Letter of the week: Luke East, Te Awamutu
Time and again we've heard that New Zealand will inevitably become a republic in the coming decades - Ardern's said it, as has Luxon, and the Greens await it with bated breath - but it has to be asked, why?
What would we
gain from abandoning such stability and impartiality? Nothing.
By the admission of many arch-republicans, the only thing that would change is the Sovereign. So it's change for the sake of change, not because it would be of any actual benefit - it may be detrimental instead.
His Majesty the King has been to our country numerous times, served in a number of branches of the Armed Forces, is patron of hundreds of organisations, established the Prince's Trust in the 70s which has subsequently helped over a million young people (a New Zealand wing of the organisation opened in 2018), and has been in training for the job of Head of State for 70 years - no political figure can parallel such experience nor offer the stability of lifelong service or the continuity which comes from the hereditary nature of monarchy.
As Sir Tipene O'Regan has said, this is the best system we have, let's not change it.
Moving forward
I greatly admired the Queen and, like many others, shed tears at her death. I think Charles will be a good king and we can already see how William has matured and become very like his grandmother.
However, if removing our ties to royalty helps us to become one people and move forward together, I believe it is a step in the right direction.
People of many different cultures from around the world call NZ their home and have all made significant contributions to our history and quality of life. We need to shed the past and start a new chapter in our history.
Currently, there is an overuse of the word colonisation, a word that does not reflect who we actually are in today's world.
Our democratic parliamentary system serves us well and I believe it can carry us, as one people, into the future. We could simply vote for a head of state, It could be a person who is merely a figurehead, bound by the parliamentary system, as the Queen is. We do not need a presidential style.
S. Hansen, Hastings.
Finding fault
It seems Steven Joyce (Weekend Herald, September 17) is desperate for a Covid inquiry. I am unable to figure out why we would bother with the cost and wasted time. We all understand pretty much what happened and how it affected the country.
Joyce has denigrated the entire health system by assuming they failed to learn anything from the pandemic; no one took any notes, no one measured results against inoculation rates or examined ethnicities, or did anything else to monitor how we were getting on.
Nevertheless, a group of lawyers or politicians or other noble persons at an inquiry would be able to put all those health professionals straight for next time.
Joyce was once Minister for Infrastructure in the National government. He failed to deal with critical infrastructure, particularly problems with health, education and policing that Labour spent massive amounts to rectify in the first days of their 2017 term. Particularly, the health systems and hospitals had been defunded and allowed to run down. Maybe that should be the subject of an inquiry.
Rex Fausett, Auckland Central.
King's defence
John Roughan (Weekend Herald, September 17), I suspect if you had just lost a beloved parent and had the public at large, the press, TV cameras watching your every move. Dash the length and breadth of the United Kingdom, greeting hundreds of people also grieving. Taking several turns at the vigils in the cathedrals in Scotland and England where your parent was lying in state. Marching down the streets behind your parent's coffin with thousands of people watching your every move. All this, while you are grieving.
It would not surprise me if, at the age of 73, you were handed a leaky pen to sign a historic document.
My guess is your behaviour would be far worse than King Charles' was in that situation.
Give the king a break.
Shirley-Ann McCrystal, Ōrākei.
Money's true power
It is with sadness and disappointment that I write to respond to the recent decision from Creative NZ to reject the Shakespeare Globe Centre NZ's application for funding.
I am a high school drama teacher who has personally benefited from the programmes and seen the incredible rewards it has given my students over the years.
Beyond the benefits of studying the classical work of Shakespeare, the hundreds and thousands of students who go through the SGCNZ have formed life-long friendships, resulting in collaborations that give back to NZ and create new, original and exciting work, beyond the scope of Shakespeare.
On the Globe stage in London, our rangatahi have performed kapa haka and waiata as part of their gift to the sacred space. I was privileged enough to be in the audience and I have never been so proud to call myself a New Zealander.
Cutting the funding to this programme denies the opportunity for all New Zealanders to access Shakespeare in practical, meaningful ways. Doing so presses the study of Shakespeare even further into private schools, thus pushing the class divide in Aotearoa beyond what it already is.
Rita Stone, Blockhouse Bay.
Forced change
Is Plan Change 78 an open-ended proposal for the people to consider? No, it is not.
The proposed plan came into effect the same day it was notified (August 18) and the people had no power of refusal or right of appeal. It is akin to a person being married the moment they are proposed to, with no power or right to seek a divorce. This has to be in breach of Section 5 of the Bill of Rights Act. It cannot "be demonstrably justified in a free and democratic society".
The plan change and government dictate under the Enabling Housing Supply Amendment Act must be repealed, especially as there is no shortage of housing supply as implied by the Act.
The Unitary Plan made provision for 900,000 plus additional dwellings, sufficient for the next 30 years.
The people must be able to choose their future way of life. Plus, the environmental assessment work wasn't done. The Government had no right to impose this on the people.
Victoria Lowe, Shamrock Park.
