Letters: Government’s ferry call makes no sense; public sector leaders cave in; Hauraki Gulf needs urgent protection

The Interislander ferry Kaiarahi loads in Wellington. Photo / Marty Melville

Govt’s KiwiRail call makes no sense

Finance Minister Nicola Willis says she thinks KiwiRail will be able to function without bespoke rail-capable ferries and by trans-shipping freight on to conventional road transport-only ferries. This means double handling at both Wellington and Picton, which will increase rail costs and drive the freight on to road transport. This will lead to the demise of the Picton to Christchurch line and most likely make the North Island main trunk line unviable, which will also lead to the Napier and New Plymouth lines becoming unviable.

The decision to cancel the iReX project was an ill-thought-out and rapid decision seemingly made without discussion with KiwiRail and not based on any sound data or advice. In short, it appears to be an ideological decision which seems to be reinforced by the Government’s low level of funding for KiwiRail and high level of funding for new motorways as projected in the GPS.

This flies in the face of the Paris Accord regarding emissions and will bring New Zealand into a high-carbon, high-polluting uni-modal transport system - the very opposite of what most other countries are trying to achieve. I hope the rail ferry advisory board advises wisely.

Niall Robertson, Balmoral.

Leaders MIA

Correspondent John Ford is right to celebrate the value of frontline workers delivering public services (NZ Herald, April 22), but in targeting department vacancies, he may be missing a point or two.

Vacancies from natural staff movement - including retirement - will be part of it, and it is to be hoped newly identified vacancies signal positive restructuring, improving services to the public.

Apart from the Government’s slash-and-burn “directives” to departments, another disappointing aspect is the sheer absence of public service leaders standing up for their departments’ people, planning, development and delivery and just caving in to this coalition’s bullying. Maybe it is not the “middle managers” who are the problem.

Peter Beyer, Sandringham.

Grim Gulf realities

To have any hope of saving the Hauraki Gulf from becoming a marine wasteland (NZ Herald, April 22), scientists are saying at least 30 per cent must be declared a marine reserve immediately... not to mention the Wellington, Lyttelton and Dunedin harbours, so polluted with human faeces, run-off from property development and shipping effluent that they are closed to swimmers for most of the year.

Gary Hollis, Mellons Bay.

Key education question

Much has been said recently about the New Zealand education system, most of which avoids a major question: what do we as a society want our country to be in 10 years’ time? Once we have made that decision, we can then move on to what we need from the education system. Why 10 years? That is the time from entering high school to exiting university. Those young people should have been educated to meet the requirements for at least 10 years hence.

Enter the school careers adviser. I suggest this position should be fulltime and separate from teaching duties. The duties of the incumbent should be to maintain a steady liaison with local businesses to keep up to date with what they see as their future educational requirements for new staff in 10 years.

We must not fall into the trap America has fallen into - the notion only a four-year degree will get you anywhere in life. Trades and technician-level work is also changing rapidly and will require constant thought about how to educate our future carpenters, plumbers, electricians, IT system techs, etc.

A careers adviser should therefore have broad business experience to allow for sensible discussion with people at all levels, from the head of a major company to the owner of a small business. Only when armed with this level of understanding can they be really useful in helping students find their niche.

G.N. Kendall, Rothesay Bay.

No military alliance

I find myself in full agreement with the views expressed by Richard Prebble (NZ Herald, April 17). China is not our enemy. New Zealand should not get coerced into a military alliance directed against China.

What concerns me is that it is very profitable for large US firms to manufacture overpriced nuclear submarines. Australia has agreed to purchase nuclear submarines from the US. And so Australia will be obliged to pay astronomical sums of money to the US for the next 50 years. New Zealand should not go down the same road Australia has chosen to follow. We need to learn from the terrible situation in the Middle East. The public here in New Zealand should have an informed debate and we should not encourage reckless actions which may lead to a large-scale conflict in our part of the world.

Johann Nordberg, Paeroa.