Women's anti-nuclear march in 1983. Photo / Gil Hanly, File
This generation’s challenge
May 24, 2023, is the 40th anniversary of the largest woman’s march in Auckland’s and Aotearoa/NZ’s history - 15,000-25,000 women calling for nuclear disarmament. The march, and other actions in Auckland and around the country, helped build momentum for the campaign for a nuclear-weapon-free NZ. Something we now take for granted. It’s a different world today. War in Ukraine, and elsewhere, is being conducted using AI - the artificial intelligence used in drones, etc. War lays waste to life, and the earth, and adds significantly to climate change. Take the US: its military is the world’s largest single consumer of oil. Its military budget is 28 times larger than what it intends to spend on climate change. The key task facing humanity today is to create a just, stable, climate and earth-friendly, peace. One where corporations and AI work for the good of all people.
Kathleen Ryan, Herne Bay.
Divisive leadership
Good editorial (NZ Herald, May 22) on the G7 meeting. I believe there are two sorts of people: those who believe that the world consists of us and them; and those who believe that a good world only consists of us – together. Good leadership is about uniting people. All people. The G7 is sowing division and resentment to all outside the club of the richest countries, issuing threats to those who seek peace and inclusion rather than division. This is led by the country that arguably has the deepest internal division since its founding in 1776. Visiting Hiroshima is a life-changer as you can feel the city’s commitment to ensure that the world learns from one of the most devastating experiences ever brought on mankind. One can only hope that those attending the G7 meeting absorbed some of the intense peace spirit of Hiroshima. The Hiroshima mantra is “Let it never happen again”. Good leaders must seek inclusion and understanding and work towards peace and harmony between all. In this respect, current leadership disappoints.
Frank Olsson, Freemans Bay.
A bigger pie
John Gascoigne’s “Where we are today - and where we should be” (NZ Herald, May 22) dished up some hard-hitting home truths. He’s certainly right when it comes to forgetting how to earn our way in this world but lays the blame on neo-liberalism, deregulation, globalism, and all the venality this encompasses, notwithstanding he falls into the classic trap of pining for an Arcadian past of egalitarian values, tolerance and wealth creation. That never really existed. If indeed we’ve lost our national mojo, it could be said that’s because we aren’t business savvy enough; we endlessly debate the cutting up of the national pie while spending so little conversation on actually growing it in the first place. Wringing our hands and blaming societal diversity on one hand and the strictures of disciplined market processes on the other might sound righteous - but gets us precisely nowhere.
Phil O’Reilly, Auckland Central.
Rapid slide
I read John Gascoigne’s article, “Where we are today - where we should be” as a nation and I think he sums it up perfectly (it’s well worth reading). Instead of holding our standards, we lower them for entry into medical school, teachers’ college, the police, and other professions and expect the same standards as in the past. The economic, racial, and political divisions are becoming more intense and intolerant. There is very little respect throughout society. As Gascoigne states, a major part of the population appears to be satisfied with the situation. Yes, I am an older person and when I left school I was well educated. Education was reading, writing, and arithmetic. As children, we were all one. I felt secure going to a hospital emergency depot. As a teenager in Central Auckland, I could walk home from the movies and feel very safe. Respect was paramount and taught in all facets of life. Personal, family, society, and authority. My vote will go to the political party that will make some radical changes, as Gascoigne suggests, and stops this rapid slide of New Zealand into a small dysfunctional third-world country.
Gillman Rae, Cornwallis.
Historic failings
I am happy at least two people think the same as me: Tim Hazledine (NZ Herald, May 19) and John Gascoigne (NZ Herald, May 22). I came here in 1966 when the Holyoake government was more socialist than the present one. Yes, I couldn’t buy a new car, still can’t. Then we had Kirk with a great idea: then Muldoon knew the button to press. The only thing Lange did was make smart comments at the Oxford Union. The rest of the fish and chip five, Douglas, Prebble, Bassett and Moore were so right-wing it was unbelievable. Hence, the situation the country is in now. The National Party is unashamedly for the well-off, Labour will look after the well-off and, if there is anything left, will pass it to the hard-up. Clark’s government was not much better. KiwiSaver gave it to the private banks to make a fortune. Ardern did the right thing for us with Covid by listening to people who knew more than her. Then she helped the hard-up by giving them another $20 a week, but gave the well-off thousands to buy new cars. When Luxon gets in, more of the same. Tax cuts for the well-off and sports teams, the smoke screen so we do not notice we are being screwed.
John Davison, Manurewa.
One measure
John Gascoigne (NZ Herald, May 22) notes, “on practically every metric, New Zealand is one of the worst performing nations in the Western world”. A commonly accepted metric for the wealth of a nation is GDP per capita. New Zealand on this metric is a little below Germany but above the United Kingdom and France.
Christopher Campbell, Manurewa.
Microphone drop
Just in case some of your regular letter writers missed John Gascoigne’s opinion piece: “We have an increasingly undisciplined, dysfunctional multicultural population, entirely lacking any sense of national purpose or common interest except sport”. No pussyfooting here.
K H Peter Kammler, Warkworth.
Poverty trap
Mixed-member proportional representation (MMP) can’t be blamed for poverty but Bill Capamagian (NZ Herald, May 16) is right about the abuse of the system to elect our MPs. MMP is not perfect but it has given us more representative democracy. Poverty is, in my humble opinion, due to the political parties, the politicians, their would-be politicians and the lobbyists who try to influence the government of the day to vote for (or not vote for) legislation they want or don’t want. They all may have a very vested interest in the various outcomes. They have positions and power. So things are deferred or delayed or watered down. And what is done is not always done in the best interest of ordinary people or for New Zealand as a whole. MMP is the best we have got at the moment. Removing the political parties’ ability to rank their past-their-use-by-date former party colleagues would be an improvement. The Electoral Commission preferred the ranking of MMP List MPs by the voters, not by the parties. That’s what we should have, The List MPs would be accountable to the voters. Presently the List MPs are under the thumb of their political parties.
Gillian Dance, Mt Albert.
Steel wheels
People may not realise that BlueScope reported a record profit for the 2022 financial year of A$3.79 billion. Its NZ/Pacific profit of A$228.6 million was up 76 per cent on the previous year. The need to reduce emissions is understood but surely the money from the Government Investment In Decarbonising Industry Fund could be offered to BlueScope as a loan. Repayment, including interest, could then go towards further decarbonising initiatives.
Paul O’Dowd, Strandon.
Prebble path
Richard Prebble is the most entertaining pundit in the NZ media. He attacks the socialists and berates the leader of the National Party. He plays a clever double game. His byline should be, “I come not to praise the main parties, but to bury them”. By playing on the fears of voters, he hopes to steer the voters towards the Act Party, one he once represented as an MP. His intention is to influence the voters to support the far right. And if the present leader of the National Party can also be forced out, or else made to see the merits of Act policies, then so much the better. Prebble was quite correct in pointing out that Jacinda Ardern, and not the Labour Party, won the last election. The two men in charge of the two main parties both share the same name and each will struggle in their efforts to gain the affection that the voters felt for Ardern. I hope that after the election, Prebble can be persuaded not to give up his day job because it is always a joy to look forward to his witty and at times malicious articles.
Johann Nordberg, Paeroa.
Idle gains
It’s just so typical of what is wrong in New Zealand. Most of the population see fit to fill in the Census form and do so. Plus, threats in the form of fines are mentioned if you fail to fill one out. But a certain group simply don’t and instead are now treated to free tickets to Warriors matches plus free food vouchers. It’s equivalent to the saying crime actually does pay which in this country. Some just need to get up off their backsides.
Paul Beck, West Harbour.
On wind
If we had a harbour tunnel, transport wouldn’t be disrupted. Wendy Tighe-Umbers, Parnell.
On tax
It is appalling, but unsurprising, how quickly the contrived finding that “the rich only pay tax at a rate of 9 per cent” has become an indisputable fact, especially in the hands of the Green Party. Gary Andrews, Mt Maunganui.
On Trump
Why do 74 million voters support Donald Trump? For example, his record; he prevents or stops wars, is pro-life, is pro-American jobs, free speech, Middle-Eastern peace and commerce deals, regulates migration, and anti-excess bureaucracy, among other topics. S Guinness, Greenlane.
On crime
When will the justice system finally start to consider that keeping communities safe is more important than molly-coddling perpetrators, whatever their age? Lucas Bonné, Unsworth Heights.
On Gascoigne
The tone of John Gascoigne’s article (NZH, May 22) about our society was appalling, his use of “feral underclass” abhorrent. In which stratum would he place himself? Linda Ross, Tauranga.
This war baby and a so-called Boomer agree wholeheartedly with John Gascoigne’s comments (NZH, May 22) in particular on the social decline in this country. David & Cheryl Johnston, Aongatete.
Christopher Luxon on what Budget 2023 got wrong
And therein lies the problem. He is continually portrayed as being “not of the people”. If that keeps being the story then it will become embedded in everyone’s minds. Ardern was painted as being a person of a loving caring nature. How did that work out? Stop looking at Individuals and consider the collective of each party and what a National-led government could bring to NZ. John H.
He did that to himself, especially calling people bottom feeders and targeting South Auckland about their garages and what it implied. He talks about excess spending yet his travel is the highest. I know he says he is getting out to meet the people but these are costs also need to be reined in. I grew up in South Auckland and moved back recently so took offence at his comments. I have lived all over Auckland so do know what each area is like. Carolyn G.
I wonder why “Ardern was painted as being a person of a loving caring nature”? Have you considered this might just be because she was, as our PM, kind, caring and considerate? As to Mr Luxon, he stands by his statements and perhaps voters interpreted these as being unkind, judgemental and negative? Perhaps he could reset and come up with a more positive vision? Kevin B.
What is happening here? Are we casting for a male lead in a new movie? For goodness sake people we’re looking to elect a government, not a president. Questions: which government is likely to sort out the complete shambles that the current one has made of the economy and societal fabric? Do you want an effective government or a dud one that is led by a nice, charismatic man or woman? Jonathan F.
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