Letters: Bare necessities, tree culling, Parliament protest, and the Auckland waterfront

Everyone has the right to a standard of living adequate for health and well-being including food, clothing, housing, medical care and necessary social services. Photo / Getty Images

Letter of the week: Maurice Robertson, Torbay
Article 25 of the United Nations Declaration of Human Rights states: "Everyone has the right to a standard of living adequate for the health and well-being of himself and of his family, including food, clothing, housing, and medical care and necessary social services..."
The UN describes adequate housing as "habitability that includes protection against the cold, damp, heat, rain, wind, other threats to health and structural hazards".
In New Zealand, we have the highest ratio of GST to total tax and the highest ratio of GST to GDP of any country in the OECD. We also have one of the lowest top marginal income tax rates in the OECD (33 out of 37).
Everyone's first budgetary priority is housing, either rent or mortgage. Next is electricity, then food. Necessities, according to Article 25.
So we have the highest GST tax in the OECD on two of the three necessities and we are 35th out of 38 in child well-being in the OECD.
Successive governments have increased GST and reduced income tax to the point where the poorest of us cannot afford to look after our children.
Does anyone else think it's time for a change?

Second strike
As noted in your report (Weekend Herald, March 5), the Appeal Court held that resource consent for the Tūpuna Maunga Authority's (TPA) removal plan should have been publicly notified, and it struck down the Auckland Council's "non-notifiable" decision.
The court also specifically struck down the plan itself. This second strike was by far the most important.
There's plenty of case law on the Resource Management Act (1999) but up to now, no case law on the interplay between the Reserves Act 1977 and the Ngā Mana Whenua o Tāmaki Makaurau Collective Redress Act 2014. The TMA is governed by both acts, and has always held that its 2016 Integrated Management Plan (IMP) fulfils the Reserve Act's requirements for public submissions and those ongoing management decisions are operational only.
The court held the Ōwairaka proposal was sufficiently significant that it should have been in the IMP and subject to a formal submission process. This is an important ruling, for the TMA's cavalier dismissal of the need for public consultations on Ōwairaka and other matters has always been the rogue element in what's otherwise emerging as an impressive record of care for the city's maunga.
Geoff Chapple, Devonport.

Fell swoop
It was very gratifying to learn (Weekend Herald, March 5) of the eventual success of the court case taken privately against the Tūpuna Maunga Authority to block it from proceeding to strip the grand, exotic - but supposedly colonist-reminiscent trees - from Mt Albert.
It would have resembled the now bleak Mt Wellington, Pigeon Mountain, and Māngere Mountain.
It is imperative that Auckland Council, in its current consideration of the Auckland Regional Parks Management Plan 2022, studiously avoids permitting any co-governance, partnership, or consultation arrangement which could permit anything like a maunga authority situation to develop.
Bob Culver, Avondale.

Rhetoric aside
My congratulations must go to the editor Stuart Dye for his well-written and unbiased report (Weekend Herald, March 5) on the occupation of Parliament grounds.
This editorial was written without any of the populist rhetoric we have heard over the course of the past three weeks and offered a balanced and factual viewpoint sadly lacking in journalistic pieces of late. Exposed an ugly truth indeed.
Linda Dawn, Mt Eden.

Ears and graces
Last Saturday's editorial (Weekend Herald, March 5) hit the nail on the head. Audi alteram partem (hear the other side) is one of the first lessons taught at law school.
No conflict can be resolved if one party to a dispute remains unwilling or incapable of dealing with the contrary or emotional content of the other side's position.
Dialogue and communication is the solution to a resolution, not the exact opposite. Government should heed that fact.
Patricia Schnauer, Milford

Waterfront wonder
Well done, Simon Wilson, for reminding us in his appealing article about Sydney's Barangaroo Reserve (Weekend Herald, March 5) that: "You can do great things in the public space of a city's waterfront".
As he goes on to point out, Eke Panuku plans to do similarly great things with the headland park at Wynyard Point.
However, as Simon has previously written, such a large open park risks being poorly visited due to the trademark strong winds that make the Waitematā such a delight for sailors.
Rather, we should take note that it is the incomparable Opera House built on a headland named after Barangaroo's husband Bennelong that draws nearly 11 million people to Sydney each year.
Fortunately, there are plans for something truly world-class on our waterfront that combine the best ideas from both iconic parts of Sydney, building on Simon's long-cherished dream of a place devoted to sharing the stories of tāngata moana, a people of the sea. Watch this space.
Sir Bob Harvey, Karekare.

Dangerous few
The right to protest is legally guaranteed and much required in a working and surviving democracy.
But as with all rights to protest, there are corresponding obligations that loosely translate into the need to act reasonably within the law.
The disgraceful actions of a few uncontrollable and dangerous actors really subverted the principles upon which the protest was based.
The police gave the protesters plenty of leeway before taking essential action to clear the area. Well done, Andrew Coster. You achieved the balance required in our democracy where the few do not determine the end result.
Dennis Pahl, Tauranga.

High ground
The "freedom camp" should not be judged by scenes of police tearing it down, inciting riot reactions, or a few protesters who trash and burn.
"I am proud of what did not happen", wrote John Roughan (Weekend Herald 5 March) in his balanced article that throws light on the situation.
The "freedom camp" should have withdrawn after two weeks - having made a strong case and retreated graciously, while still on higher moral ground.
However, people were having a good time at this peace and love festival, forbidden all summer - so they did not want to leave.
Now, they need to re-create this community spirit around Aotearoa.
Laurie Ross, Glen Eden.

A quick word

I sure hope the Romans don't try and reclaim their former territory. Huw Dann, Mt Eden.

Presumably innocent Russian and Belarusian Paralympians are being punished for Putin's warmongering, psychopathic attack on Ukraine while China, which refuses to condemn Putin, continues to host the games. Mary Tallon, Little Huia.

It is hard to achieve 30km/h in Auckland, so, if Auckland Transport wants to make money, it will need to lower the speed limit to 20. Andrew Montgomery, Remuera.

Thank you for the perspective on recent reporting of Covid death numbers by use of the word "with". It is with consequences such as mental illness, job loss, anxiety, business failure, etc that the word "from" is more appositely associated. Brent Cooper, Coatesville.

Come on, National, some creative, practical policies that will raise people out of poverty, not just throwing money the way of the wealthy. Marie Kaire, Whangārei.

Labour should lower the GST to 5 per cent, effectively a 10 per cent tax cut. Poor old Lucky would then have to raise it again to give the well-off their required tax cut. John Davison, Manurewa.

I agree that spending on frivolous items is out of control under this Government but Luxon needs to get things balanced, before reducing taxes, there is a horrendously bloated bureaucracy that needs to be deflated. Neville Cameron, Coromandel.

Putin is not demented – he is a determined criminal. Why is Russia still a member of the UN? Why is the Russian UN Representative still chairing the Security Council? Ian Barron, Waimauku.

Congratulations for printing the very well-balanced opinion piece by John Roughan: "I was proud of what did not happen" succinctly summarising the anti-mandate protest in Wellington. A J H Witten-Hannah, Takapuna.

It was gratifying to read John Roughan's article on the protest at Parliament after so much of the negativity. For many of those who were there, it was another story altogether. Jenny King, Ōkaihau.

Older civilisations have castles and cathedrals. We have hillforts/pa sites for a unique backdrop to our modern city. Let the maunga be accessible to all and the work of the tupuna be visible to all. David Howard, Pakuranga.

The Prime Minister is still blaming every cost increase, supply problem, housing shortage, and failing health facilities on Covid-19. How she is going to get on once we come out the other side of the current pandemic? Phil Dunbier, Kerikeri.

National, drowning in hubris, lost in 2018 because they couldn't acknowledge the housing "crisis". Sound familiar? Steve Dransfield, Karori.

The Government is merging our state radio and television operators. I have an idea for a name - the New Zealand Broadcasting Corporation or NZBC. For a few dollars, I could probably create a logo, the likes of which we haven't seen since 1975. Andrew Moffat, Wainui.