An agreed way forward
Here we are on the threshold of another general election and yet once again the all too familiar topics of education, health care, police/law enforcement, roads and transport (to which we can now add Three Waters) are to the fore. Dithering and lack of resources over the years have delayed any progress in essential stability in these critical public amenities. Given that New Zealanders voted in the Mixed Member Proportional electoral system in 1993, yes, 30 years ago, surely it is long overdue that our elected representatives conclude a multi-partisan agreement on the way forward in each of these areas that are vital to the health and well-being of our country. Otherwise voters will witness a further frittering away of their taxpayer dollars on consultants … or if National is elected watching and waiting (how many years?) for their proposal for bringing an essential Three Waters project to fruition. We desperately need cross-party accountability and a cost-effective agenda that reflects the true need for our government representatives to work together not the childish games that are the status quo.
Paul Hickford, Massey.
Choose your inducement
Christopher Luxon reiterates his call for inflation-adjusted tax thresholds – these would mainly benefit people who already intend to vote National (NZ Herald, March 14). Meanwhile, Chris Hipkins tosses a tasty inducement to superannuitants. One thing we know about superannuitants – they vote. If you want some of the lollies, you’ll need to vote.
Arch Thomson, Mt Wellington.
Ruined properties
Reading the heartbreaking stories of families forced from their homes, owners seem always to have an attitude of shifting the responsibility of making it right to others. If we persist in treating homes as investments, we must accept that every investment comes with risk. For decades, speculation in land has yielded immense wealth for those able to invest — tax-free income without adding value — pushing the cost of “getting on the ladder” out of reach for many. Must taxpayers now share in the pain without sharing the gain. Dyed-in-the-wool neoliberals can’t have it both ways. Let insurance companies pick up the tab, assess the risk of rebuilding on unsuitable sites, and load premiums accordingly. Then let us all reassess our attitude to housing. Land speculation must stop.
Ian Swney, Morrinsville.
Future funds
Peter Davis’ article (NZ Herald, March 7) about us not planning ahead is referring to a normal problem that we face in all facets of our lives. This includes governments, local bodies, businesses and, we, as individuals. Mostly we do not have the resources to salt away money for our future including the long-term maintenance and replacement of assets. Davis’ criticism regarding Three Waters and local authorities not setting funds aside for future funding requirements applies even more so to Central Government and to most individuals in saving for retirement in some form including Kiwisaver, wasting money on “nice to haves” and with little sensible regard for our futures. Peter also mentions fishing stocks and climate change. No one wants to declare that our efforts to prevent climate change will end up being irrelevant because it sounds irresponsible. Most of our infrastructure problems result from population increase rather than salting away depreciation funds which in themselves are never enough. Three Waters is a farce in the sense that it is about central control which will not work. Far better to finance and encourage local councils who can do their own planning, supported by the local people.
Bill Capamagian, Tauranga.
Lessons lost
If perception is reality – then the teachers have lost before they started this latest strike. Whatever their key message(s) are – they are not communicating them well. Instead, the teachers’ union comes across as disorganised, desperate, and unfocused. I haven’t met one person who can articulately communicate the key objectives for the teachers from Thursday’s strike in one line or in a couple of sentences. They may be quite right in what they are seeking, but their union totally lacks emotional quotient.
Adina Thorn, St Heliers.
Limited artifice
Many thanks for the article on artificial intelligence and chatbots (NZ Herald, March 13) It is important to keep returning to fundamentals in this subject. One fundamental is that there is no such thing as artificial “intelligence”. It is a contradiction in terms. There is only living intelligence, distributed amongst ourselves and other living beings that make up the biosphere. Artificial intelligence is simply technical contrivance, complex but empty; crammed with big data but zero real knowledge; carrying out programmed tasks but without agency or real autonomy. It has its uses but these need to be strictly monitored to prevent something dangerously like another form of “AI”, - namely artificial idiocy - arising from it. It is liable to misuse. The orgy of surveillance we live with is an obvious instance; so too the gigantic computer heists that eat into the administrative structures of civil society, wrecking entire health systems and endangering the populations that depend on them. Have we already forgotten what so recently happened to our Waikato area health system?
Denys Trussell, Newton.
Squadron backing
Regarding the article by Pattrick Smellie (NZ Herald, March 13) on the poor financials of the RNZYS. As a member, yes, I am unhappy with the balance sheet, but also acknowledge the huge number of other businesses that have had poor years. Were it not for Covid, the last Cup would have been a staggeringly huge success for Auckland and New Zealand and the next America’s Cup would have been raced here. Covid wrecked all that. Grant Dalton stitched together a deal where “our” Cup will be raced for in Barcelona, by a fully funded New Zealand team with a good chance to win again. The cup still sits proudly at the RNZYS. I would far rather a fully funded NZ entry in Spain, than the humiliation of watching a half-baked effort in NZ. I raced with Grant, back in the 80s, before satellite phones and the like, when we all depended on each other to survive the brutal Southern Ocean legs of the Whitbread. I have 100 per cent confidence in him. Let’s just accept that the premier sailing club of NZ is no different to multiple other businesses that, post Covid, need to reassess their business cases, to make ends meet.
Julian Fuller, Campbells Bay.
Legal review
Sasha Borissenko’s article on the regulation of the legal profession (NZ Herald March 13) makes interesting reading. One must hope that the time it has taken to publish its findings is not evidence of how important or otherwise the issue was considered and that the panel’s findings will eventually be implemented. Bearing in mind the number of controversial and publicly unpopular decisions made by the courts over the last few years I suppose it is wishful thinking to hope that a similar independent review would be undertaken of our judges and the extent to which they are or should be accountable to the public they serve.
Gerald Payman, Mt Albert.
Driving costs
I have a continuing problem understanding the apparent reluctance in introducing toll roads. The new Puhoi-to-Warkworth motorway and Transmission Gully to name just two recent examples of first-class highways not only have satisfactory financial costing arrangements but of course, improve the obvious increase in road safety. Why the reluctance to recoup some costs by introducing tolls? Many have experienced the satisfaction and, indeed, pleasure of driving on some first-class highways, particularly in Europe, the USA, and Australia, where the costs can in some cases be fairly pricey. However the few existing toll roads in this country are modestly cheaper, perhaps half the cost of a cup of coffee per trip,. Why not introduce a user-pays system? Not too popular I guess, but in the interest of meeting some of the monumental costs from a source other than from the public purse. Suitable existing roads could be considered presuming that there are adjacent, free alternative routes.
Michael Taylor, Pāpāmoa Beach.
Train in vain
The real issue, Steve Doole (NZ Herald, March 13) is the unreliability of our public transport. Last year we, along with many international tourists, lined up at Auckland central train station at 6am for a day trip to Wellington. It was a crisp autumn morning and the air expectant, but the train was cancelled. It took until 10am before a bus and driver could be located, so we set off drearily with not even a chance of a coffee. The return journey was even worse. There was, again, a last-minute excuse of mechanical problems and a no-show for the train in Wellington, so a bus driver was cajoled into driving to Auckland on his day off. That’s no picnic when you’ve been driving it all week. The bus was four hours behind schedule, the elderly driver surviving on energy drinks and the passengers on edge. The whole busload cheered as we drove into Auckland central station at 11.30pm. Unreliable and failing transport systems need to be addressed pretty sharpish. Until then many Kiwis will be relying on their good old addiction to cars.
Mary Tallon, Hauraki.
Got the hump
Catherine St in Henderson has a rare, well-designed speed bump. It slows down vehicles, without forcing traffic to crawling pace. In contrast, in Te Atatū South, where I drive often to visit a close friend, has dozens of nasty speed bumps every 100 metres – Flanshaw Rd, Amberley Ave, Sylvan Ave, Royal Rd, Vodanovich Rd, School Rd, etc. The speed limit is 40km/h, but the speed bumps are so fierce that I am forced to slow down to 10km/h to avoid over-stressing my Toyota’s suspension. To reiterate Tony Olisoff (NZ Herald, March 10), such poor speed bumps also waste fuel, with continual unnecessarily marked deceleration and acceleration. David Mairs (NZ Herald, March 14) seems unaware there is an excellent alternative to speedbumps – that is chicanes, as in Duncan St near Henderson. Finally, I confess to also owning a classic car. Not only is it driven relatively infrequently, but, like other such car owners, I have invested so much in it, I do not thrash it, as he suggests is the wont of us classic vehicle owners.
Peter Grace, Henderson.
Dirt bikers
We have had another weekend of dozens of dirt bikes ripping up the parks and roads of South Auckland. Mountford Park and Bruce Pullman Park cricket wickets got a hammering as witnessed by myself, players, and families. No helmets; no rego; no WOF and no police in sight. It has become so common that people are accepting it as normal. These riders are endangering responsible road users and drive past police with impudence and the numbers continue to grow. I have no doubt that if I rode my licenced, registered, WOFed, insured road bike without a helmet I would be stopped immediately.
Stephen Holden, Manurewa.
On policies
Chris Hipkins’ bonfire of ideologically driven nonsense leaves Labour, by default, adopting policies which the Nats have been too spineless to even mention, let alone promote. Brian O’Neill, Chatswood.
Of course, the Government, Labour, is going to drop anything remotely unpopular and throw money at things we all want; how else does an incumbent stay where they are? John Ford, Taradale.
Chris Hipkins may be seen as cynically making changes just to buy the election rather than making justified changes. Reputations are easily lost and hard to regain; he may be close to the tipping point. Kushlan Sugathapala, Epsom.
On missiles
Mark Lewis-Wilson (NZH, Mar. 13) is correct. Kruschev agreed to remove missiles from Cuba, while Kennedy agreed to remove missiles from Turkey. Peter Hulme, Taupō.
On RNZYS
Ready about - should have seen it coming. Dennis Knill, Parnell.
On water
I read (NZH, Mar. 14), “in the past year Watercare had been ‘focused heavily’ on reducing controllable costs”. Do these controllable costs include directors’ fees? If not, surely that’s the first and logical place to start. Janet Boyle, Ōrewa.
On cricket
Wow, our cricketers have done it again! What thrilling matches we have seen from the superb team. Rosemary Howell, Ellerslie.
Joinery firm in liquidation after nearly 50 years
So sad and so predictable. If you lock a country up and down for literally years, and then when you finally set your nation free, then go on to still refuse to open the border to any meaningful numbers of skilled labourers or workers, whilst still spraying billions of taxpayer money 24/7 off the harbour bridge, on doomed and dim-witted projects, and throwing fireballs and more taxes on business owners and hard-working Kiwis. Then what else did you think would happen? This is only the beginning. The crunch is coming. This Government has so much to apologise for and so many people to answer to. Mark C.
There are not enough houses as it stands. Not enough to buy, or rent. Opening the immigration floodgates is what started the descent into the state New Zealand is in today. Brian D.
Look at all the vacancies everywhere. Please don’t expect those on the jobseekers list to apply. Hence, immigration otherwise productivity and our economy won’t grow. Warren B.
Simplistic - surely there has to be a balanced approach otherwise too many migrants will sink New Zealand if infrastructure is not there to support them and the general population. Brian H.
The building industry has been the whipping boy of the economy for years. Raise interest rates, and building slows. Cut interest rates, and building takes off. Very hard to run a business when your revenue can change 50 per cent year-to-year and how do you determine how much working capital you need in your business? That means the number of workers in the business goes up and down. Also means you invest in them, train them, and then have to let them go. Mindless. Better for everyone if the highs and lows were taken out of the process by a government with ideas. Kerry H.
Unfortunately, many of these businesses end up leaving the IRD owed a lot of money. The taxpayer is the biggest loser more often than not. Sad to see an established business with a good reputation disappear. John W.
The Government says it is building houses. It should be helping top up construction businesses lending/funding to prevent lenders from calling in their loans when things get tight. The developer of a new build project which I have invested in is a multi-residence (Auckland) development that has now just gone into liquidation because the market has dropped and interest costs have soared. There are so many situations like this that will dramatically affect the total number of completed houses available to live in or rent. Please can someone from Government get with the programme and sort the mess out. Fiona S.
OPINION: New Zealander reflects on delivering speech at St James' Palace.