Letters: Election, fleeing Auckland, National's Covid rumours, data security and a racecourse

National Party leader Judith Collins and deputy leader Gerry Brownlee. Photo / Mark Mitchell

Call for pragmatism

New Zealand has a history of conducting robust, democratically sound, safe, and internationally admired elections. The electoral commission runs the process with great efficiency of system, clear communication lines, and ease of execution. In these extraordinary times, it is natural the parties will wish to ensure access of voter to candidate, and their ability to attend meetings and rallies in order to express their issues and concerns to those standing for Parliament. Equally it is true we live in the age of highly sophisticated communication technologies, including robust tools offering online engagement at multiple levels. Given this virus may well be disruptive for many years to come, and certainly well into 2021, pragmatism needs to prevail. The Prime Minister ought to delay the election to the last Saturday possible in November, giving parties time to recalibrate and reset their communication strategies, to better prioritise their resources, and to be innovative in doing so. Delaying the election until 2021 would serve no sound purpose, create significant legislative upheaval, and be ethically questionable. Voting by post ought also to be given strong consideration, at the very least for future general elections.
Sam Clements, Hauraki

Driving away

Since there's now a distinct possibility of community spread right across Auckland, why on earth have so many people been permitted to fly and drive to places all over the country, where there is no requirement for them to isolate? Remember, too, that a percentage of these people could well be asymptomatic or pre-symptomatic. Yes; there were some roadblocks in Auckland but they were only in place some of the time and those staffing these took people's reasons for travel on face value. This is actually incredibly naive and, frankly, this is just not good enough from those in charge of our pandemic. Our previous sacrifices must not be for nothing!
Ella Harris, Riccarton

Spreading rumours

Judith Collins and Gerry Brownlee should cease deliberately spreading rumours by innuendo, exaggeration and incorrect statements simply to scare New Zealanders into voting for National. Isn't it preferable to have a Prime Minister who makes evidence-based decisions in conjunction with a team of experts in the various Covid-19 relevant fields before going public? I think so. Judith, stop using the Donald Trump playbook.
Rachel Merritt, Whakatane

Border demands

While there are many questions to be answered I wonder how your Labour-bashing opinionists feel about National demands only a short time ago that the borders should be opened. You can't have it both ways. For evidence just look at the disaster in Australia. Your writers are not asking pertinent questions but just continuing to play politics, and National has been reduced to promoting Trumpian conspiracy theories to try and discredit Labour's efforts.
Garry Bond, Hastings

Surgical approach

The latest Covid-19 management decisions are reminiscent of using a sledgehammer to crack a walnut. There should be a way to apply a much more surgical approach. This depends on using test kits that can produce a result in under half an hour and using high powered contact tracing teams i.e. working on contact tracing all night with large teams of helpers. It also means requiring people to notify health staff if they have symptoms and carrying out immediate quarantining. It also means that the elderly need to be quarantined/protected. The higher lockdown levels should then be only applied to strategic smaller areas based on the contact tracing. The numbers of personnel required to police this could be supplied in part by the armed forces. Besides these things it is important to allow most other people to continue in business as much as possible. This is how Taiwan has successfully handled the virus.
Stephen Eichler PhD, Ōhaupō

Workable solutions

One family has coronavirus and the whole country grinds to a halt again, didn't this Government learn anything the first time? If distancing and masks are sufficient protection in the supermarket or pharmacy why can't they be used in other shops and businesses so the economy can continue? Maybe bars must close but there is no reason why I cannot don a mask to buy paint from Bunnings, compost from the Plant Barn, fish and chips from Toby's, meat from the Mad Butcher or get my car serviced by a mechanic. These businesses and many more will be disadvantaged and some will have to dump tonnes of perishable food for no reason, and just when they were recovering their losses from last time. The administration needs business input to form workable lockdown rules which control the virus without crippling the economy.
Alan McArdle, Glen Eden

Acting selfishly

Panic buying and mass escapes from Auckland's imminent lockdown certainly show that many Kiwis have no self-control and are acting very selfishly. It's all "Me", "Me", "Me" and not "we" as a united nation. "We" are all in this together believe it or not and if "We" don't stick together and "work" together over this insidious pandemic then go make sure your funeral arrangements are up to date. I won't be, because like the majority of "sensible Kiwis" I will be in self-isolation following good Government advice. Good on you Jacinda, I support your government's actions totally. Anyone daft enough to consider opening our borders to big business opportunities is another of those "Me" people. Have we forgotten already about the "Me" "Me" people in Victoria, Australia? Poor buggers!
Bob Jessopp, Auckland

Data security
Nothing Juha Saarinen says in his comment "NZ in blast radius of US-China tech war", comes as any surprise. US security expert Bruce Schneier's covered much the same sort of thing on his website schneier.com, and it's old news at TheRegister, the irreverent UK-based tech news site. The major problem I see with the likes of dear old Google, Facebook, and what-not having such a large amount of our personal data to on-sell to interested parties, is that neither the US tech giants nor their data consumers are renowned for data security. Nor for that matter are various organs (security or otherwise) of the US Federal Government, which likewise claims the right to vacuum up data from everybody. I expect the latest data on citizens X, Y and Z to enter the data silos of the NSA, CIA, etc, are available to the PRC and Russian surveillance agencies within the hour. And vice versa. The Seventies threw up the useful expression "digging your grave with
your teeth". I guess the security agencies and tech giants will go all out to prove the truth of that expression.
Wesley Parish, Tauranga

Money for racecourse
If its aim is developing the regions to generate employment, "power up prosperity" and "enable better social outcomes", how can the Government justify allocating $10.4 million (one of the largest allocations) for a racecourse in Christchurch city? Apart from the urban location, the "soon to be stranded asset" argument (an old boys' game), and Covid-19 priorities, the only growth, once built would be in the betting industry. This is not known to generate "better social outcomes" for families. The PGF was generally understood to be a development fund to revitalise the regions. Development is ideally the best use of human and material resources to produce a better standard of living for beneficiaries. Areas of controversy, as in this case, may be the beneficiaries (present and future); key development foci invested in or bypassed; and the nature and ethics of development processes applied. Would including adequate representation of women on key decision-making panels ensure the interests of women and children are taken into account? I hope transparent evaluation will be done which shows how often they were beneficiaries of this fund and future such funds.
Frances Palmer, Titirangi

SHORT & SWEET

On stocking up
It surprises me that whenever Covid-19 rears its ugly head, people rush to the supermarkets and stock up with toilet paper while neglecting to buy face masks. It just goes to show which end of our bodies we consider most important.
Alfred Hoyle, Rotorua

On supermarkets
With us being forced to buy from supermarkets only looming, and small businesses getting snubbed, I guess the mighty supermarket duopoly will be busy buying up mattresses. They will need to stash their extra cash somewhere.
Glenn Forsyth, Taupō

On Brownlee
Why would any of the people of Christchurch vote for Gerry Brownlee when he failed them as Minister of Earthquake Recovery and many have still not had their homes fixed? Now he has the audacity to suggest that the Government would hold back information which could result in Kiwis losing their lives as a result. This man wants to be Deputy Prime Minister; God help Kiwis if he ever becomes Deputy leader.
John Laing, Drury

On Collins
Why doesn't Judith Collins stop bleating on about everything, Covid-19, the election, she has nothing constructive to say about anything. She is worse than Simon Bridges ever was. God help all of us if she was ever made Prime Minister of New Zealand.
P. Dixson, Henderson

On symptoms
All along we have been told to stay at home if not feeling well and especially with cold and flu-like symptoms. However the latest Covid-19 people have gone off on holiday and spread their bugs. Sadly some will never learn to follow basic and commonsense practice for the benefit of all.
Kay Robinson, Henderson