It's outrageous - Letters, 14 November

The Bay of Plenty Times welcomes letters and comments from readers. Here you can read the letters we have published in your newspaper today.

Letter of the Week:

Proud of design of Papamoa College

I have lived in Papamoa for nine years. The changes made to Papamoa in that time have been awesome.

It's such a great place to live.

We have been blessed with a great school, Papamoa College.

You either love or hate the design. I love it. It's fresh, open spaces and great for learning.

Since its opening at the start of the year I have heard a few negative rumblings around town.

One issue is the much debated open-plan learning.

Before anyone else says anything negative about this I suggest you go and have a look for yourself.

Steve Lindsey, who is the principal, is very approachable and is willing to give you a tour of the school.

I would imagine some other schools are not happy as they have had their school rolls depleted. I imagine some negativity has surfaced from these areas to.

As locals we need to get behind our school and teachers and show some pride.

Everyone has a right to send their kids to other areas of town for education, but please, before you do, take a good look around Papamoa College, you won't be disappointed. My three boys will all be going.

(Abridged)

Robert Clark, Papamoa

People come before asset-sale profits

Considering the antics of the two main parties, they are unreliable, pathetic, and petty and they show again that they are not to be trusted to deal with the economy.

Excluding a few vague promises by Labour, a capital gains tax is long overdue. Our assets belong to the people of New Zealand.

Once they are privatised they become the property of the shareholders.

The consumer has no power over pricing and distribution of essential commodities.

Once again we will all have to foot the bill if the deal goes down the gurgler.

No wonder those who are about to commit an illegal theft of our assets have not yet decided how many billion it will take to make the deal attractive to the big players.

We have to wait until the consumer is hit by outrageous increases. Fortunately we have an alternative to make a positive change to our economic and social circumstances. We have MMP and the minor parties, given our support, could make this country face the future with the leaders and a system which puts people before profits where all would get a fairer share of the wealth which they create.

(Abridged)

Ross Boyte, Tauranga

It's outrageous

What an extraordinarily spiteful attack from Green Party backer Robyn Malcolm, against John Key. Her petty remarks about Key talking on radio about his cat, being photographed at the RWC and being on the cover of Women's Weekly, are a minute part of being a prime minister.

Despite Malcolm's derogatory claims New Zealand is one of the best countries in the world in which to live, supported by as recent national poll, especially at present with the monetary crisis in Europe, massive unemployment in America and Israel's threats to attack Iran because of the latter country's "imagined" building of nuclear weapons, thus starting a third world war,

John Key is an internationally respected prime minister. Perhaps Malcolm is still smarting at Key's demolishing the Malcolm-led industrial action by the Actors Equity Union concerning The Hobbit movie by his making tax concession to Warner Bros in order to keep the filming of The Hobbit in this country, saving major unemployment for those involved in the making of the film,

Malcolm does neither herself, nor the Green Party, any credit by her vicious remarks.

Mary Brooks, Tauranga

On the ball

I must commend the Tauranga City Council for its swift response to a recent water quality issue. I certainly now know how well-equipped and ready the council is should there be a water problem. The possibility of water contamination is real and the council takes this seriously.

We had a problem with a houselot getting sick and the only common ingredient seemed to be the water. We phoned the council and they rapidly within hours checked not only our water but surveyed the whole district. They were back to us with the results within 24 hours.

Our problem had come from drinking water that had been slightly aerated due to a burst pipe. The water in the system is under pressure so should be left to settle before drinking. The bubbling can cause stomach upsets if drank straight away. It can also crackle a bit if run through an aerator. The council use chlorine but only at 0.55 of a milligram per litre. This is well below the tolerance worldwide which is 5mg per litre. They also surveyed what we had eaten and isolated quickly unwashed strawberries. You just can't help but be impressed by the job they are doing.

Jeff Ryan, Papamoa

National can't be trusted by ordinary Kiwis as their past record shows and their present elections promises reveal.

They said after the job talk fest in 2009 that thousands of jobs would be created from the billions of dollars of tax cuts as businesses would invest and create jobs.

They are now saying paying young workers $10.40 an hour will create jobs.

They are saying that having welfare recipients look for work is about preparation for work.

Youth unemployment particularly for Maori and Pacific people is scandalous. Their answer seems to be to build more jails instead of jobs.

They said the 90-day employment contract would also create jobs. Tell that to the 2000 folks competing for a few jobs at a supermarket.

They are saying they will rebuild Christchurch. Where are the trained workers when they cut the apprenticeship schemes?

This government at the same time as it gave billions of tax cuts to the rich also put up the GST which affects the poorest.

Instead of a decent wage rise, this government cut KiwiSaver. So not only do workers lose out now, they lose out for their futures.

National is hell-bent on creating a low-skilled, low-wage workforce. This is not the New Zealand I want for myself or future generations.

(Abridged)

E Dooley, Mt Maunganui

Welsh it is

Simon Bridges stated that he joked with John Key and said that he could not name his baby after him because John is not a Welsh name.

Well, he can! Jones is as Welsh as you can get and it is a patronymic name meaning "son of John" so with a little bending of the psyche, the beloved leader could be perpetuated in a little John Bridges.

I also have Welsh ancestry so am interested in all matters to do with that land to the west of England.

Robin Bishop, Pyes Pa

History lesson

T Kapai (Bay Times, Saturday) goes on about his dear old mum being punished for speaking Maori at school. Letters of this ilk appear from time to time.

Years ago a book written by Dr Judith Simon commented about "Maori" attending native schools who were punished for speaking "Maori".

Someone else wrote that "in 1876 a petition to Parliament from We Te Hakiro and 336 others asked that all children of two years of age when just able to speak should be taught English, so that their first language should be English.

The petition also asked that not a word of Maori be allowed to be spoken in the school, and that the schoolmaster, his wife and children be altogether ignorant of the Maori language. Parliament acceded.

Someone else wrote that leaders' of the young Maori Party preached what both Sir Apirana Ngata and Dr Maui Pomare believed that the first subject in order of priority in the school curriculum was English, the second most important was English, the third most important was English, and then arithmetic and other subjects. In short English for the school, Maori for the marae.

Perhaps that explains why T Kapai's mum and others kept getting a thick ear every so often. Just a thought.

David C Medhurst, Bellevue

Winston the man

When you vote at this election I sincerely hope that you remember who gave us elderly people the gold card so we could ride on the hopper buses for free and so leave our cars at home. Winston Peters is a man who can stand up to any politicians with his vast knowledge and commonsense policies.

Owen Campbell, Tauranga

Face the facts

I read with some concern the increasing worry in Europe regarding financial matters. The euro and the Europeans face the same debilitating future as the US. By default this means that New Zealand is more than likely to be affected in a negative way.

Yet, I cannot see any change in the major political parties' response to the situation. The blue party has moved from reducing debt to embarking a on fresh set of giveaways. The red party continues to defy logic with the their continued spend spend, buy votes policies.

I respect that both leaders are intelligent men who care vary much for New Zealand and New Zealanders. Why then do they continue to pump out their messages of spend, spend, spend. Surely they must know that neither party will be able to meet the "return to surplus" raving that they continue to propagate. Even a mild look at the facts show that they have taken Treasury estimates as gospel, even though these Treasury reports also suggest we are on a downward slope.

Is it too much to expect intelligent people in both parties to face the facts and tell it how it really is?

Roy Edwards, Gate Pa

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