Letters: Adrian Orr isn’t to blame for New Zealand’s economic woes; chaotic start to Health New Zealand Te Whatu Ora overhaul

The Reserve Bank and governor Adrian Orr have copped plenty of criticism before and after last week's surprise OCR cut. Photo / Mark Mitchell

Adrian Orr isn’t the problem

As a Kiwi expat looking from afar at the big picture of trends in the New Zealand economy since Covid, it is puzzling to see that blame is being directed at the Reserve Bank in general, and Adrian Orr in particular, for its current dismal state.

If there is blame to be ascribed to the economic malaise inflicting the country, in my opinion the leadership and policies of the prior Labour-led Government during the Covid crisis bear the most responsibility. It seems to me that their most egregious act was to shut down international tourism, the most important generator of income to the New Zealand economy, for two years, with a very slow attempt to ramp it up over a third year. It has still not recovered to its pre-Covid levels.

The relative equivalent to the US economy would have been if the oil and gas export and refining industry (the USA’s biggest money-earner) had been shut down for three years.

However, in the US, after the Covid epidemic started, there was an eight-week shutdown of most businesses, followed by a recovery over 10 months.

Unfortunately, the concept of a rapid lifting of restrictions after the initial Covid surge was anathema to the previous New Zealand Government, and its blindness to the devastating economic consequences of this policy has still not been recognised by many in New Zealand.

Adrian Orr has been dealt a very bad hand, and I for one admire his loyalty, resilience and toughness to do the very best he can for New Zealanders.

Quentin J. Durward, USA.

Unhealthy start

Anyone involved in a major restructuring knows that it is a fraught endeavour with many missteps on the way. Health New Zealand’s restructuring – consolidating 20 District Health Boards, 200 different computer systems, reducing staff, etc is a mammoth undertaking that is more complex than most. The coalition panicked at the first sign of trouble, fired the board of Health New Zealand and slashed staff who were doing the restructuring itself.

The key to a successful restructuring is to do one thing at a time. Examples abound of organisations trying to achieve multiple large tasks at the same time and crippling themselves. Commissioner Lester Levy wants to cut waiting lists, improve quality, cut costs, etc. Trying to achieve all this too fast can cause chaos – something that we can’t afford with a critical system like health, where citizens’ lives are involved. Levy wants us to pray for him – we may want to pray for ourselves.

Kushlan Sugathapala, Epsom.

Air safety solution

If in fact, as claimed, the Civil Aviation Authority’s focus is moving further toward enforcement and prosecutions at the possible expense of incident reporting (”CAA whistleblowers warn of more aviation accidents in NZ,” NZ Herald, Aug 19), then the obvious solution in the interests of aviation safety is for the Transport Accident Investigation Commission, whose “principal purpose is to determine the circumstances and causes of certain aviation, rail and maritime accidents and incidents, with a view to avoiding similar occurrences in the future, rather than to ascribe blame to any person”, to be the sole recipient of all such incident reports.

Lloyd McIntosh, West Harbour.

Boy-racer justice

With another “hostile and violent” boy-racer event in Hamilton over the weekend in which four police cars were intentionally damaged, perhaps it’s time for judges to take a no-nonsense approach when dealing with the yobs involved.

The perpetrators are hell-bent on gaining notoriety on social media and have scant regard for the law. Surely, with this sort of behaviour, there is a case for confiscating cars in a manner resembling the Vehicle Confiscation and Seizure Bill of 2009 – only this time, it takes immediate effect. The driver would then get plenty of social media coverage as the crushing of their car would be a hit on social media platforms.

Lorraine Kidd, Warkworth.

Tourist fees fair

Tourists visit to see and experience our nation’s treasures, so why should they not pay for it? (”Te Papa to start charging international visitors $35″, NZ Herald, August 16).

Tourism is our export jewel, so we must capitalise on that by charging a fee. All our attractions need to be maintained to a high standard; those using them need to contribute.

While on the subject of tourists freeloading, why do we cover tourist injuries with our ACC fund? The fact that said tourists do not contribute needs to be seriously looked at.

John Ford, Napier.

Visa scheme reset

When I hear the term “high-trust model” from a government agency, I immediately interpret that as “minimal government control and an opportunity for villains to take advantage”.

The Accredited Employer Work Visa Scheme is a classic example of this feeble approach to legislation. It should be repealed immediately and reset with proper controls.

Nick Rowe, Greenlane.