing too much yet. Some that are forced to close may stand up when they have nothing more to lose.