Water diversions
I am appalled at the misinformation being spread by opponents of centralised, co-ordinated governance of the Three Waters.
The main objection touted is the "seizure": of council assets, socialism at its worst.
The truth is the Government will be assuming the debt associated with these assets, in the case of some councils who have made many ill-advised decisions in water infrastructure requiring many costly fixes. This debt is huge, far beyond the ability of the ratepayers to own it.
So the objection is against the formation of informed boards to make informed expert well-managed decisions on water infrastructure expenditure, as against the status quo; having a locally elected body of uninformed lay people with no expertise signing off on multimillion-dollar water projects which have delivered many costly and spectacular failures, and in some case deaths.
Which option makes more sense really?
Paul Cheshire, Maraetai.
Property rights
Simon Wilson rightly, criticises Christopher Luxon (NZ Herald, June 14) for his inability to explain National's position on Three Waters. But there is a principled objection to co-governance. It is based on the protection of property rights.
Where Maori land is confiscated or sold at an unfair price, the law should provide a remedy, and iwi are entitled to compensation.
In some cases, compensation has been by way of payment. In others, by transfer of land. The National Government also "compensated" some iwi by setting up a co-governance structure with former Maori assets that remain in the public domain.
An example is Auckland's volcanic cones. These cones were used by iwi as fortresses. Somehow, the cones became reserves held for the benefit of the public. To return these reserves to private iwi ownership was not politically acceptable. The solution was to share control between the local authority and iwi, who accepted co-governance as a compromise.
No such background exists with Three Waters. These pipes and reservoirs were created by, and belong to, ratepayers. There is no loss of a property right by iwi, and thus no need to compensate by way of co-governance.
John Reardon, Ōrewa.
Put to flight
As your editorial stated (NZ Herald, June 14), it is high time New Zealand removed the pre-departure testing for travellers.
The medical grounds for this are now well and truly gone and even America has removed it.
In addition, it is time for an urgent review of our immigration settings with employers having substantiated numerous additions and tweaks to the "green list" (such as for health workers).
New Zealand is missing out on tourists, immigrant workers and international students - to the detriment of our economy and our service deliveries.
Let's hope the new minister hits the ground running and acts.
Lucas Bonne, Unsworth Heights.
Rugby role model
What a remarkable young man Macken Graham is (NZ Herald, June 14). He represents what is best in the human spirit and exemplifies qualities people more mature would envy, whilst displaying wisdom beyond his 13 years. In the present climate of political posturing and petty gaslighting, there are more than a few individuals in Parliament who would benefit greatly from taking lessons from Macken in fortitude and humility.
Mary Hearn, Glendowie.
Arise, Sir Trevor?
It is no big secret that Mallard has been immensely unpopular.
Traditionally when the Speaker leaves Parliament, he or she becomes a knight or a dame.
It will be interesting to see if Mallard is rewarded accordingly since he has just been removed from the Speaker's position.
Dave Miller, Matua.
Reading material
Christopher Luxon does not seem to be at all well-read, even of his own party's policies. He also seems totally unaware of Newton's Law that for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction.
I guess running an airline doesn't leave much time for reading.
Barbara Matthews, Onehunga.
Sucked in, again
Just whose blunder was it to allow the introduction of addictive vaping into New Zealand?
The medical teams, Māori organisations, and Cancer Society have spent billions on "kaua e auahi" (no smoking) advertisements and health seminars over the past decade and cigarette taxes increased every year.
What a waste of time, effort, and money, when youth are now vaping as an alternative, thinking that it is safer, only to now be told that the nicotine levels are equal to more than "smoking a pack a day".
"Once a man [or a company] has seized power, his love of money displays exactly the same characteristics as gangrene, for gangrene once established in a body, never rests until it has invaded and corrupted the whole of it." - Anna Comnena.
Now we, the taxpayers, will fund billions to get youth addiction to vaping down. Until the corporate giants invent the next addictive product.
What solution does the Minister of Health propose now?
Marie Kaire, Whangārei.
Fix-it Hipkins
I feel some sympathy for Chris Hipkins. As one of the faces of the eternal daily updates during the early days of the Covid pandemic, he was relentlessly upbeat, occasionally flustered, and made a couple of embarrassing gaffes that he laughed at along with everyone else.
Now that he has replaced beleaguered Poto Williams as Police Minister he will have to draw on more than his good-natured, easy friendliness. He will be facing increasingly fed-up New Zealanders demanding something is done to curb gang violence, ram-raiders, and their ilk.
We don't want to hear, "I'm looking into ways of getting onside with gang members", and so on. Hopefully, the old saying "actions speak louder than words" will finally come into play.
Good luck Chris. I have a feeling you'll need lots of it.
Lorraine Kidd, Warkworth.
Finding fault
So Chris Rattue (NZ Herald, June 14) found tennis player Coco Gauff's marker message against American gun violence "damn annoying".
I suspect those affected by this awful problem would use much harsher words to describe Rattue's highly insensitive comment.
Doug Hannan, Mt Maunganui.
Public servants
David Hallett (NZ Herald, June 14), in disputing my claim that large bureaucracies are critically necessary to a functioning society, says he gets his information about bureaucracies from 40-year-old comedy television.
That's okay I suppose, but still leaves him having to explain how New Zealand was a fully functioning society from 1935 until the mid-1980s when our bureaucracies were large, and now all the measures we use to see how well we're doing - housing, health, education, prison populations, etc, etc, are in crisis.
Mark Nixon, Remuera.
Making tracks
Transport For London recently opened the Elizabeth Line section of the Crossrail project. The line is an above and underground rail system linking Reading to the west of London with Abbey Wood in the east. It covers, a distance of 117km, contains several new stations, and links with many of the existing underground lines and stations. The total cost of this project converted to NZ$ was $34 billion.
Compare this with the proposed City to Airport link in Auckland down Dominion Rd, which will apparently cost $29b.
I think whoever is responsible for this Airport Link project should speak with the people who developed Crossrail and find out how to do it for $290m per kilometre as compared to the proposed $1.8 billion per kilometre.
Otherwise the taxpayers and ratepayers of Auckland are literally being taken for a ride.
Ian Collinson, Remuera.
Footing it
I'm all for pedestrianising some of Auckland City's Queen St but this means removing cycles and scooters, not just cars.
Pedestrians, that is walkers, need to have confidence that their designated space is not utilised by faster moving vehicles of any type with surrounding streets providing access for such.
Annette Nicholls, Mt Eden.
Short & sweet
On Mallard
"Diplomat Trevor Mallard" - the ultimate oxymoron. Josephine Ellis, Meadowbank.
Mallard was always more turkey than duck and won't be missed. Roger Bale, Pukekawa.
The Irish certainly deserve better than this. Bruce Woodley, Birkenhead.
On Cabinet
The present Government ministers lack experience and no amount of shuffling will make any difference. Neil Hatfull, Warkworth.
On crime
On law and order, our Government claimed to have lost "focus". More to the point, they have lost control. Joan Scott, Rotorua.
If Auckland really is becoming Dodge City, perhaps the Prime Minister should rebadge the new Police Minister "the Crime Minister" and tell gangs they've got until sundown to get out of town. Dean Donoghue, Pāpāmoa Beach.
On football
FIFA 1, NZ 0. Steve Dransfield, Karori.
The Premium Debate
Auckland mayoral candidates' fixes for central city
Face it, the CBD is gone. Leave it to the crims and drunks. The malls are far better, free parking, covered and no one hassling you for coins. Mark Y.
Auckland is not just Queen St. What about the other few hundred square kilometres, whose residents are being fleeced to benefit a bunch of wasteful projects? What good is a vibrant CBD to people who live in Wellsford, or Pukekohe? The entire system is broken. What an utter mess. Pietro E.
The CBD, with its high-value properties, probably pays double or triple the total rates income of rural Rodney (which contains Wellsford) Based on the population of 45,000 in core CBD mentioned the other day, that's not far behind Rodney ward of 66,000 either. Hector B.
Look again Hector - Rodney also includes Omaha, Matakana and other areas with high-value property paying high rates to a Super City that pays little into local improvement. Glenn R.
Has any of them considered people just don't want to go to the CBD anymore? Get back to the basics, we can no longer afford the fantasies some of you have. Danielle J.
I would love free transport. And I would love free petrol. And I would love free food. And I would also love a free house, while you are at it. Please contact me for further lists of what I want for free. Of course, essentially all that "free" means is that somebody else is paying for it. Gaut S.
Auckland is screwed, death by a thousand taxes, etc. Adam S.