Youth crime is a problem across the Ditch too, a correspondent says. Photo / Hayden Woodward
Uncanny similarities
Having just spent two weeks in Australia I was intrigued by the similarity of current news stories in both countries. Worries about inflation - both countries have the same inflation rate of 6 per cent. Rampant youth crime - a senior Australian police leader was quoted as saying: “We can’t arrest our way out of this problem, we have to tackle it at source.” Escalating gang problems - in Sydney five people were shot in five days. General unease about the economy, although, according to the international rating agency Moodys, both countries have the same Triple-A credit rating with a stable outlook. It’s worrying that, in New Zealand, we have the National/Act parties implying that these problems are specific to New Zealand and are the fault of the current Government. They then revert to their usual dinosaur thinking and trot out failed policies of the past instead of offering some genuine creative solutions. Hugh Blomfield, Russell.
Private function
I had a savvy friend who was treasurer of a very large, international oil/energy corporation for about a decade just before our ascendancy into this 21st century. He oversaw budgets as big as our Government’s. When asked whether the private sectors were more efficient than the public sectors, he answered it appeared both were equally efficient or inefficient. He felt politicians who asserted that private sector administration is more efficient were basing their belief on textbook reasoning about free markets rather than empiricism. To him, a blanket statement about the relative inefficiency of government is naive or disingenuous. Rather than accept the conservative argument that the private sector is always less wasteful, we should demand empirical proof. Robert Myers, Auckland Central.
Spent force
You are to be congratulated for airing Jonathan Godfrey’s rant (NZ Herald, August 7), which tore through my living room, bringing much pleasure. All we suckers wish for in the next eight weeks is solid explanations of how Kiwis will be able to repay the $150,000 debt each that has been run up by 70 years of capital wastrels, instead of yet another multi-billion spend-up. Gerry O’Meeghan, Pāpāmoa.
Making tracks
I was really excited to arrive back in New Zealand after three months away and see one of the National Party’s election billboards with their campaign slogan “Get the Country Back on Track”. Great news to see that this party which has previously made so many negative comments about rail transport, has now done a very welcome about-face and is putting a commitment to rail at the forefront of its campaign. They might get my vote. Russell Armitage, Hamilton.
Depleted stocks
Once again, the Government has lacked guts and bowed to the big wealthy powerful corporates at the cost of our resources, this time refusing to put a ban on bottom trawling by any of our commercial fishing fleet within our New Zealand bays and coastal waters. Even with the limited rules it has suggested, who will be checking? No one. By the time the Minister of Fisheries wakes up and regulates fisheries properly, the seabeds will be bare and fish stocks irreversible. In this world of capitalism, money is more revered than nature. Marie Kaire, Whangārei.
Capital punishment
Capitalism surely gets bad press. We are being educated that capitalism is the cause of poverty, dysfunction, and disadvantage. Curious then that every year millions of refugees flock to places like Germany, the USA, France, the UK and Scandinavia. Generation after generation, the poorest and most mistreated of people vote with their feet to enter Western-style capitalist democracies. These folk travel at great risk and personal cost away from their familiar environments because they know they will have the best chance at a better life under capitalism. Andrew Tichbon, Green Bay.
Hell on wheels
Wayne Brown is possibly right about the proposed tunnels under the harbour. They may be pipe dreams. One fix that we do need is to spaghetti junction in the morning and traffic parked in the middle of a motorway from the junction back to Waterview, struggling to find a way onto the Southern motorway. Our mayor rightly points out other choke points on the motorway system, partly stemming from inadequate on- and off-ramps. Te Atatū off-ramp is joke, with a speed hump at the start of the off-ramp, a lane coming on at Patiki Rd, and drivers wanting to travel past Te Atatū. At the same time, the wonderful bus lane involves a bus moving into the car lane on the off-ramp then around a sharp bend and into a bus stop, right on a major intersection. One suspects the traffic engineers in Wellington who come up with the designs and chat at the water cooler are caught up in stopping Wellington moving movement and have forgotten that Auckland has grown from a population of 430,000 when the harbour bridge was opened to over 1.7 million people. John Riddell, Massey.
Given diversion
I have read with amusement the mayor’s flight of fancy regarding the Auckland waterfront. I had assumed that he has an aversion to wasting taxpayer rates on overpaid and under-skilled consultants. Surprisingly, he then presents a dreamlike impression of how he sees the future industrial waterfront area. We already have the waterfront Wynyard Quarter, which is a great attraction in summer but dead in winter. Auckland has many matters that need to be addressed: water infrastructure; effective transport solutions; cost savings that have not been realised since amalgamation; improvements in residential housing; reduction in violent crime and ensuring that citizens’ lives are enhanced. We have a long way to go on many fronts, and these are the matters that need to be attended to not wasted debate on stardust. Peter Burn, Gulf Harbour.
Pool meddling
I very much agree with Glen Stanton’s letter (NZ Herald, August 7) that Wayne Brown’s idea of a swimming pool alongside Ports of Auckland operations is wacky. The water quality at Pilot Bay in Mt Maunganui where I swam as a kid in pristine seawater has been adversely affected by Ports of Tauranga expansions over the years and may never be so clean again. The question is why is mayor Brown so intent on meddling with Ports of Auckland business, enabling Eke Panuku to create a vanity project concept to gain public support for repurposing the port land, when there is no viable alternative for Auckland’s port operations that makes any physical or financial sense? Tauranga port has been waiting six months for resource consent to further expand, opposed by locals. We must not let mayoral meddling limit the opportunities for future import needs in Auckland, by taking over existing wharves for inane purposes not related to essential maritime services. Coralie van Camp, Remuera.
Long shots
One thing the Netball World Cup has shown is that New Zealand Netball needs to try to revive a club or franchise competition with Australia, preferably with bonus points for attempts at goal outside the traditional circle (as per Fast Five Netball). Australian shooters have embraced this concept in their conventional games and it has shown its worth to the Diamonds during the World Cup. We also should look at introducing rolling substitutions instead of the farcical “injury replacements”. Australia made far better use of substitutions than us. Chris Bullen, Whakatāne.
Teeming city
On Sunday my husband and I went into Auckland City. We had the most amazing day. First of all, the NZSO Beethoven Concert at the Town Hall, which was packed, and then on to the Civic Theatre for the NZIIF presentation of Charlie Chaplin’s silent movie The Circus, with the APO playing Chaplin’s score. Both performances were magic as were the settings in these grand heritage buildings. Queen St was crowded with happy families, teens, and we older citizens. Quite like old times before Covid. I hope the city continues to thrive. Linley Jones, Half Moon Bay.
On dentistry
Under the Greens’ plan to provide free dental care for all, ironically, dentists are very likely to be among those “wealth taxed” to pay for the scheme. Geoff Greenbrook, Unsworth Heights.
On promises
Nearing election time it is expected there will be many promises and boy-o-boy are we getting some whoppers. In my 60+ years of voting one thing has remained consistent: The bigger the promise the bigger the lie. Ron Gibson, Tuakau.
Listening to all these politicians promising new highways and tunnels brings back my childhood memories of fairy tales and fantasies. John Bassett, Wellsford.
On dairy
Demand for milk in China has gone down so Fonterra will reduce its payments to dairy farmers. That’s what comes from putting all your milk in one churn. Nick Hamilton, Remuera.
On crossing
A bridge is by far the quicker and cheaper option - economically, we can’t spend the time and dollars waiting for a tunnel and light rail to be built. The current Wellington Government is so out of touch with what Auckland needs. Lesley Baillie, Murrays Bay.
A plan to build tunnels and light rail in 2029, costing $45 billion? Dead in the water, pun intended. S Mohanakrishnan, Mt Roskill.
On netball
The gloss has fast dissipated as the Ferns disintegrated in South Africa. Silver Flakes are all we have now. Garry Wycherley, Awakino.
Labour & National build roads as the world burns - Simon Wilson
If we spent the money wasted on trying to stop climate change and focused on how we adapt to the changing environment we will be in a better position. The obsession of being world leaders in the space at the expense of the country’s welfare is a joke. Jason G.
As always an urban/metropolitan view. Those of us who live (very happily) in rural NZ have no public transport and are thus dependent on roads for a wide variety of purposes. Not all can cycle or walk, and shifting mobs of livestock requires more than a bike or foot, routes for either trucks or droving are critical. Going to school, the doctor, supermarket requires a reliable method of transport, usually a private vehicle. Those that live with these facts are those that provide the greatest percentage of our national income. Andrew R.
No problem with any of that, the pollution it causes is minimal. It’s the approaching 2 million Aucklanders sitting in traffic who are the polluters, and the ones who need to change. And that’s not by banning all private travel, it’s shifting the current 8am to 5pm, shovelling people in and out of their place of work or study. Steve N.
Auckland generates nearly 40 per cent of NZ’s GDP. Agriculture is less than 10 per cent. Both are critical to New Zealand’s economy. Greg M.
The non-stop climate change hysteria/alarmism is not a priority for a great large percentage of the population when they are worrying about their supermarket bill or their next upcoming mortgage payment. The UN Secretary’s comment about “the era of global boiling has arrived” is hyperbole. As soon as Russia, India & China do their part, then we can join them. What we do here makes not a jot of difference. Tony M.
