I really don't buy the "the government is using this pandemic as a pretense to install a police state" conspiracy theory. Jacinda Ardern would have to be flat-out retarded to deliberately destroy the economy and the lives of so many Kiwis for the mere sake of pulling a Karen power trip. It really comes down to humans allowing the fear of their mortality and/or the mortality of their vulnerable loved ones to make them behave in irrational ways.

There are lots of NPCs who are literally begging for the government's boot down their neck because they are terrified of either they themselves getting the virus or a loved one of theirs getting the virus and getting fucked up. And Labour is giving them what they want. Fear makes people do really stupid shit. This is what the voters are asking for. Jacinda Ardern's approval rating is actually very high and you can see Kiwis on Reddit eating out her asshole right now.