I did not know that there was a Māori Health Authority until the present Government said they were going to close it down. If I’m sick, I go to my GP; if I have an emergency at home, I call the ambulance; if I need medicine, I go to the chemist, etc. With these and many other health services available for us all, what does the Māori Health Authority do? With a shortage of medical staff across all departments, where are they going to get their staff, medical specialists and money from?
Having spent many years in the military, many of my fellow soldiers were Pākehā, but we did not look at each other as Māori or Pākehā, just fellow soldiers/mates. We served alongside and trained with military personnel from many other countries. Comments were made to us about how well we worked and trained closely together, and how our camaraderie was strong.
Make no mistake, the Māori/Pākehā working combination in the military is second to none, and I know this is the same in many other areas of our workforce/ community. There were also many Pacific Island mates who served, which made our camaraderie even stronger.
In the NZ Police, our instructors at Police College were Māori, Pākehā and Pasifika, and of course this is right across the police force itself.
Continued divisive rhetoric by this guy will slowly chip away at our communities. Meanwhile, he will still happily be picking up his increased pay cheque.
Lastly, the words from Sir Apirana Ngata, used at our last Anzac Day: “We are of one house. If our Pākehā brothers fall, we fall with them.” And I know from experience, that this will always go both ways.
Eddie Tuhaka
Thank you Krissy
Re: Suicide prevention service Hear4U to shut doors, June 5 story.
Very sad read. Thank you Krissy for all you and your wider team have achieved.
Make sure you look after yourself as well and hold your head high as a district lifesaver.
Karl Scragg
More child poverty
Finance Minister Nicola Willis has finally admitted that beneficiaries will have their payments cut under her Government. This will have the effect of tipping many thousands more children into poverty.
The world-acclaimed Otago University longitudinal study of 1000 New Zealanders from 1972 onwards lays out the consequences of child poverty in later years in crystal clear terms. Twenty-two per cent of those 1000 are responsible for over 80 per cent of criminal convictions in the group. Those 22 per cent grew up in poverty, many in severe poverty. They also continue to have way higher rates of diabetes, obesity and heart disease, etc, than the others.
There is no reason for the Government not to know this. How crazy is it then to deliberately make poor children poorer, knowing all the while that this will have large, ongoing negative impacts on our severely stressed health and justice systems for the rest of their lives. This amounts to applied lunacy.
Child poverty is a political choice in the same way that a tax cut for landlords is a political choice. This Government has knowingly chosen to make the poor and vulnerable much poorer so they can do their bit to make life much more comfortable for landlords who get to share $2.9 billion among themselves.
How reprehensible and economically reckless is that? These politicians’ neoliberal “values” are so warped and radical they truly believe the best way to deal to the poor and vulnerable is to inflict cruelty upon them, just like Ruth Richardson did in the 90s. It would be a waste of time to send Minister Willis a moral compass – she would no doubt refuse to use it because she believes better.
The reality is that if this Government continues to choose not to address child poverty in any meaningful way, or indeed in any way at all, we will continue to face more societal dysfunction and breakdown at a greater pace and cost.
This is just one of many deeply disturbing moves this Government is making.
Bruce Holm
El Nino said to have ended
While May was more than a degree colder than usual, the latest expert outlook indicates we are now entering neutral climate conditions.
The latest assessment from the Climate Prediction Centre of the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration says El Nino conditions have ended and the transition to La Nina is most likely over July to September (issued June 3).
For those interested in East Coast weather, last month was wetter, colder and less sunny than usual for May. Rainfall totalled almost 130mm - close to 40mm more than the 30-year average for May. Sunshine was about 10 hours short of the May average of 151 hours. Thirteen days of wind from the southerly quarter kept the temperature down, with the daily average being 11.5 degrees, or 1.3 degrees below the 30-year average of 12.8.
The water temperature off the beaches plummeted over May, but have steadied to around 15.3 degrees, which is normal for this time of year.
Roger Handford
