Fall in, 501s
For every action, there is a reaction.
Australian politicians have set in stone that even more Section 501s are to be sent back to New Zealand. And no amount of "browbeating" by Jacinda Ardern will stop the flow.
501s arrive back in New Zealand with, no support, no friends, or
family ties. I feel sorry for them.
In many cases, they have little alternative but to gravitate to gangs, where they can make friends, have a roof over their head and have something to eat.
I would have thought that Ardern would have thought of some solutions to this problem. We do have an infrastructure in place that could help them.
Send them to Waiouru Military camp, not to punish them but to help them integrate back into our society.
The army is set up to train them as truck drivers, chefs, storemen, trades and many other skill sets, along with some military discipline, including overnight camps in the bush, competitive games, like rugby and many other sports.
I was in the army at Waiouru for military service and saw the advantages it had.
Tom Reynolds, St Heliers.
Easily misled
Two recent opinion pieces, although coming at the issue from slightly different angles, are basically saying the same thing, each drawing attention to the role of the education system in ensuring a better outcome for tomorrow's students.
Bruce Cotterill (Herald, May 21) opines that if we can convince kids to believe in the value of education, we can turn some of them around. Professor Stuart McNaughton (Herald, May 23), quotes from a recent Disinformation Project analysis which emphasises a pressing need for the education system to arm students with the tools they need to be resilient.
I would go further by saying that those things, while good in themselves, must not preclude preventive measures that go beyond the education system. Child poverty, homelessness, foetal alcohol and drug syndromes to name a few.
G E Adams, Waiheke Island.
Rent asunder
In reply to the letter "Luxon beats same old drum" (NZ Herald, 23 May), we need residential investors in NZ like never before.
In 2018, this Government did an audit on housing. This report showed there were 581,000 private rentals. In February this year, it was reported that there were 537,000. This, in four, years is a loss of 44,000 residential rentals.
This is the result of policies put in place to deter investors and treat them like pariahs. Did the Government have a plan for those 44,000 families who are now unable to find a rental? Of course not.
Scarcity causes rent rises; 25,000 are now on the emergency list. Many of the rentals are now registered with Airbnb where the new policies don't apply.
I think it is more to the point to thank Luxon for retaining his rentals.
Margaret Turner, Milford.
Climate vote
The big take from the swing left in the Australian election is that climate change is now the number one issue.
The thinking Australian voters have finally taken on board that serious action is now needed to cut greenhouse gas emissions.
The same will play out here next year. This will not be an election about short term cost of living issues or cultural wars. I believe National and ACT will lose if they go down that route again.
Both Labour and the Greens are in the driving seat on climate change, the question is will they seize the moment?
Playing lip service but not seriously doing anything is no longer an option. Enough voters now understand this. We have run out of time. Worsening wildfires, droughts, marine heatwaves and stronger storms are all ringing alarm bells. Voters are finally listening.
New Zealand must tackle the methane emissions of industrial dairy farming like we are finally tackling transport emissions.
Whoever boldly confronts climate change will win in the long term.
Jeff Hayward, Auckland Central.
Human-kind
What a welcome relief from the anthropocentric discourse to see Guy Body's cartoon (NZ Herald, May 23) showing the vulnerable Australian wildlife, grateful for a climate-friendly election result.
The climate debate is almost always focused on the human economy, mitigation and survival, when in fact what we are doing in polluting the fragile atmosphere is putting at risk the very survival of "all creatures great and small".
Paul Judge, Hamilton.
