Middle NZ: People more important than money

Linda Hall says it's time to remove GST from fruit and vegetables. Photo / File

OPINION

Please Napier City Council — think long and hard about selling housing units.

The council is thinking about selling the units because it is struggling to meet the costs of maintaining and upgrading them.

These are units that are mostly rented by retirees or people with disabilities.

Napier mayor Kirsten Wise told Hawke's Bay today on Saturday "we don't want our elderly and vulnerable living in sub-standard housing conditions".

What does the mayor think is going to happen to these tenants if their homes are sold from under them?

Are they miraculously going to find a brand new home they can afford? No, if they are lucky they will have family to help them, if not they could very easily join our growing number of homeless.

I bet they don't mind if there's a little bit of mould in the bathroom, or if the carpet is getting a bit threadbare. It's not ideal but isn't it better for them to have a roof over their heads, a kitchen to cook in, a bathroom to use and a bedroom to sleep in?

So please don't just look at the monetary side of things. People are far more important and at the moment with all that's going on with Covid, house prices and the cost of living, in my opinion it would be cruel to sell these units.

Speaking of the cost of living, once upon a time I didn't mind a trip to the supermarket.
These days the only nice thing about it is the staff. How they have kept smiling I don't know.

In the past couple of weeks I have seen cauliflower for $8.99, had photos of a bagged lettuce (an insult to the lettuce) sent to me at $4.50 and a crayfish all the way from Australia for $111.

I bought none of the above.

The brand of olives I usually buy for $3.99 is now $5.50. I bought a different brand. As for cheese, I'm not even going to go there.

Oh but hang on you can buy a litre bottle of fizzy for $1 — what a bargain.

In New Zealand everyone should be able to afford fruit, vegetables, dairy and meat. I know businesses have to make money but what I don't understand is why so much of our prime produce is shipped overseas and what's left for us is unaffordable to thousands of people and that number is growing by the day.

The Government can't be held accountable for everything in this country but I think the time has come to remove GST from at least fruit and veges. Ideally it would include milk, cheese and why not some of the "cheaper" cuts of meat such as mince (which is not what i would call cheap these days but at least it goes a long way).

It would make so much difference to families struggling with rising rents and interest rates.

As children head back to schools which provide lunches it will help some families, but it's only the rung at the bottom of the ladder.

Removing the GST on the items I mentioned is certainly not going to solve the fact that children across our country are going hungry every day but it's a step in the right direction.

Think about it please Prime Minister.

• Linda Hall is assistant editor at Hawke's Bay Today