Port capacity
The decision about the Ports of Auckland will be made for and despite us if we don't act.
International shipping trends are seeing more mega-ships able to carry 18,000+ 20ft TEU containers being built with a doubling of this fleet next year with more to follow. They are vastly more cost efficient with a substantially reduced environmental footprint per container carried. This will have a cascading effect on fleets beyond the major international hub ports that will lead to larger vessels servicing New Zealand routes. These require deeper ports. Currently POA could only manage this shipping trend on tidal corridors i.e. when the tide is in.
The chances of consenting Ports of Tauranga type dredging in the inner Waitemata Harbour to satisfy this growing requirement of the international shipping carriers is zero or none.
POA has handled a few 8000 TEU vessels on tidal corridors but it is unsustainable on a consistent basis as it is inefficient having to rely on the ebb and flow of our tides. It is inevitable that the Ports of Auckland is doomed to be left behind yet so many seem to blithely accept them shredding ratepayers millions with ongoing investments in a spectacularly myopic view of the world beyond their fabled red fence.
While they persist maybe they also want to corner the market in quill pens.
Alex Swney, Grey Lynn.
Justice for Grace
I would like to add my voice to those who are saying that naming and shaming of women victims in our court system must stop if we wish to use the word "justice" in relation to the system.
What occurred in the Grace Millane trial is manifestly unjust, in my view, so the word "justice" does not sit well with it as things stand. Even the outcome of the trial seems to have been sullied in the minds of the public by the unjust process that has occurred.
A further injustice and indignity which has been imposed on the memory of Grace Millane during the trial is that she had no specific legal representation, while the accused did. This is clearly ethically wrong in my view and needs to be reconsidered urgently.
Claire Chambers, Parnell.
State infrastructure
John Roughan appears to be unaware (Weekend Herald, November 23) of the fact that if it were not for the state building infrastructure, we would not have any infrastructure. No electricity generation, no seaports, no airports, no roads, no railroads - no nothing.
And if private enterprise is so efficient, then why did the state have to buy back Air New Zealand and the railroads? Why did the BNZ have to be bailed out... twice? And who was responsible for Auckland's CBD blackout?
C C McDowall, Rotorua.
Money-go-round
The piece by Ashley Church on high house prices (OneRoof, November 23), ignores the basic fact that New Zealand lacks a capital gains tax.
Years ago, the NSW premier Neville Wran explained that he bought houses in NZ because of no capital gains tax.
The law of supply and demand still applies, by encouraging property ownership, especially by absentee landlords we are forcing prices up, add obstructive and incompetent council staff and we have a storm.
At current interest rates, the concept of putting your money in a bank is silly, only property still works.
By failing to take money out of circulation, via taxing all income, the government just continues to allow the situation to continue. We have too much money chasing too few investments.
Neville Cameron, Coromandel.
Expressway food
Glenn Forsyth is slightly off track (Weekend Herald, November 23) with his assumption we are getting fat with yet another McDonalds and KFC at the end of the Hamilton expressway. We must actually congratulate these companies on being business savvy with the location of their outlets.
Once the Huntly section opens in February, the expressway will actually not end; rather, it will mean at least a two-lane highway from Hamilton to Johnston's Hill and likely no need to go anywhere near Huntly if one so desires.
These new outlets will offset the inevitable drop in revenue at the stores currently in Huntly because, the traffic will drop substantially.
But this is not a death knell for Huntly, as it has been proven that Cambridge has not suffered with their new expressway opening a year or two back. In fact truth be known, the Cambridge locals love having their town back with the demise of heavy haulage and holiday traffic abandoning them altogether.
To remain future focused however, the next stage in this road of national significance is to apply this to Wellsford and Warkworth with the building of the Holiday Highway, but we must wait for a change in government for that dream to be realised.
John Ford, Napier.
Depravity deplored
The social media and mainstream entertainment is constantly pumping out every form of sexual depravity and violence, and then we wonder why we have more of it in real life. On the surface, society condemns sexual violence but does nothing to stop it being freely distributed as entertainment.
This psychological pollution of young people's minds is a major factor in increasing mental illness and social problems. This contradiction of values and confusion about what is "good" or healthy needs to be acknowledged by mental health advocates.
Who will lead the call to government and industry for safe sex, based on love and respect, not just contraception?
Laurie Ross, Glen Eden.
A quick word
No more door-to-door Girl Guide biscuits. No more Farmers big Santa. Yet Guy Fawkes lives on? Peter Culpan, Te Atatu Peninsula.
Perhaps when Shane Jones stops making personal threats against anyone who questions the desirability of moving the port to Whangārei we can have a rational discussion. David Shand, Waikanae.
If we learn anything from the tragic deaths of Grace Millane and Amber-Rose Rush it is that we know very little about what is going on in the worlds of our young people. Jock Mac Vicar, Hauraki.
The man who killed Grace Millane has been found guilty, yet he won't be sentenced until February. Why the wait? A Forsyth, St Heliers.
Dianna Roberts complains that cars cannot access the car park on Mt Albert. There is ample parking in the street and a short walk to the entrance. If the trees get cut, there won't be access to the area for at least a month. Peter Cowley, Mt Roskill.
Lizzie Marvelly expressed the view that the media should limit their exposure of the "various rants" of Israel Folau. I heartily endorse the view. We may, however, differ on what constitutes a "rant". John Strevens, Remuera.
"Men in our care" is for those in prison, we are told. This presumably means when I tell others my friend is "in care", I will have to explain he is there with dementia not in custody for a crime. Ian Mckinnon, Wellington.
Prime Minister Jacinda Arden, who is also MP for Mount Albert, has been slow to proffer her opinion on the Ōwairaka/Mt Albert occupation. Brian Malone, Kingsland.
You do something wrong and you lose your freedom and you also lose the right to vote. At least that's some justice for the victims. Mike Baker, Tauranga.
Will the next coalition be decided by inmates? John Ladd, Papamoa.
It's disturbing to see National re-framing voting not as a "duty", but a "privilege", which can then be withheld from groups considered "not deserving". Doug Hannan, Mt Maunganui.
Auckland residents are having their mountains transformed permanently by an unelected board without consultation. To add insult, the Auckland residents are paying for it. Kent Millar, Blockhouse Bay.
Could Lizzie Marvelly and everyone else stop using the word (if it is a word) "methinks"?
"I think" would suffice. B Williams, Kohimarama.
Please give Leighton Smith the job of Weekend Herald satirist. He reads better than Steve Braunias at exposing the ridiculous and the absurd in blinkered, ideological thinking. Paul Judge, Hamilton.
