Look to ourselves
At COP26 in Glasgow, all eyes are on the world leaders, expecting a miracle.
To be sure, not enough action has been done in the past to reduce the greenhouse gases but to fade out all these coal-powered generating plants will take decades and the power cost
will go through the roof.
Now what actions are the people taking? I can see, while waiting at the bus stop car, after huge car going past and most have one passenger. I can see people sitting in their car in the supermarket car park with the engines running while the shopper is inside. I see shoppers putting one or two avocados in a paper or plastic bag, plus many other vegetables which do not need to be bagged. I see thousands of takeaway coffee cups being used every day. These should have at least one dollar surcharge with the money going to clean up the environment. Why not bring your own cup like a concerned citizen should do? The list goes on and on. Don't expect miracles from the governments if you cannot change your own habits.
Siegfried Jordan, Royal Oak.
Holding ground
Despite the reasons why we need to attain 90 per cent vaccination being accentuated by government and health professionals over and over again, there is continual criticism and cries to remove all restrictions.
Are we so selfish that, as long as I don't get the virus, to hell with everyone else? As an Aucklander, yes, I am fed up with being locked up but I know that if we open the borders Covid will stretch its long tentacles to every city town and country road.
How will I feel then when death from Covid is a fact of everyday life?
It has been very hard for business in Auckland and tourism in the rest of the country has suffered because Aucklanders and overseas tourists are not there, but there is nothing more final than death.
We are nearly out of the tunnel so let's hold our ground and be thankful we are not cold in the ground or ashes in a jar on the mantelpiece.
Reg Dempster, Albany.
Deterrent needed
Auckland and the Waikato are being held to ransom by a small group who are defying Covid-19 restrictions and vaccination requests that the vast majority accept on the basis of the greater good. Indirectly, the entire country is affected.
The simple reason is because they can, and they know from experience that the consequences of misbehaving are minimal.
New Zealand is very good at making laws, regulations and rules, but not so good at having meaningful penalties. We also tend to ignore infractions, referenced by the number of motor vehicles that are neither registered or display WOF. A judiciary that believes a cuddle fixes all, doesn't help.
It is time for change, and the catalyst could be the issue of the vaccination passport and its use when Aucklanders are able to leave lockdown before Christmas. My theory is that significant consequences are a deterrent and reduce the need to have blanket policing policies.
Let the borders open for the holidays for those with a passport and randomly select one in 10 vehicles for close scrutiny.
I would suggest an instant fine of $5000 per person and 28-day vehicle confiscation would deter all but the most foolhardy.
Murray Reid, Cambridge.
Hard to swallow
The Prime Minister, when announcing Auckland is moving to level 3 step 2, has dismissed allowing al fresco dining despite its success in the UK. Why? "It wouldn't be fair on hospitality outlets who can't provide such amenities."
What is actually being said is the Government would rather penalise all Auckland cafes, restaurants and pop-ups, rather than provide a lifeline for a significant number of them. Where is the logic that allows 25 to eat together outdoors but not when provided by a business that would be required to apply far stricter safety guidelines? I continue to be dismayed by the decision-making process going on at the moment.
John Harmsworth, Warkworth.
All left outside
The problem with the politics of "equity" is that often it results in equitable failure; it is the politics of the lowest common denominator.
The Prime Minister spoke from instinct when she explained why outside dining is still not permitted in Auckland, despite its proven very low risk of spreading Covid. She said that it was because not all hospitality businesses can offer outside dining and therefore it would be "inequitable" to allow some such businesses to open but not others. This is the essence of equitable failure.
Even a mediocre government, if it were less instinctively driven by the politics of equity, would have realised that allowing some businesses to save themselves is better than preventing any from doing so.
A government driven by the politics of aspiration, on the other hand, would have instructed officials at national and local level to ensure all hospitality businesses that wished to do so would have the option to set up their tables on the pavements or roads. It would have given those officials one week to make the necessary arrangements. And it would have done that 12 weeks ago, when Auckland's lockdown began.
Richard Grant, Ellerslie.
