An empty retail space on Karangahape Road, Auckland City. Photo / Sylvie Whinray
Don’t break the heart of the city
People would be hard pushed to argue that downtown Auckland has been the area hardest-hit by Covid-19 policy decisions and lockdowns. There is an image of lawlessness, never-ending roadworks, train and ferry cancellations and it is easy to see why it may not be the most attractive option as a destination for shopping and lunch or a place you want to come into if you can work from home. It is not that bad, I promise you. A plea from a CBD small business owner — please support us. Please return to your offices. If it is a little windy or raining please do not cancel your hair appointment, chiropractor’s appointment or lunch booking because you decide at the last minute you want to “work from home”. The next time they may not be there — places are closing weekly. The Saturday they kept threatening to close the Harbour Bridge our small restaurant had 47 people cancel dinner reservations very late in the day. Staff were rostered on, food was ordered, meats slow cooked and ready to go. If you value your CBD, now is the time more to get out there and support it. We have made it through lockdowns and many additional months of capacity restrictions so it is awful to think businesses are closing now — they just need people back. Please come back.
Mandy Lusk, Auckland.
Systemic failure
The New Zealand healthcare system is on the brink of collapse, but, despite the timing of the recent senior doctors’ strike, the failure to address this situation is not a political failing on the part of Labour, but rather, a general lack of governmental will and vision. The deeply-rooted problems within the system have been festering for years and no major political party has had the knowledge, imagination, or mandate to address them. The creation of an effective, equitable, and sustainable healthcare system cannot be left to those in Wellington who think in three-year power cycles. Throwing money at the problem and training more staff will help temporarily, but what is ultimately needed is a comprehensive and long-term plan led by patients, health professionals, and other key stakeholders to which politicians can be held accountable.
Dr Art Nahill, Remuera.
Playing politics
We are a diverse society. I have always believed social complexity must be mirrored in our legislative complexity. I believed in MMP. We had a chance of our social development plans gaining the social traction to be enacted without rancour. Then, we stuffed it up by not getting rid of the political parties. We need to dump the idea of ideology and adopt the view of solutions to problems. To make a better life for ourselves we need to solve our problems, not create more of them. Roading, productivity, health services, crime, farming, climate change, balancing our budget, town versus country, fair pay for fair day’s work, poverty, child abuse ... None of these are “political”. They are simply the issues we need collectively sort out to improve the life experience of every person in our society. We can demand clear, practical plans to deal with our issues, and we need them without any political hoo-ha. It is time we grew up and got rid of any politicians unwilling to grow up and serve all of us.
Graham Little, Birkenhead.
Electric bill
Monday’s article on domestic solar power showed the use of household batteries as a Virtual Power Plant (VPP) to solve renewable energy’s security of supply problem. NZ is fortunate in having about 85 per cent renewable sources of electricity, with non-renewables required for peak loads, sometimes for very short periods during winter. SolarZero draws on the batteries of its customers to cover these peak loads. We have a Nissan Leaf and a grid-connected solar system which easily covers our annual electricity usage. We do not have a battery for the solar system. Often the Leaf is sitting in the garage fully charged during power peaks around dinnertime, when the sun isn’t shining. Leaf charging takes place during the off-peak period at night. Vehicle-to-grid (V2G) chargers are wall chargers for electric vehicles that allow the battery of the EV to provide energy to the grid, and are about a year away from being launched in NZ. Then, the only limitation on using the EV battery, 4 to 10 times the capacity of most house batteries, to power peak shortages will be the appetite of lines companies and car manufacturers to work together with domestic solar energy suppliers. I wouldn’t be sending the bulldozers into Lake Onslow just yet.
Maurice Robertson, Torbay.
Burning issues
The world is burning or flooding and I am sure we and Australia will not be immune to it this summer. Yet I see people driving, oblivious in their huge gas-guzzling machines. How long before society as a whole will refuse to be just an observer of this selfish attitude? I think many have accepted the notion of anthropogenic global warming; the sad part is they just do not seem to care. I wonder how our grandchildren will judge us.
Vince West, Milford.
Going postal
One of the stated roles of an MP is: “They must respond to many letters and emails each year, with sense, sensitivity, and often with practical action.” On July 4, 2023 I posted 12 letters to MPs from all parties, to ask them to write to me offering their thoughts about what would improve New Zealand’s economic growth? Three showed courtesy and replied. The remaining nine did not. Prior to the last election I sent MPs 11 letters and only received two replies. Yet again MPs non-performance of duty left me wondering what citizens expect from their Members of Parliament.
Warren Jones, Remuera.
Road to nowhere
It is surprising how poorly thought-out many of the policies being put forward by National are, given they have had three years to prepare for this election. However for sheer ineptness, their proposal on electrification of the vehicle fleet takes the cake. The current programme to encourage electrification by discounting the cost of plug-in electric vehicles while charging a fee for gas-guzzling vehicles has been very successful. Qualifying plug-in new vehicle sales have risen from 9052 in 2020 to 41,492 in 2022. Over a third of new sales are now electric, but the proportion of EVs among total new cars needs to rise as fast as possible. In Norway over 80 per cent of new cars sold are battery electric. National wants to kill this programme (just when it is paying off extremely well, and is cost-neutral for the Government in the medium term), and replace it by $257 million of Government expenditure on subsidising 10,000 electric charging stations. New Zealand has already achieved its target of an electric charger every 75 km across the highway network, and private investment is expanding this network at a steadily increasing rate. The National Party proposal would be a totally misguided waste of Government investment.
Roger Morris, Masterton.
Driving change
I drove through a Waikato town this week. This town has an independent petrol station, and another of the large four within view. The independent is 10c cheaper, yet, people were filling up at the dearer outlet. Probably because the bigger company has a discount bribe, and coffee. Why is there not a boycott of the main player, sending a clear message that the elevated price won’t be tolerated. Ultimately we are our own worst enemy. We could drive this, but alas, drive through coffee seems to rule our souls.
John Ford, Taradale.
Brain drain
I have been voting for just over 50 years, but for the first time I do not know who I will be voting for. I and many others are fed up with the bickering; promises being made the are just not feasible. The voters need positive actions and comments, so we can make up our minds who to vote for. Politicians please treat us as having a brain that we will use to vote.
Wendy Galloway, Omokoroa.
Strike it rich
It’s surprising to see our senior doctors and dentists doing it tough and struggling, enough to go on strike in order to extract a better pay deal from the Government. Spare a thought for those surviving on minimum pay or a jobseeker’s benefit who are also contending with not just the cost of living crisis but also with children suffering from rheumatic fever and other ailments, subsisting on cheap food with little nutritional value. It’s a sign of our unfair and unequal society when people in the top income bracket strike demanding a pay raise equal to what people at the lower end live on.
Kanwal Grewal, Hamilton.
On security
I worked in city bars and nightclubs for almost two decades. We had security guards on duty till 3am closing. With the increasing violence towards our precious doctors and nurses, for goodness sake, why aren’t they given the same protection? Helen Lowe, Albany.
On Stones
It’s great the Stones are putting out a new album. But how soon will young people will be heard calling out “Nana, Grandad, turn down that bloody racket!” John Capener, Kawerau.
On CTU ads
John Denton (NZH, September 7) has it all wrong. PPTA Te Wehengarua is an affiliate of the CTU but did not contribute to its election advertising campaign. And the $5000 lump sum that was part of recent collective settlements was made to all teachers, not just union members. Chris Abercrombie, PPTA Te Wehengarua acting president
On promises
Chris Hipkins is adamant National will not be able to deliver on their election campaign promises. No government before the current Labour/Greens has failed so extensively to deliver on their promises. This makes Hipkins something of an expert. Gary Carter, Gulf Harbour.
On Willis
Nicola Willis is surely being disingenuous when she claims she will use her tax cut to take her family to the movies. The tiny tax handout to people barely putting food on the table, the homeless and those in expensive, insecure rentals, is a cruel joke. V M Fergusson, Mt Eden.
Labour, National and Greens commit to 1000 more state houses a year in Auckland
Don’t really care which party can solve the monumental housing problem in NZ. After the last 15-20-odd years, the problems are so numerous that perhaps they’re now unsolvable? We’ve all seen it in countries around the world, Seems we may have joined the club. Marcus H
We need more than 1000. And we need reasonably priced housing. Bespoke, on site building is costly, there are better models used overseas and a lot cheaper. Kathy A
Surely it would be better to support the private rental market to provide housing? Building everyone that can’t afford to rent a new house seems over the topand incredibly expensive. Jeremy W
I was raised in a state house which my parents eventually purchased. Back then people took a real pride in those houses appreciated the opportunity it gave them and kept the house as immaculate as if it was their own. As Labour promises all these houses, can they please assure us that same level of responsibility from those likely to be our neighbours? David J
In the first decade of housing in the 1940s the government built nearly 30,000 homes. In 2024 we can plan on maybe 1000 per year? Jo B
State houses will continue to be built easily due to KO being able to consent their own works. The question is how much they are spending on renovating the existing stocks. Mark I
Internal Affairs blocked over one million attempts to access illegal content last year.