The inquiry into the election found multiple errors – with duplicate votes, discounts and a ballot box going missing.
Fixing our vulnerable election process
The inquiry into the election found multiple errors – with duplicate votes, discounts and a ballot box going missing.
Auditor-General John Ryan identified factors contributing to the mistakes: the large number of voters leaving it up to the last minute to register and the massive “special” vote tally. His recommendations to the Electoral Commission surely therefore write themselves:
* Return to the practice of closing registrations weeks before the election. Given the postal schedules these days it should be at least a couple of months prior, so that when you become aware your EasyVote card has not arrived, you still have time to get the problem fixed.
* Voting on election day only
* In person
* Counting to be done in the same hall as the voting, so ballot boxes needn’t travel anywhere
* Party scrutineers to be present throughout. This is so critical that we should consider paying scrutineers, as with jurors.
But no, the Auditor-General’s actual recommendations seem an exercise in stating everything but the obvious. I can’t argue with most of the recommendations, but nothing is said about these underlying problems.
So why the unshakeable commitment to relentlessly maintaining the most vulnerable election processes?
Andrew McCosh, Onehunga.
Third-world power
On what was virtually the first day of winter we are being advised of looming power shortages and to reduce usage or face power cuts (NZ Herald, May 10).
How could the former government have handled this crucial power supply issue so poorly with its apparent solution being a massively expensive storage lake, Lake Onslow, which even at best would not be up and running until 2040.
New Zealand is sadly entering into the area of being or maybe becoming a third-world country and we must therefore look at all means of increasing power production be it gas, oil or coal.
Even when our hydro lakes are overflowing with water, if we were to solely rely on them to supply power, due to them being relatively shallow, there is only in the vicinity of six weeks’ power supply before they are depleted.
At least we now appear to have a Government that accepts that we have a problem but I suspect there will be some pain before things are resolved.
Mike Baker, Tauranga.
Shed dismay
It was with disbelief and dismay that I read the article regarding resource consent being granted for the construction of three further boatsheds on Ngapipi Rd (Weekend Herald, May 4).
This road is an adjunct to Auckland’s jewel, Tamaki Drive, and it is inconceivable how further intrusion on to the waterfront can be considered minor.
It is travelled by thousands of commuters, cyclists and pedestrians each day, who get to enjoy the view over Hobson Bay, apart from where it is disrupted by the existing boatsheds. It must also be questioned how one individual can be granted use of all three spaces, let alone one.
If there really were three spaces available, why could Auckland Council not put them out to open tender for lease so ratepayers could at least benefit from the capital gains that other boatshed owners have enjoyed over the years?
Is there any lease or right-to-occupy agreement, as there is for the other boatsheds or boat owners using nearby swing moorings? If so, can Auckland Council not refuse to enter such an agreement, regardless of the granting of resource consent?
Chris Thom, Ōrakei.
Quality v quantity
By de-contextualising regulations, Steven Joyce sets up a straw man to target for his generalised criticism of regulation (Weekend Herald, May 4). However, nothing is created in a vacuum.
Many of his own Government’s “mountain” of banking regulations were in response to the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression. A major facilitator of this dire situation was the loosening of US Depression-era regulations such as the Glass-Steagall Act.
Although domestically constructed, anti-money laundering (AML) laws are essentially a requirement imposed by supra-national organisations such as the UN on all countries in order to partake in international finance.
Even Joyce’s favourite “disruptive technology” needs to be facilitated by regulation. The internet might be very different but for anti-trust action by the US Department of Justice in 1998 to prevent Microsoft from becoming its gatekeeper by making its Internet Explorer the default browser on all of its Windows desktops.
Joyce’s essential argument seems predicated upon the false premise that the unfettered market tends towards competition, when the reverse is true. Absent regulation, mature markets trend towards consolidation for market dominance.
The focus should therefore not be on the quantity of regulations, but rather their quality.
Peter Jansen, Mission Bay.
Power lunches
Well done David Seymour. Free school lunches should not equate with dinners.
For generations, children have eaten sandwiches with nutritious fillings which can be varied to provide meats, cheeses, vegetables, dried fruits and chopped nuts for the fussiest of eaters.
Bread can be flat, rolled, layered‚ lightly toasted or exchanged for gluten-free options. End the lunch with fresh fruit, together with a muesli bar and you have essential protein, vitamins, carbs, fibre and a dash of sugar.
Add a milk drink (from a country that provides milk products for the rest of the world) and you have plenty of calcium too. That may be a boring meal when dished up five days a week but it is cheap and nutritious, providing plenty of energy to sustain hungry children for a day’s schooling.
Then you can do exactly what Seymour is planning - extend the service to more children. Having seen pictures of the present lunches being provided to children I am amazed at the quantity as well as the packaging, which must be adding to our landfill.
Change is definitely needed
Joan Carter, Dannemora.
Adopting tikanga
Like many New Zealanders, I find myself with conflicted feelings about the foisting of tikanga upon our law students (NZ Herald, May 8) and indeed our real estate agents.
On one hand, we have schools embracing mātauranga Māori, embracing a set of knowledge and beliefs, despite the Education and Training Act 2020 stating that primary and secondary schools should be secular (or limit religious instruction to no more than 20 hours per year on an opt-in basis after consulting with the community).
Teaching mātauranga Māori seems diametrically opposed to the act when the division between state and religion has been hotly debated in the past and yet eerily silent on teaching these beliefs in this modern age.
And yet the need to re-embrace a set of correct and moral judgments seems too obvious in a society where such values have been discarded. One would have thought that our society could learn much from adopting tikanga.
It is ironic that those who should understand tikanga are over-represented in our prison population having eschewed tikanga and mātauranga Māori. Perhaps it should be a cultural requirement to undertake mātauranga Māori in our corrections system so respect is shown to tikanga, kaumatua and iwi, rather than by our law students who already understand and respect the law.
Michael Locke, Mt Eden.
Genter should go
The attempt by correspondent Reg Dempster to water down the actions in the debating chamber by Julie Anne Genter simply don’t wash (Weekend Herald, May 4).
Not only was her aggressive display acknowledged as totally unacceptable, but that and the account of a confrontation with Laura Newcombe were in breach of Green Party values. In particular: “Engage respectfully, without personal attacks.”
That value has been clearly breached and the following tack on behind: “Take the path of caution in the face of serious uncertainty about the consequences of human action. Support ideas on their merit, regardless of where they originate. Actively respect cultural and individual diversity and celebrate difference.”
No Mr Dempster, it is not worth a pay increase to aggressively confront a fellow MP or engage in shouting matches with business owners whose ideas on transport are diverse from your own. She has overstepped the limit of parliamentary standards and her party values so should resign immediately.
Gavin Baker, Glendowie.
Open prey PMs
The Canvas piece about actor Sophie Hambleton playing Jacinda Ardern is very insightful and again raises the fact that Prime Ministers are open prey every day of their tenure and even after (Weekend Herald, May 4).
Depending on one’s political leaning we generally either love, hate or just tolerate the incumbent. Covid was very unkind to Prime Ministers and many of them have left the stage either booted or worn out.
There is a saying that Man should not be despised for their best efforts and Jacinda definitely slots into that category. She gave us her all and in the end it took its toll.
It’s easy to criticise from the stands but a lot more difficult on the paddock. Perhaps one should heed one’s own wisdom.
Reg Dempster, Albany.
David “woke food” Seymour has just insulted the Asian section of NZ. Not smart.
Roger Laybourn, Hamilton.
The thought-provoking and well-constructed editorial analysis of current Warriors’ woes provides a well-tempered view of the team playing in one of the world’s toughest sports leagues. Too much hysteria of winning this intensely difficult competition is not helpful, even if there is any inbuilt bias against us cousins across the Ditch. The club can be assured that the loyalists will be there until physically unable to be.
Rob Smith, Ōtahuhu.
With so many dangerous car chases resulting in deaths and serious injury isn’t it about time that severe penalties were brought into force? I would suggest a minimum sentence of five years. That might make them think twice. Driving dangerously is like randomly discharging a gun in public. Sooner or later innocent people are going to get killed and seriously injured. At present it is not treated as a serious crime.
Jock MacVicar, Hauraki.
I see Christopher Luxon will donate his pay increase to charity. Will he also instruct his accountant not to claim the tax refund on his charitable donation ($16,665), I wonder?
June Sinclair, Highland Park.
If aviation is “the most “damaging transport industry on the planet” why did Green MP Julie Anne Genter fly to the Chatham Islands rather than use a more eco-friendly means of transport.
Gavin Baker, Glendowie.
I wonder if the increase in the number of violent crimes committed by young offenders has any connection to the ban on the physical punishment of children? It would seem we are creating a generation who have no concept of punishment beyond a “telling off”.
Jeanette Grant, Mt Eden.
Watercare, when no longer the responsibility of the Auckland Council, and “free” to borrow on the open market without government or council backing will inevitably have to pay higher interest rates on its loans. How is this going to translate to lower charges? This looks like preparing the ground for privatisation.
Bob van Ruyssevelt, Glendene.
I understand Mark Mitchell when he talks about being proactive in tackling crime but what on earth does being “forward leaning” mean in that context?
Garry Bond, Hastings.
It gets increasingly boring to continually read about the farce that is the Trump trial. How many threats of contempt of court does it take, how many times is he allowed to harangue the judges and so on. Many who were once aides and looked after his interests have all done time in prison yet he somehow marches above the law it would seem and astonishingly, can even still run for the presidency. As the saying goes, “only in America”.
Paul Beck, West Harbour.
OPINION: New Zealander reflects on delivering speech at St James' Palace.