Comparing sentences for different crimes throws light on some apparent contradictions. Photo / Getty Images, File
A young man I know is, sadly, on remand for dealing marijuana and MDMA; drugs that routinely make people chill, happy and often hug each other. Police are asking for a 16-year sentence.
On the other hand, a good man dies and his family are destroyed - six months' home detention for someone who punched an innocent man having a night out while others held him, unable to escape the blows.
Men involved in actively initiating filming of young sexual victims for internet child pornography (described by the judge as disgusting) are given two years or less in sentencing. Isn't this all the wrong way round?
At your service
Neville Cameron (Weekend Herald, August 7) complains about the "huge problem" caused by "a proliferation of civil servants".
Decades back, our population numbered well short of three million. It is now over five million. It is not surprising that we have more civil servants. Their ranks include, among others, those staffing the justice system, social work, education and health. How are they supposed to provide expected service unless the numbers employed in those areas and others rise? As it is, many of our public servants are overworked and underpaid.
It would be good to know if anyone has researched the proportion of civil servants to population increases. I will be very surprised if they are grossly inflated. I suspect those who complain about the numbers and their salaries may well be the first to object if service levels drop.
P. Ferguson, Tauranga.
Servants or slaves
Neville Cameron (Weekend Herald, August 7) should consider the heads of faculty who earn over $100,000 in schools. They fill in when their staff are sick; struggle with staff leaving for private schools or retiring (the Boomer bulge); and, under National, were denied pay increases that kept them anywhere near the inflation rate. It's obvious that nurses have had enough too.
The real people who don't "earn" their money are the rentiers, those whose living is made off their properties rented to the workers. Rentiers capital gains are tax-free. Public servants pay tax. Society needs a total revamp.
The Government has admitted to allowing 2700 critical health workers into the country in the past year. Why so many? They are underpaid, overworked and undervalued - importing cheap labour is easier. It depresses wage demands too. Eventually, they leave or revolt.
The public should either accept long health queues or teacher shortages or revolt too. Nine years of National Party failure to achieve anything in health and education will haunt us for years to come.
Steve Russell, Hillcrest.
Not to be trusted
I see there are some hundreds of Government officials going into managed isolation and quarantine in October/November after a conference in Doha (Weekend Herald, August 7).
If such officials are to be trusted, then what is wrong with them going into self-isolation upon their return?
This would free up hundreds of MIQ spaces for New Zealanders who really need them.
The message I am getting is Government officials cannot be trusted.
Michael Walker, Blockhouse Bay.
Bridge ends
Simon Wilson's collection of possible replacements for the Auckland Harbour Bridge (Weekend Herald, August 7) includes the giant double-decker once promoted by mayoral aspirant John Tamihere. This idea was laughed out of town two years ago for good reasons, in addition to its questionable aesthetics.
Armchair proponents can suggest expanding the bridge to any width they like but it makes no sense unless the feeder roads at either end are capable of handling the extra vehicles. The inner city is already overburdened with traffic and pressure on parking spaces, let alone trying to cope with a 10-lane monster.
Sliding-in replacement bridges is becoming increasingly common around the world, but not on such a scale as Auckland would require. Most of such projects involve building relatively short motorway bridges over another road or a valley.
Auckland Harbour Bridge is over 1250 metres long, rising to a height of 43.3m above deep water. There is no realistic detour to handle North Shore traffic for many weeks while the existing bridge is demolished and a new structure shoved in its place.
Graeme Easte, Mt Albert.
Get over it
The Waitematā crossing debate goes on and on ad nauseum. The simple answer is to place a couple of large diameter culverts to allow water flow and fill the shore-to-shore gap with rock and soil from the Auckland rail trenches, surrounding hills etc.
This would provide for many traffic lanes, a rail crossing, a huge variety of cycle and pedestrian pathways and a vast area to build housing, shopping and entertainment areas.
The only apparent downside would be the inability for the sugar ships to pass. This could be accomplished by using the reclaimed land to truck the product to the port. In any case, sugar is supposed to be bad for us and we'd be able to get rid of the ugly bridge which currently only serves as a tourniquet.
Any questions on how to move so much in-fill: just ask Singapore, they did it decades ago.
Richard Kean, Ngongotahā.
Homeward bound
It's reported the New Zealand Government cancelled an MIQ voucher for a Kiwi family in Thailand who had allegedly shared their MIQ login with a third party.
This is outrageous. Has the Government nothing better to do with its time to a family overseas desperate to get home? The reason the family allegedly shared their login details is that the MIQ system is so frustrating and difficult to deal with.
Its alright, though, to book 400 MIQ rooms (Weekend Herald, August 7) for government staffers and performers who are going to an expo in Dubai.
Seriously?
Janet Boyle, Ōrewa.
It's good that the Government is offering an apology for the Dawn Raids but the horrific tragedy that will ensue if we continue merely to monitor the Afghans who are left behind, will mean our remorse in the future will be great. Cherry Lewis, Titirangi.
Kris Faafoi could use some competence therapy. Mike Wagg, Freemans Bay.
Does anyone check on those applying for MIQ to find out who is coming here to stay and work, and who is just popping in for a short holiday? Pamela Russell, Ōrākei.
After the de rigeur display of barbarism at the start of the game, there was little to be excited about; the All Blacks will need to improve significantly if they are to win again in Wellington. Peter Clapshaw, Remuera.
Why was neither Jacinda Ardern nor the nurse administering the second Covid-19 vaccination to her (Weekend Herald, August 7) not wearing a mask? D.Cook, Torbay.
My guess is that this was not a real deal vaccination. Jo Williams, Somerville.
Harbour crossing; quarantine; vaccinations; housing; light rail (aka streetcars) - whatever you look at, our government acts with the calm foresight of a beheaded chicken. K. H. Peter Kammler, Warkworth.
Churchill himself would have robustly defended the right of the Greens to remove his portrait, even though he would have been disappointed at their decision. Mike Groves, East Tamaki Heights.
So we now have a pathway to opening the borders, amazing what a couple of poor opinion polls can do for a government's focus. Steve Dransfield, Karori.
Former prime ministers and presidents should retire gracefully from the stage, together with any continuing opinions on how to run a country. Their day is done and it is someone else's turn - time to butt out. Jilli Andre, Ōtūmoetai.
It feels sad as the Olympics come to an end. Thank you to the magic of television for bringing it to my lounge. Gary Stewart, Foxton Beach.
Two gold medals are yet to be awarded. One to Japan for staging a sensational Games, and one to Sky TV for outstanding coverage. Philip Jenkins, Kerikeri.
It was lovely to hear our "God Defend New Zealand" anthem played for our gold medallists and to see "New Zealand" printed on their tracksuits, much more appropriate than the name popularised by William Pember Reeves. David Hallett, Mt Maunganui.
Now that the Olympics are over, it is abundantly clear that the programmes on TV are absolutely rubbish. Dave Miller, Matua.
I like Hilary Barry, Paula Bennett, and Tom Sainsbury, however their gameshow this week – dreadful. Won't be watching that again. Glenn Forsyth, Taupō.
Dr Maia Hetaraka: 'Cultural competence' should evolve into genuine cultural understanding.