Wayne Brown has won over Efeso Collins in the race to be Auckland's next mayor, replacing Phil Goff. Photo / Jed Bradley
Wayne Brown has won over Efeso Collins in the race to be Auckland's next mayor, replacing Phil Goff. Photo / Jed Bradley
Opinion
Auckland deadwood beware I hope Wayne Brown will weed out all the deadwood in the council. In my view there are far too many people milking the system at the ratepayer's expense. I am, however, disconcerted to read that he will be advocating moving the port north to Whangārei. Hopefully, otherscan convince him what an absolutely daft idea that is. To have literally thousands of trucks bringing goods to Auckland over the Brynderwyns is just crazy. We are a port city and the port is absolutely fine exactly where it is. I would suggest that whatever other ideas Brown has, he had better get on with them. I am pretty sure he will be ''one-term Wayne''. Glen Stanton, Mairangi Bay.
Fix roads congestion Wayne Brown has swept into power as Mayor of Auckland with a promise to "fix Auckland". The biggest problem to fix is the congestion on the motorways caused by too many vehicles trying to use them. What is required is a completely new, improved public transport system that people are happy to use to get around Auckland, instead of being forced to use their own cars which just increases the congestion and overloading of the roads. If he can fix that problem, he will have achieved something for Auckland. David Mairs, Glendowie.
Challenge for newbies It will be interesting to see how much the new crop of right-of-centre elected mayors will achieve, given that most of their contributions to any proposals have been variations of ''nah, won't work''. As any household will know, it's easy to save money if you don't do the maintenance and pay the bills. John Capener, Kawerau.
Special vote chaos Living in Devonport we never received our voting papers. On inquiring at the Devonport Library where to lodge a special vote, I was advised to go to Federal St in Auckland City, Henderson, Orewa, Pukekohe or Great Barrier Island. How ridiculous. No wonder the voter turnout is so low. Bruce Tubb, Devonport.
How to fill stadiums When ticket prices for spectators to the women's Rugby World Cup start as low as $5 it's no wonder stadiums can and will fill up. Viewing rugby musn't be just for the wealthy. It's better to have 40,000 spectators at $5/$10/$25 adding some primal appreciation to the game than vast empty stands with price tags multiple times higher. Rob Buchanan, Kerikeri.
Opening spoiled by AT Along with thousands of others, I had the best time at the Women's World Cup opening. What a sensational night, added by the incredible rugby, the Patea Maori Club, the awesome haka, the firedancing, the Hercules flyover and the whole vibe of the thing was something I'll never forget. How then, could Auckland Transport decide that it was the night to try something new and not pre-warn any Western Line train passengers they had to walk to the Morningside train station? I passed a man struggling with breathing and another with a broken leg. AT clearly stands for Absolutely Terrible. Sam Cunningham, Henderson.
Specialty centre case While it is a noble ambition to improve retirement residents' access to better care, disrupting and distressing affected residents in the process is not acceptable. Metlifecare has 20 retirement villages in Auckland. It doesn't make any sense to plan for secure dementia, Alzheimer and hospital care to be built into each of them. A much better idea would be for Metlifecare to build a fully equipped and staffed specialty centre to meet all the care needs of all its Auckland village residents. Graham Astley, Remuera.
Suicide rates query Reading all the letters about Cassandra Fausett makes me want to share my story of my sister, also called Sandra, who suffered mental health issues and was prescribed anti-depressants, the side effects of which were nasty with hallucinations, nightmares, and self-harm. She died at just 27 in 1994. Back then there were very few resources. My other sister suffered depression too and passed away in 2008. My heart really goes out to anyone who suffers from this awful illness. Fast forward 30 years, my question is, why are our suicide rates still so high when there is so much help and resources out there? Helen Lowe, Albany.
Social media sickness It is dreadful to read the damage social media can do. As a person who can identify back to the days when social media didn't exist, a perpetrator had to physically front up to their victim which meant that these vile attacks were not common and there were real consequences which doesn't seem to happen nowadays. Cyber bullying is very difficult to stop and is common worldwide to an extent where Unicef and other experts came together to identify what it is and how to stop it. Probably the most successful remedy suggested is to seek help from a trusted person — for example a parent, teacher, sports coach etc. Such is the extent of the misuse of social media it is time that a special group was set up to combat this sickness in society and legislation enacted with penalties introduced. Despite the believed anonymity of abusers they actually leave a footprint and can be traced. Reg Dempster, Albany
Cyber bullying is at large. Counsellor Nancy Macmillan. Photo / Ben Fraser
Parents responsible Why does any tragedy that occurs in New Zealand, placed solely upon the minister with that portfolio or the Prime Minister instead of being the responsibility of everyone who resides here? Parents who have children undertake to be responsible for raising them to become good citizens, to protect them from harm, to discipline unhealthy behaviour and to provide for them the basic necessities. Why is Oranga Tamariki overburdened with 10 phone calls of concern per hour and the responsibility for keeping 50,000 children safe in its care, plus thousands more under social workers? Where are the parents? Today, even in times of employment and all the government benefits available, it appears to have reversed with parents and whanau allowing and condoning truancy and devaluation of education, access to social media and horrific world news, instant gratification, junk food diets, and a lack of teaching basic humanitarian values of honesty and respect. Child welfare is the responsibility of the birth parents or the extended whanau, not the Prime Minister, not the Minister of Children, not Oranga Tamariki, not the overwhelmed mental health system, not the schools and teachers, not the police, and not social welfare. Marie Kaire, Whangārei.
White line fever A van parked legally with a camera is very different from a police officer doing an illegal act, causing driver distraction, creating a hazard. I once saw a policeman standing inches away from the white line of a three-lane motorway by the Manukau onramp. He caused a 3km traffic jam and was enjoying ticketing people driving over a flush medium (which is not illegal in NZ and was only justified by the judge saying "the painter might not like his paint being driven over''). Randel Case, Bucklands Beach.
Work smarter The recent article written by Max Whitehead lamenting the loss of Kiwi workers, which addressed some factors and glossed over others also had a serious mistake. Given he's the CEO of small business, to voice some knowledge of how productivity is actually measured would be a reasonable expectation from your readers. He correctly points out that our international rating is not good, but he then states that if we adopt a four-day working week then we instantly have a 20 per cent drop in Kiwi productivity. Ergo if we all work a six-day week then New Zealand's productivity simply increases by 20 per cent overnight. Yet productivity is GDP per head of population as a basic measurement, GDP per hour worked, or GDP per working person. In all these recognised international measurements you must increase the country's GDP numbers, but only if you really want your productivity to increase. So working a few more or less hours is virtually irrelevant, unless there's a corresponding increase in the country's gross income. The most successful countries all work smarter most certainly not longer, in fact these countries work less hours and not more than us kiwis. The likes of Denmark and Norway for example have very high productivity along with very low working hours. If we look at Australia they're 20 per cent better off than this country (GDP per head) and measured per working person they're 30 per cent superior, hence why our local workers head there in droves. Not to mention their cheaper housing and living costs allied with higher wages. Steven Ginders, Wairau Valley.
Short & sweet
On local elections And the winner of the local body elections was ... A.P. Athy. C.C. McDowall, Rotorua.
On Wayne Brown The best thing about Wayne Brown is that Auckland has him and we in the north don't. Ian Burke, Kaitaia.
As a backseat driver, Simon Wilson will make sure Wayne Brown keeps his eyes on the road. James Gregory, Parnell.
Be afraid, Auckland Transport, be very afraid. Mike Wagg, Freemans Bay.
On airfare As a taxpayer I have helped to fund Air NZ, unfortunately, I find now that the prices of local flights have increased to the extent I can no longer afford them. Barry Watkin, Devonport.
On Labour The incumbent Labour Government has received a clear message from voters in the local body elections — Kiwis do not like the direction that they are taking us with Three Waters and co-governance at the top of concerns. It does not look good for their survival in 2023. Mike Baker, Tauranga.
On Diwali Such a great day in the city enjoying the Diwali Light Festival celebration. Happy crowds, tasty food, colourful dance acts. All the more enjoyable after the miserable three years of an almost deserted city. Linda Lang, Henderson.
Yes. He has his work cut out for him ... undoing the damage done by Phil Goff. Luka D.
He may have had a clear victory but remember he has been elected by less than 10 per cent of Aucklanders. The big loser yesterday was democracy. John H.
First job for Wayne: Start clearing up the disgusting graffiti above the tunnel at the southern end of the harbour bridge. Plenty more as well. Robert H.
I'm not sure which city Simon Wilson lives in but it looks very broken from where I sit. Rampant crime is in most suburbs, not just the CBD. The uncontrolled spending over the last decade has virtually bankrupted us ... Change is desperately needed and let's hope Brown delivers. Steve S.
We can only hope he delivers. I don't like parts of his track record, but we have to have hope for change. Debbie T.
A great list Simon, and despite the knee-jerk comments it has stimulated, it is a fair and balanced one. I think relationships will be a major focus for Brown, and his failure to show up on national TV and radio [yesterday] morning does not bode well. Alison D.
Doing his job will be a good start, I have my doubts. For Auckland's sake, may I be wrong about my impression of him. Max K.
