Letters to the editor: Adding fluoride too costly to add to water supply

Letter writer says it's too expensive to add flouride to water. Photo / NZME

OPINION

A significant problem with our society in recent decades is that we demand too much from the Government and councils in the nice-to-have category.

Whilst I don’t rate fluoridation in that sense, I do think that the capital cost of introducing fluoride to the Athenree water supply ( target="_blank">News, November 28), for example, at nearly $924,000 plus ongoing costs of just over $55,000 a year is just far too much.

I don’t know the number of children who will benefit from this proven measure but surely it would be cheaper for the Health Ministry to simply supply free fluoride tablets to those families who make such a request?

Bill Capamagian

Tauranga

Te reo should come first

Ngāi Te Rangi chair Charles Tawhiao has filed a claim to the Waitangi Tribunal against the new Government.

The main thrust of his claim is objecting to the of use of English names for Government departments first when previously Māori names came first.

I agree with Mr Tawhiao, Māori names should come first written with the alphabet Māori used before the arrival of Europeans.

P Harlen

Mount Maunganui

Children’s learning behind

It seems that our school children are performing below what could have been expected a few years ago, particularly in the core subjects, literacy, mathematics and science.

We’re falling relative to other nations who participate in the PISA testing method.

Basic education, the three Rs: reading, writing and arithmetic, will tend to raise the living standards of any culture or ethnicity.

This in turn promotes aspiration and achievement and as a so-called advanced nation, we’ve fallen into the trap of believing that we can improve on this foundation. Whether we are better or worse than other participants in these surveys matters not a toss if we have a low academic achievement level, and our kids deserve the highest standards in learning.

Society in general only benefits from aspirational learning.

John Williams

Ngongotahā

Premium online comments

Record migration is expected to put “upward pressure on rents” as the supply of rentals diminishes and competition intensifies, a property specialist warns.

A rental agency boss reports it lost six properties in a month as landlords sold up and says some of its tenants “have been pushed out on to the streets”.

Read the full story: Rents under pressure amid high migration to New Zealand and landlords selling up.

The UN says everyone has the right to a decent home. A decent home is safe, warm, dry, affordable, accessible and culturally adequate. It is supported by necessary infrastructure such as water, and accessible to key services and facilities such as education, health providers and the community. They do not say it is a human right for people to own their home/shelter.

Mark Y

The defending of rapacious landlords by those on the right is as flawed as the left vilifying good landlords.

Brian H

Could we simply put in place the requirement to build new if you want to come live in NZ? If you want to be a permanent resident, then you have to have the ability to build a new home for yourself, not buy up existing housing stock.

Two birds with one stone - new houses added and existing stock available for the rest of us. It could potentially help the third of the population renting be able to own their own homes, as out-of-control house prices should become more affordable.

After all, shelter is a necessity like food and water, not something a handful of people should be getting extremely wealthy off, just like supermarket owners only caring about how much money they can suck out of the average Joe to stick in their back pocket.

Philip T

In reply to Philip T: In theory it might be a good idea, but we do not have enough doctors, roads, police etc. to service the multiple demands immigrants put on society.

Ratepayers cannot afford rates now; more houses puts more cost on them for more infrastructure.

If they went into high-rise apartments beside rail lines, it might be better.

Stephen H

What we need is a comprehensive first-home owners’ development package with minimum deposit discounted mortgage rates and long-term mandatory ownership terms.

It would not be socialism, as it would be capitalist in nature and focused on getting families into their own homes.

Neil C

Rental crisis was a thing regardless of who’s in government, but Labour’s removal of interest tax deductibility was a bit over the top.

I ended up with less despite charging a higher rent. The increase could have been significantly lower if the full deductibility was still in place.

So over-regulating the market does not help anyone. I’d rather have no more than an 8 per cent increase in rent intervention than a removal of tax deductibility. An increase in rates and house insurance didn’t help either.

Paul C

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