There are now many online investment scams being carried out in New Zealand where genuine banks and investment companies are being impersonated by fraudsters. Photo / Richard Robinson, File
Fix banking scams with humans to help us out
There are now many online investment scams being carried out in New Zealand where genuine banks and investment companies are being impersonated by fraudsters. Once the money has been received it is quickly moved overseas, out of the reach of any recovery action by genuine New Zealand banks, resulting in complete loss in most cases. The banks are advising people to be very careful and to ensure they are only dealing with genuine bank websites. However, it is almost impossible for the average bank customer to always do that, and what is required are more real bank staff who customers can contact, including in person, to ensure the investment is being offered by a real bank and not an overseas-based fraudster. David Mairs, Glendowie.
Lucky country
It was good to see Gary Hollis (Weekend Herald, May 13) spraying around a few comparative figures with the Lucky Country. Yes, in Australia you are lucky if you don’t get caught up in a bushfire, dust storm or flood. You are also lucky if you don’t get eaten by a croc, get a snake bite or are poisoned by jellyfish at the beach. We are not so lucky, we don’t seem to have many of them. Comparing the more important features in life, we have better-looking “sheilas” and they won the World Cup for us. The Warriors have all had brain transplants and beer and wine are still below inflation. Don’t get me wrong mate, Aussie is a great place for a holiday but it’s always good to get home. Reg Dempster, Albany.
Supermarkets not to blame
So having two large supermarket chains is not enough to ensure fair pricing. So, let’s have, say four, to be more competitive. Oh, but in banking we have four major banking chains and that is not considered enough to be competitive. With our small country and a population spread throughout, is it any wonder our costs are higher than countries where our entire population would fit in one city? Likewise rapid transit or light rail. They are dependent on large numbers of passengers to make them feasible and, even then, depend on subsidies to keep them running. Let’s focus on our real needs and not nice-to-have pipe dreams. Health, education and wellbeing for all should be the cornerstone of our ambitions, not unaffordable distractions for the few. James Archibald, Birkenhead.
Rob Muldoon much-maligned
Saturday’s article by Bruce Cotterill (Weekend Herald, May 13) touched on former Prime Minister Robert Muldoon and some of his major policies. Having worked through the period of Muldoon’s premiership I, like many others, was more than aware of his shortcomings whilst noting his strengths. I always felt that his more radical policy changes could have been curbed had he had better service from his Cabinet colleagues. They, in my opinion, let both him and the country down. My respect for Muldoon however is down to his service in the New Zealand Army during World War II. He served in both the Pacific theatre and in Italy. His critics and denigrators should be ashamed of the abuse thrown at a returned soldier. Allen Jones, Cambridge.
Gun registry must go ahead
I see that the Act Party wants to take us down the same crazy, blood-stained road as the American pro-gun lobby. Act has announced they want to scrap most of the Labour Government’s incoming gun registry — a move strongly opposed by the police, who say registering all gun owners will be good for public safety. With National having to share power with Act should they scrape a win in October’s election, you can bet the tail will wag the dog. Foolishly getting rid of gun ownership registration will only encourage illegal firearms and gun violence, say the police. Jeff Hayward, Auckland.
Cost of working
Reading Mary Holm’s Business column (Weekend Herald, May 13) one letter was about the cost of being in work and what is the ultimate hourly rate. The other was a person having a mortgage and receiving the accommodation benefit, job seeker benefit and additional support benefit, due to retire next month. Why go to work, hassle with packed lunches, etc, when you can sit around and get taxpayer funds into your bank account? Money earned is more meritorious than that surely. Don’t blame the wealthy for not paying taxes. Go out there and do something and find someone else to blame. Nishi Fahmy, Avondale.
National hiked GST
The one tax that is hardest on poorer families, GST, was increased not by Labour, but by National when Jenny Shipley put it up to 12.5 per cent in 1989, and then when John Key bumped it up to 15 per cent in 2010. It’s hard to stomach Labour being identified as the party that imposes taxes when GST is on every single item we buy. National now promises to reduce taxes, not to benefit the poor, but those who are already well-off. Susan Grimsdell, Auckland.
Australia calling
I agree with Bruce Cotterill’s opinion piece, (Weekend Herald, May 13). I too have been to Australia recently, five days in Brisbane, a city I do not know. I was using public transport to get around. The buses left every 15 minutes to the suburbs from a mid-city station, which was modern, spacious and spotless. The river ferries were the same and very convenient. The train to the airport ran from the city centre every 15 minutes. I too saw no cones and no graffiti but did see a police presence in groups of three, walking on the streets. Let’s have the basics working before these grand ill-thought-out schemes. M J Thomson, Auckland.
Proud Aucklander
As a proud third-generation New Zealander now with children and a grandchild, I would like to acknowledge the great entrepreneurs of the past. Just in Auckland: Sir John Logan Campbell, Sir Ernest Davis, Sir Dove Myer Robinson, Sir John Allum, all who have made Auckland a better place to live. We need to lift the bar and encourage these people to encourage us all to do better, otherwise, like so many of our great sportsmen and women who have been left out and gone to greener pastures, they will do likewise. Wake up New Zealand and nurture these treasures. Karen Forsberg, Auckland.
Political construct
In an otherwise excellent commentary (NZ Herald, May 12) on the flaws inherent in MMP, I take exception to Mary Hearn’s assertion: “Any political construct has pros and cons”. There are three basic voting systems: FPP, MMP and PR. In over 30 years of study, I have not found anyone else able to combine their singular merits into one. My solution was part of my 60-page paper prior to the 2021 Conference on climate change, posted to the Herald. I challenge anyone to argue a better one. Kenneth Lees, Whangārei.
On the Greens
Marama Davidson informs us (NZ Herald, May 12) that the main goal for the Green Party was to acknowledge Te Tiriti and to support work that acknowledged it. I always assumed that the main goal for the Green Party was to deal with environmental issues. L H Cleverly, Mt Roskill.
Celebrating Auckland
As the world’s best cities go, Auckland rates above Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane, and with good reason. You can’t go far in the City of Sails without passing a volcanic cone with a panoramic view of the city and even the odd underground cavern for adventurous cavers to visit. It has a broad expanse of reserves and regional parks handy, and some 300 beaches to enjoy in the summer months, or a spot of fishing with the magnificent Hauraki Gulf and the adjacent Manukau Harbour, a mecca for keen fishermen, whale watching or even watching dolphins at play and some of the best sailing for yachties on the planet. Let’s hope Auckland Mayor Wayne Brown keeps it that way. Gary Hollis, Mellons Bay.
On Hauraki Gulf
Considering whales in the Hauraki Gulf are currently consuming millions of microplastics, the current and chronic dwindling of fish stocks, toxic metal and sewage pollution making its beaches unsafe for swimming, you would have to think marine reserves covering a mere 0.3 per cent of its surface area are woefully inadequate, wouldn’t you? Gary Hollis, Mellons Bay.
On Brian Tamaki
So, Brian Tamaki has found another way to draw attention to himself by announcing he will run for Parliament in the coming election as leader of the Freedoms NZ Party. Heaven help us if he is successful. But it would be interesting to see how he’d manage in an environment that is not filled with his admiring followers who hang on to his every word. Lorraine Kidd, Warkworth.
On tax
Thank you Peter Kammler (Weekend Herald, May 13) for trying to answer my questions re our carbon tax system. I see you came to the same conclusion as I did that all the money disappears down a dark hole without any accountability. Similar to Shane Jones’ $3 billion regional development fund. To date, no one, including Shane, has ever explained where all the money went and what it achieved. Jock Mac Vicar, Hauraki.
Heather du Plessis-Allan: The bar is embarrassingly low for National
National, with Christopher Luxon, is on track to repeat the same mistakes it was blamed for in the past. Inequality, lack of housing, the rich getting richer, and the poor getting poorer. None of its policies will help ordinary New Zealanders get ahead. It is like old is the new “new”. I want to see a National Party that learned from its time in opposition, not the same neo-liberal rubbish from the past. Luke P.
Labour created the biggest asset shift to the wealthy; debts and house prices have gone up, and the young, working, middle-class has been and is still being priced out of the housing market. Potter O.
I should thank Labour for significantly increasing my wealth base (I have worked very hard to get in this position though). That said, Labour’s approach has smashed the base of voters that generally vote for it. And I used to be a strong Labour supporter, but never again with the current mindset in that party. Steve F.
Most of the time governments we don’t want get booted out, not great opposition parties getting voted in. That will very much work in the favour of National, although I suspect Act will get a lot of votes as it hasn’t put a foot wrong for a long time, it will certainly get both my votes if it puts a candidate in my area. Jon M.
The 19-year-old disappeared without her wallet or mobile phone.