Letters to the editor: Labour's economic weakness an obvious target

Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern. Photo / File

Richard Prebble's column (Opinion, December 3) is spot on.

This Government was elected on the back of "Jacindamania", coupled with a very abnormal national and international situation.

We clearly did not take into account the poor economic performance of the Labour Government before Covid-19 arrived.

We were sliding backwards but nobody seemed worried.

Nor did we seem concerned about the disgraceful performance in respect of housing, the misguided use of taxpayer funds and the lack of progress whatsoever on health, social issues, police and poverty.

It was clear the National Party would have been unlikely to win the last election, even before it went into self-destruct mode.

But I believe it could have done better if it had concentrated on Labour's economic performance.

Vaughan Chetwynd
Tauranga

House values different from profit

I had to laugh when I read that a house was sold in Oceanview Rd for a $2 million profit.

The next line reads that it was put on the market for the first time in 33 years.

That is not a profit. That is simply a property keeping pace with market values over 33 years.

That is why some people buy property – so they can keep pace with rising values.

Supply and demand will create a few anomalies but generally you keep pace with the values of similar properties around you.

Rather than calling it a profit, it should have been termed increased value.

Did the Bay of Plenty Times work out how much in property maintenance, rates and insurance the property had cost over all those years?

I sincerely doubt the owners would have wanted to sell the property for the same price they paid 33 years ago.

Laurie Sanders
Tauranga

Predator-free folly

At a recent talk, a speaker from a group trying to eradicate predators predicted we would be free of predators by 2050 - that I doubt very much, attempting it is folly and far too expensive.

Since life first began on Earth 99.9 per cent of life has become extinct, it is the natural way of things. Evolution is to blame.

We are spending a small fortune attempting to remove rats, weasels, stoats, and possums, to preserve a few flightless birds - many of which are killed by domestic cats. Surely it would be more practical to preserve the vulnerable creatures in a zoo or other safe habitat and let nature and evolution handle the rest, as opposed to trying to kill off millions of predators by covering our beautiful country with dangerous poisons.

Spending all the money raised on maybe keeping just one island predator-free would make much more sense than hoping to treat the whole country - much of which is uninhabited and difficult to negotiate.

Jim Adams
Rotorua

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