Napier MP Stuart Nash with Prime Minister Chris Hipkins. Photo / Mark Mitchell, File
Napier MP Stuart Nash with Prime Minister Chris Hipkins. Photo / Mark Mitchell, File
Letter of the week: Richard Alspach, Dargaville
This coming election, several hundred candidates will go door-knocking, seeking votes. They will do this on the basis that they want to represent/serve the people of whatever electorate. Then after the election, some of those candidates will become MPs. As MPs, it willbe expected of them to pursue issues of importance to their electorates, and they will receive requests for help from constituents having difficulty grappling with the labyrinthine bureaucracy. That request for lobbying and/or the request for support will be freely given. As it should be, this is a representative democracy after all. Few of the people making these requests will have the faintest idea of the existence of a Cabinet Manual; most MPs themselves have only a passing knowledge of it. The “Stuart Nash Affair”, provides more heat than light. As a political diversion, it is fair enough but it begs a proper debate about representative democracy. Is it too much to hope that out of this affair, leaders of all political parties will take the opportunity to lay out their understanding of this concept? It can’t be just adherence to a manual; it must recognise the desire of people to have their views represented and to expect some lobbying on their behalf to deal with problems they may be having dealing with, for instance, a government department.
Belief beggared
In view of the recent emissions-driven climate disaster, it is incredible that there is a plan in place (Weekend Herald, March 18) to spend up to $3.9 billion on a new domestic terminal. Writing $3.9 billion is easier than showing it as $3,900,000,000 but that is what it is. An eye-watering amount to be spent on facilitating a means of transport which is so damaging. This money should be allocated to upgrading train and ferry services. The hypocrisy of the company’s statement that as part of this plan they are reassessing their climate change resilience, beggars belief. During the Covid restrictions, we managed to reduce air travel and live an altogether simpler life. And we survived. We may not survive turning a blind eye to what is happening to the climate while our mouths continue to pay lip service to change. And to those who find it easier to point the finger than to protect their family’s future, the answer is “no”. I no longer travel by plane. But individual acts of denial are not the solution. The answer is real leadership to consult with our communities, envisage and plan for a sustainable future.
John Roughan’s article (Weekend Herald, March 18) criticises the Government’s increase to his own pension, saying that he “doubts many age beneficiaries need it”. Moreover, he argues in his opening paragraphs that the cost of living crisis due to inflation is a myth because “incomes have been rising too”. He then goes on to castigate teachers for striking last week. Guess what? Teachers’ incomes have not been rising, hence the need for industrial action. It’s time John Roughan focused fully on enjoying his comfortable retirement.
Teachers and supporters rally in downtown Auckland during a strike for better pay and conditions. Photo / Michael Craig
Welcome increase
John Roughan criticises Prime Minister Chris Hipkins for announcing an extra $100 a fortnight increase for superannuitant couples “that I don’t need”. Well, you are fortunate. Ever-increasing numbers of superannuitants are renting or still have mortgages to pay. They need every cent of their benefit to meet the current cost of living. An extra $100 per fortnight will make a big difference to them and will be warmly welcomed. I suspect most Kiwis applaud what Hipkins is doing. Kindness and pragmatism are not mutually exclusive.
Roger Laybourn, Hamilton.
Put paid
Bruce Cotterill (Weekend Herald, March 18) claims too much is being spent on welfare and it is going to the wrong people but says that superannuitants deserve their increase because they have been good taxpayers. So as long as you have paid tax, you can get increased welfare payments. Doesn’t say much for the poor souls who have paid tax but now, unfortunately with ill health, find themselves on the sickness benefit. He claims minimum wage increases are a bad idea but the tourism and hospitality sector, habitual minimum wage-payers, have serious labour shortages as workers move to higher-paid jobs. Not to mention how his charity work is suffering from not enough people putting their hands in their pockets. You can’t have it both ways; higher incomes, regardless of where it comes from, mean higher discretionary spending.
Neil Anderson, Algies Bay.
Healthy wages
Bruce Cotterill (Weekend Herald, March 18) is fundraising for men’s health, but his focus seems obtusely narrow. He decries any increase to the minimum wage, unable to see that if a significant proportion of our community lives in poverty, the ensuing social problems affect everyone, including the privileged, including men like him. He also resents benefits paid to anyone other than those he considers worthy, namely superannuitants, and a category he defines as “those who can’t look after themselves”. A few pages before Cotterill’s column, the Herald’s business section’s lead story listed the obscenely high salaries of this country’s “top bosses”; I wonder if he noticed any irony in this juxtaposition. Cotterill might do well to expand his understanding of what influences men’s health. I recommend Michael Marmot’s “The Health Gap”, a brilliant examination of the social determinants of health.
Your columnists Bruce Cotterill and John Roughan (Weekend Herald, March 18) criticise the Government for raising the minimum wage and benefits, while at the same time, an article highlights the, at times “obscene” salaries and bonuses paid to our “top” CEO’s. Roughan even suggests that most superannuitants do not need the increase as they own their own houses mortgage-free; where did he get that information? Even if they did, life on $2000 a month is not exactly luxury living. Clearly, increasing the minimum wage has not affected these people on the top of the pile. Is it more important to contain/reduce inflation or provide a reasonable standard of living to our least well-off? Surely the answer has to be the latter. Additionally, those beneficiaries will spend most, if not all of their money right away, here in Aotearoa NZ, while a very significant proportion of those mega-salaries will end up offshore with no benefit to NZ at all. By all means, contain inflation, but it is not caused by beneficiaries and superannuitants, but by better-off people overspending. Improving our taxation system is the answer to that issue not hurting the less well-off.
Julian Fitter, Maketu.
A quick word
Posie Parker claims to speak for women. I can and do speak for myself. I do not need right-wing violence and Nazis backing me up in any way, shape, or form. Paula Wagstaff, Pt Wells.
W M Fletcher (WH, March 18) sadly notes the “misapplication” of the word “woke”. I hope the writer finds something gay to enjoy this week. Stewart Hawkins, St Heliers.
I’m elderly and wobble when I walk on our footpaths. It would be nice if bike and scooter jockeys slowed down and announced, “on your left” or “on your right” when approaching from behind. Robert Myers, Auckland Central.
Maybe John Mellars (WH, Mar. 18) would “give a rat’s arse about the rescue” if the navy and Northland Rescue sent him a bill? David Tennent, Wattle Downs.
For the sake of the planet, a genuine “green” party would pledge to work constructively with whichever other parties are in office. Mike Wagg, Freemans Bay.
After careful scrutiny of the pic of the week (WH, March 18) it is safe to say there were no spelling errors in any of the placards being held by striking teachers. Lorraine Kidd, Warkworth.
I really don’t think teachers should be waving signs around that include crude messages such as, “WTF.” It shows a troubling lack of decorum and extremely bad taste; hardly conducive to their cause. Colleen Wright, Botany Downs.
John Roughan writes (WH, Mar. 18) of the need for Prime Minister Hipkins to show leadership with courage leading into the upcoming election - an oxymoron, to be sure. Garry Wycherley, Awakino.
Congratulations on Saturday’s paper (WH, Mar. 18). Four pieces full of common sense by Bruce Cotterill. John Roughan, Jane Phare and Fran O’Sullivan. Anthony Turner, Pakuranga Heights.
Richard Telford’s summary (NZH, Mar. 20) of Bruce Cotterill’s article (“no society ever thrived because it had a large and growing class of parasites living off those that produce”) isn’t really that original. In the 19th Century, Karl Marx reached the same conclusion - with legendary results. Morgan L. Owens, Manurewa.
I assume John Roughan (WH, Mar. 18) has private medical insurance and would forgo that in the interests of social equity and curbing inflation. Gavin Kay, Remuera.
Even if Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu was to be shown a video of the actual collision between the Russian fighter and the US drone, the minister would no doubt claim it was the drone that backed into the fighter. Lloyd McIntosh, West Harbour.
Looking at the salary scale of CEOs (WH, Mar. 18) I can see why we have such an incompetent bunch of MPs. A capable person can earn at least 10 times as much as an MP. Ross Allen, Hillcrest.
What a country we live in. A weekend on Waiheke Island; the harbour ferry ride is a scenic bonus. The views of Lyttelton and the SailGP contests. Truly heartwarming and great reasons for Kiwis to be proud. Larry Mitchell, Rothesay Bay.
Kerry Reeves, Air New Zealand’s head of aircraft programmes, was quoted by CNN as saying that NZ “… being a small country at the bottom of the world, long-haul travel is vital to keeping us connected...” Apart from reflecting a colonial mindset, I’d have thought that someone in the aviation industry would understand that there’s no bottom on a globe. David Nicholson, Karori.
So it’s official, the Grand Poobah has spoken. The Chinese people won’t get to see Winnie the Pooh now, not for all the Xi in China. Dean Donoghue, Papamoa Beach.
