Poverty in paradise. How did we get to this? Photo / 123rf, File
In too deep
The size of New Zealand’s population is about a quarter of that of bigger cities in some countries. This place is decent in land mass which can produce abundantly with minimal input; there is no shortage of water and the weather is mostly conducive and calm. The people are hardworking and honest, also hardwired to be fair. Yet this heavenly place is grappling with serious shortcomings in several if not all areas such as education, health, housing, policing and transport infrastructure. The inequality gulf seems to be accelerating at an alarming rate as the wealth here is being concentrated in smaller and smaller percentages of people each decade. In a wealthy country like New Zealand, no child should be without nutritious food, decent clothing or a liveable home, let alone 118,000 children (NZ Herald, March 24) having to contend with material hardship (most of them from minorities). And what’s going wrong with education that thousands of students upon leaving school can’t perform basic literacy and numeracy tasks needed to function in a first-world country? I hope none of this has much to do with unconscious biases but I suspect this country’s problems are much deeper than what people can see on the surface or are willing to admit.
Kanwal Grewal, Hamilton.
Underlying factors
Should we really be surprised the child poverty statistics aren’t moving in the right direction (NZ Herald, March 24)? Until we have an honest debate on the causes nothing is likely to change positively. While there are numerous (sometimes unavoidable) factors contributing to child poverty in New Zealand, for too many children the choices their parents make - and which we fail to address are at the root. Addiction to methamphetamine (and other drugs), gambling, smoking, excessive drinking, tithing and continuing to have children they clearly cannot afford are seldom addressed by the perpetual line of hand-wringers and leaders within the communities which are so disproportionately represented in these statistics. Nothing will change until these negative contributors to child poverty are dealt with. Throwing more money at dysfunctional parents who do not prioritise their own children won’t help.
Fiona McAllister, Mt Maunganui.
Extracting payments
The cost of dental care, along with many other professional groups, went up dramatically once the first students with huge loans to repay graduated. As the years have gone by, the number has increased, as have dental charges. Those already in the profession were forced to do the same, otherwise waiting lists would have changed the face of dentistry to greater social division. There was so much we benefited from paying for our young to attend universities and other training institutions. What a pity we have not had governments with foresight.
Emma Mackintosh, Birkenhead.
Terrifying horde
On Saturday, I was on the rotunda in Albert Park when the baying hordes descended. Once up there some of them started pushing down the heavy wire screen behind Posie Parker, trying to crush her. I was doing my best to brace it, terrified in a terrifying situation. Saying that Posie was then escorted through the crowd to leave is disingenuous, I was one of the at least eight people it took to get her out alive. It was the most fearful situation I have ever been in. It was a horde baying for blood and make no mistake, those sensitive and kind NZ’ers wanted her torn to shreds. All this hatred and for what? A women’s rights activist who dares to speak.
Barbara Doherty, Coromandel.
City pride
On a day when hate arrived to speak, it could have been the worst of days. But the city of Auckland said no. From the fabulous Maranga Rise Up concert out west, I arrived in the central city. Sunshine, and signs that read “love not hate”, “inclusion not exclusion” the streets were flooded with good vibes. Outside the Aotea Theatre the waiting audience clapped in support of this message. Inside the Kiri te Kanawa Theatre, watching the most remarkable rendition of a story written by Oscar Wilde, I thought of his brilliance, and a life ultimately ruined by the hypocritical legal and societal hatred he suffered as result of his sexuality. I felt proud to be living in such a tolerant inclusive society as ours. It was the best of days.
Samantha Cunningham, Henderson.
Shrieking anger
This week in Ōrewa and Albert Park we witnessed what diversity and inclusion really mean to some. How ironic to see intimidation and violence being justified to ‘keep others safe’. Genuine diversity means listening and respecting, not shrieking angry people denying others the very rights they demand for themselves.
Mark McCluskey, Red Beach.
Primeval scream
Kellie-Jay Keen-Minshull appeared vulnerable as she was jostled after being drowned out while attempting to speak in Albert Park. Her confidence in challenging the Prime Minister and those who disagreed with her had evaporated. It was not trans people who forced Keen-Minshull to leave the park, but their supporters, including me. The crowd united in a spine-tingling primeval scream, emphatically rejecting disingenuous efforts to roll back human rights to the 1950s. Let’s be clear; transgender people do not have human rights in our country. They do not appear in the Bill of Rights or the Human Rights Act. Nor do they appear in the Employment Relations Act. While the United Nations Human Rights Commission has unequivocally declared sexual orientation and gender expression as human rights, 32 out of 56 Commonwealth member states, of which we are a part, still criminalise same-sex relations with seven imposing life imprisonment. This goes against the Commonwealth Charter. The issue of sexual orientation and transgender rights has never once appeared on a Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) agenda. Perhaps the next CHOGM meeting could be held in Albert Park.
Russell Hoban, Ponsonby.
First aide
I cannot believe that all these politicians and commentators, psychologists and others are coming up with plans to improve education in this country when not one of them has addressed the actual concerns of the teachers. Don’t they listen? Teachers are telling whoever will listen that they want more support services. They want professional help for the many students in their class with fetal alcohol syndrome, ADHD, dyslexia, auditory processing problems, visual processing problems and all those on the autism spectrum. Only when the needs of these children are met will the teachers be able to use their great skills to successfully teach every child.
Christine Jones, Remuera.
Look beneath
It is very rare that I agree with anything written by Steven Joyce but his article (NZ Herald, March 24) on the now $16,000,000,000 Lake Onslow project was on the money (pun intended). Wind and solar energy are great “clean” options but both are affected by our fickle weather. Geothermal on the other hand pumps out power come rain or shine, wet or dry. There are a lot of disadvantages in having such a geologically active island but this is one enormous plus as has been demonstrated by the 70-year-old Wairākei field. I’m no civil engineer but to spend $13 billion building a dam and the necessary pumping infrastructure seems outrageous.
Tony Sullivan, St Heliers.
Simple equations
In other countries, the Ministry of Education prescribes the number of hours per week for each element of the curriculum. If something is added, something else has to go. In New Zealand, the ministry pretends that everything can be fitted in. It does not dare to divide up the available hours because it would offend the protagonists. Hence the teachers do the editing. That’s not their job. Would Christopher Luxon like to publish his division of the (less than) five hours a day (25 hours a week) he says he wants to emphasise science in the time remaining after three hours of numeracy and literacy? That’s three curriculum documents out of nine; no time for the other six. So let him quantify. That’s what scientists do.
Martin Ball, Kelston.
Future needs
It is very important that as a country we (and I mean a collective “we”, not a selected few) engage in a substantive and informed debate about the future of education in Aotearoa. Education is about preparing young people for their future lives, or it should be. Our children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren face a very uncertain and challenging future full of “messy” problems such as climate warming, pollution of the environment, depletion of essential resources, and threats to democracy, to name a few. All that “experts”, such as Michael Johnston (NZ Herald, March 23) seem to be able to offer is more of the same i.e. continue to fiddle with the curriculum and fiddle with assessment. Until we come to some level of agreement as to the knowledge, understandings, skills, attitudes and values we want our young people to develop to face their futures with confidence, and what that then means for curriculum and assessment, we will continue in a fruitless exercise that will not produce the learnings and experiences they need.
David Hood, Hamilton.
Paint by numbers
Visually distracting red road strips are being painted on in Auckland City suburbs, presumably as “traffic awareness” for those drivers who do not understand what a stop sign means. With multiple speed humps, a 30km speed limit and everybody obeying the cross-hatch markings at the intersecting road, if you follow the paint trail, we shouldn’t need stop signs at all.
Annette Nicholls, Mt Eden.
On Parker
I trust there will be an arrest for the disgraceful assault against the “freedom of speech”. David Jones, Parnell.
She under-rates women in this country and almost certainly many others. Submitted by kind permission of my wife. Rod Lyons, Kumeu
Posie Parker should never have come across the Ditch; Saturday’s outcome was predictable, regardless of any view about free speech. John Ford, Taradale.
Maybe Posie Parker should have gone to Iran. Ian Doube, Rotorua.
On inflation
If prices continue to increase, the Government should do as happened during the Second World War, and for some time afterwards: Bring in price controls. Catherine Curlett, Remuera.
On Brown
If it is true that LGNZ has never held a conference in the Bay of Islands then it would appear that Mayor Brown has misled his council for his own personal agenda and should resign. Peter Beyer, Sandringham.
Finance Minister sought advice on a bank tax
Come on already Mr Robertson and Chippy - why not just tax everything? With the introduction of a 39 per cent tax bracket, plus compulsory “income insurance” (cough “tax”) you’re almost halfway there. Stefan S.
Gosh. A politician claims that something that he did and he asked for, he never did and he never asked for. Quelle surprise. Penny D.
When you buy a new TV and, after delivery, you say I don’t want to pay the full price, that’s no different to what Grant Robertson has been trying to do by paying the banks less than they are entitled to. It’s surprising that the RBNZ and Finance Minister did not lock the interest rate in at a set amount, because they must have seen that it was going to cost taxpayers billions of dollars more as interest rates rose. This article endorses the low level of competence that Grant Robertson is held in. David S.
“It would be unprecedented internationally for an advanced economy central bank to introduce tiers for reasons unrelated to their own objectives,” the RBNZ said. Fast becoming far from an “advanced economy” so maybe they’ll have another look at this? Andrew B.
Why not seek advice on how to reduce costs and improve services? Jim S.
The 19-year-old was found in a remote area in the hills of Upper Hutt.