High-wire act
I'm sure I'm not alone in being astonished at the electricity pricing situation consumers face in New Zealand as outlined by Bryan Leyland (NZ Herald, September 7). So, when Huntly has to fire up, all hydro generators reap a windfall profit just because Huntly has to pay a carbon tax. What?
How hard can this be for a ministry with well-paid civil servants to sort out? Aren't we meant to be trying to take the financial pressure off people, especially during our cost-of-living crisis?
If our current minister can't fix this, let's have Leyland seconded to the ministry and empowered to fix this foolishness.
Stephen Hirst, Hamilton.
Head-nodding
Ms Tigue-Umbers criticises Jacinda Ardern (NZ Herald, September 7) for "head-nodding and frowning", asserting that such mannerisms will not solve the housing crisis. Of course, they won't.
But her comment presents an opportunity to suggest ways it will definitely not be solved.
Tax cuts for those earning over $180, 000 will be of no assistance to those on lesser incomes struggling to save and buy their first home.
Furthermore, economists have asserted that tax cuts for high earners will be inflationary, thus pushing up all costs for building new homes. The Government's partnership with the private sector and its impressive social housing builds need to be applauded.
Most reasonable people compare the housing policies of this and the last National Government's efforts as a no-contest.
Do I have confidence that we can all look beyond "head-nodding and frowning" to acknowledge a record to be proud of? Absolutely.
Diana Walford, Greenlane.
Cutting loose
The National Party will have over a year to see how their flagship tax cuts will work to reduce inflation in New Zealand now that Liz Truss has been elected Prime Minister of the UK on the same platform.
Everyone is expecting 25 per cent per anum in the UK after the tax cuts. Does National have the same target for New Zealand?
Mark Nixon, Remuera.
Super security
Liam Dann's sobering article (NZ Herald, September 8) on the disastrous abolition of the NZ compulsory superannuation scheme in 1975 does not mention the added burden of the introduction of superannuation, at age 60, then.
It gave people like my mother some financial independence but the country could ill afford it
Denise de Groot, Browns Bay.
This is saving?
David Shand (NZ Herald, September 6) opined that "Some candidates promise to reduce rates by cutting bureaucracy and concentrating on 'core services'. In my view they are delusional. Auckland City has made plenty of savings already."
Auckland City's financial statements are available online. In the 2009 / 2010 year published group revenues were $1.246 billion and expenditures $1.290 billion. In the 2019 / 2020 year published revenues were $5.168 billion and expenditures $4.416 billion of which $444 million was finance costs up from $57 million in 2009 / 2010.
How exactly that is interpreted as a city that has made "plenty of savings" is beyond me.
Shand also says that we shouldn't be concerned about the City's debt as it is within "prudential limits". Shand wants us to seriously question the candidates but I would like to seriously question him on that point.
John Christiansen, Mt Albert.
Essential mining
Josie Vidal ( NZ Herald, September 7) is spot on. Anti-mining activists ignore the fact that all prosperity in the Western world since the Industrial Revolution has been due to mining in one form or another.
As she says, everything we use daily has been mined or made grown using mined products. The mantra appears to be that anything which affects the earth is automatically bad and must be banned, even if the negative effects are non-existent or can be overcome.
If we continue to criminalise all forms of mining, we automatically return to feudalism and backbreaking physical labour.
The inflationary effects of this are already with us.
Gerry Sanders, Whitianga.
Spectral fares
Efeso Collins promotes full rate-payer funding of AT bus fares (NZ Herald, September 5). He ought to notice if he did his due diligence in the first place, that on the North Shore, there are virtually no fares collected as the buses are essentially ghost buses.
No surprise AT is struggling to get its contractors more drivers. Who would aspire to be a ghost bus driver?
B. Casey, Torbay.
Back on rails
I read with great interest that the Government is going to re-introduce distance train services as an alternative means of travel to what are now congested roads.
Anything that can reduce the congestion and mayhem on the roads is worth considering - especially for the nation's children, some of who have never been on a train or rail car.
Jock Hume, Mt Roskill.
Short & sweet
On poverty
Poverty is like being punished for a crime one didn't commit. Reg Dempster, Albany.
On mining
Further to Josie Vidal's provocative article (NZH, Sept.7)on our reliance on mined products, hands up those anti-miners with jewellery on their fingers. David Tolmie, Mt Eden.
On confiscations
It is a dangerous precedent to allow an authoritarian state to confiscate property, even from the nefarious, without a trial or criminal conviction. Ian Brady, Titirangi.
On Kyrgios
Nick Kyrgios is a disgrace to tennis. When I see him smashing his rackets, I am reminded of the old saying "a bad workman blames his tools". V. Hall, Whangaparāoa.
On Sweden
Had we followed the Swedish model, and accordingly died at the Swedish rate, at least 14,000 families here instead of fewer than 3000 would be mourning a death. Does this count for so little? J McDonald, Sunnyhills.
On Act
Richard Prebble and the Act Party remind me of those Japanese soldiers still fighting WWII in the 1970s. C.C. McDowall, Rotorua.
The Premium Debate
Govt to scrap traffic light system, other orders
Nothing has changed: "... and is 'working on' 'proposals' for future pandemic management." Wouldn't you think this would have been done already? Well, it's Labour, so no. Angela S.
While the virus has been real and is now endemic, the dithering approach to mandates has, conveniently, masked ineptitude elsewhere. The main (only?) downside of removing mandates will be that other weaknesses (non-delivery) will be exposed. Peter C.
Right on cue when the headlines aren't going their way - an announcement about an announcement about a distraction. Emma C.
Election-driven decision, not scientific or public health-driven. So obvious. Hey, you, watch what I'm doing over here. See? No, no, don't look at my other hand. Focus on this one. Paul M.
I sincerely hope that those people who choose to wear masks in public won't be mocked. They will have genuine health reasons for doing so. They must not be made to feel like pariahs. And unfortunately, if an infected contagious person doesn't wear a mask, one layer of protection is removed. Antje V.
It's really a case of the law lapsing. If Caucus don't extend beyond Wednesday next week it just fades away. Should have gone months ago as most of NZ gave it away months ago. Stop the silly money-wasting ads. Move on. Garry R.
