Letters: Israel Folau's views should be ignored

Waratahs player Israel Folau. Photo/Speed Media/Icon Sportswire.

Australian rugby is apparently going to sack Israel Folau, and now society is turning on him (Opinion, April 13) because of his tweet of "Hate Speech".

A few facts: All the types of people that he referred to do exist. Secondly, putting religion aside, it is accepted that Jesus was a historical figure. Nothing hateful so far.

Folau states that the people he listed will burn in hell unless they repent to Jesus. From time to time we are all told to repent to Jesus but where did Folau get the hell burning from?

Not from the teachings of Jesus for sure. Jesus was a fair, tolerant, compassionate, loving man.

In short, Folau is talking nonsense and any parent worried about children being influenced by such nonsense should discuss it with them. Children are not stupid.

To verbally martyr Folau could well risk turning him into something of a cult hero. Not wise.

Let him play his rugby but otherwise ignore him. Treat his comments with the contempt they deserve.

Peter A Brown

Hairini

Council projects

I found it timely reading your article on "Damning report into four contentious city projects" (News, April 13), after having just visited a community open day about the proposed walkway connecting Memorial Park to The Strand.

The similarities between admissions in the article and what I witnessed were staggering. In the article, an independent reviewer had stated that the council had, on two separate projects (one including the Phoenix carpark ) presented designs to the public that were "unrealistic" being much more expensive than the budget allowed.

At the open day, I was presented with glossy photos of potential construction ideas. I listened to a council representative discuss how a five-metre-wide concrete structure would be an option they are leaning towards. When I asked what the budget for the project was, I was told $5-$6 million (keeping in mind that in 2007 the council spent $1 million investigating this same project and it was estimated to cost $12 million – that was 12 years ago!).

Have the council included how much it will cost to compensate riparian rights holders, resource consents, etc? Is the council disclosing the whole cost of this project?

Owen Allsop

Te Puna

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