Letters: Kay Saville-Smith, national anthem, traffic congestion and cycleways

Kay Saville-Smith found decreased government investment in low-cost new builds directly correlated with the collapse of affordable housing. Photo / Jason Oxenham

Letter of the week: Derek Smith, Newmarket

Kay Saville-Smith's graph (Weekend Herald, February 22) shows that the low-cost housing shortage is apparently caused by the withdrawal of government funding.
The inference is that the taxpayer, in addition to funding necessary common services like defence, education, health etc, should subsidise the cost of housing where needed. And indeed we must, in the interests of ordinary humanity and social cohesion. But the necessity to do this is not caused simply by lack of public funding.
The problem is that an average worker does not receive a pay package sufficient to afford an average house.
Why not? It is because the country's low per capita productivity inhibits wages and income growth.
It is this fundamental problem, poor productivity, which our politicians should bend their minds to solving. Housing subsidies, though currently necessary, are just a large plaster on the wound.

Free market damage

Thank you for Simon Wilson's column (Weekend Herald, February 22) explaining Kay Saville-Smith's graph.
It provides a clear and concise understanding of how New Zealand has ended up in the mess we are in today where average New Zealanders cannot afford to buy a home.
This clearly exposes the neo-liberal free-market damage done to New Zealand, physically and morally.
The hope is this graph is widely seen and its explanation is understood by all in the hope New Zealand can learn from this and make a major attempt to turn this around before it becomes too late.
New Zealand has always seen its self as a fair society, The vast majority of New Zealanders want a fair society, not the one this graph shows.
Arthur Amis, Red Beach.

Social housing

Congratulations and thanks to Kaye Saville-Smith for her research on the causes of our housing crisis and Simon Wilson for his brilliant presentation (Weekend Herald, February 22). That is the most important piece of New Zealand journalism I have seen for a very long time.
I hope huge numbers of your readers read it and realised that some of the blame is our own. Now it is time - a push to really change the settings has to start from us.
In this election year, the centre-left government needs our strong okay to go ahead with expensive social housing programmes - though they need to be state-of-the-art in every relevant way.
The National Party needs a strong message that all of us who care enough to make our voices heard regard their promise of using spare money to fund tax cuts in the present situation is a dereliction of the duty to govern this country wisely.
Rae Storey, Remuera.

Hear our voices

The article regarding the singing of the national anthem at Carlton Primary school in Whanganui (Weekend Herald, February 22 ) raises interesting questions about the appropriate path schools should navigate when addressing concerns around the national anthem.
Given the overtly religious connotation of the lyrics, the national anthem straddles the boundary separating ordinary songs from those that are deemed to have the character of a religious observance such as hymns. Not all parents are comfortable with their child's involuntary conscription into something that goes against their personal convictions, religious or otherwise.
Some parents, for instance those who are Jehovah's Witnesses, object to the anthem on religious grounds. Others object on moral grounds, on the conviction that the anthem is really a treatise on collective self-abasement, given its allusions to dutiful deity boot-licking.
Principal Gaye O'Connor shows what it is to have a mature and considerate understanding of the diversity that comprises a school community. The text communication to parents at O'Connor's behest, informing them that their child can be opted out should the parents so wish, demonstrated a sound and responsible ethic of parental consultation. For this gesture she ought to be commended and seen as an exemplary model for other principals to emulate.
Joshua Barley, Napier.

Forced congestion

Your "Letter of the Week" from Huco Sliedrecht (Weekend Herald, February 22) dealt with aspects of Auckland's traffic woes, which are many and varied. I had wondered for some time whether the chaos created was just poor planning or deliberate policy.
That question was answered recently by an affidavit I received. Apparently in 2017, Auckland Council chief executive Stephen Town was invited to a meeting of a concerned organisations and asked some questions. One question related to the effects on congestion of the various bus lanes, bike lanes and other roadworks creating further congestion, affecting travel times for car users.
According to the affidavit. Mr Town's response was "get used to it" - it is the council's intention to reduce lanes for cars, maximising congestion to force people into using buses.
Another person pointed out that a car trip, which had previously taken him only 10 minutes, blew out to 30 minutes once a transit lane excluding sole occupant cars was put in place. Again, Mr Town's response was that council's policy is to introduce transit lanes on all main arterial routes to encourage (force) people out of their cars on to buses by maximising congestion.
So maximising congestion is the policy. Enjoy.
A P Holman, Northcote Point.

Made-up figures

In reply to June Kearney (Weekend Herald, February 22) who asked: "Has there ever been a count of the number of cyclists wheeling, free as a breeze, on the multimillion-dollar cycle tracks? Inner city maybe. But no cost-benefit ratio could support it."
When you make up the numbers going into the benefit-cost ratio, you can get it to support anything.
Ben Lewis, Eden Terrace.

Accessible city

With so many scooters and bikes around our city for hire it got me thinking. Wouldn't it be great if we could be all-inclusive and provide more wheelchairs? I am thinking about places that are wheelchair-friendly like Wynyard Quarter, the waterfront, some of the city walks.
Unless you have your own wheelchair and someone strong to help lift it in and out of a car when you go places, it can be tough.
I know the Auckland Zoo, Museum and the Botanical Gardens have them available; there may be more places I am unaware of.
Let's follow the scooter and bike lead and get more people out and about.
Sandra Burge, Titirangi.

Fortunate seniors

Derek Wallwork gives millennials even more ammunition with which to criticise senior citizens (NZ Herald, February 26).

Insisting that slashing the OCR is the reason for the rise in house prices may have some logic. However, the reality of the situation is different.

Assuming the senior citizens who are "forced to buy income-bearing assets" do own mortgage-free homes, then what is wrong with them that they cannot live on the "pension"? They could reflect on their good fortune in having a home and income.

I know, I am one of those fortunate seniors. Mortgage-free, government pension, modest KiwiSaver for a rainy day. Done.

Judy Lawry, Golflands.

A quick word

The awkwardness some schools are having in offering a so-called unisex or gender-neutral option in their school uniforms baffles me. How difficult can it be to list the acceptable components without sorting them into "boys" and "girls" categories? Morgan L Owens, Manurewa.

In regard to Steven Lockwood asking if he can have our Prime Minister in Tasmania. I say: Absolutely, would he like her gift-wrapped? Pam Mayes, Mt Albert.

Designers of most international airports create a crossover area for passengers to mingle as they transfer flight to flight. This may be one of the crucial transfer points for the COVID-9 that quickly makes the world into a mall. Rob Buchanan, Kerikeri.

We pay for traffic planning and this council does not deliver. I don't need to go to Syria or Iraq - AT have brought them to me. Q W Miller, Te Atatu.

When you get a "gaggle" of politicians under different political "flags" they will collectively be dishonest in the area of donations, one party being as bad as the others. Dennis Pennefather, Te Awamutu.

When Harvey Weinstein was asked by reporters how he thought his case was going to go, his reply was something like, "No problem, I have great lawyers". Poetic justice at its finest. Glenn Forsyth, Taupo.

Kids who stay up late are more likely to be overweight. I don't suppose, maybe it is because if they go to bed at 7 or 8 they do not have supper? Bob Wichman, Botany.

What's wrong with students staying in China short-term and having correspondence lessons from here until this is all over? Richard Amery, Rotorua.

Regarding the ridiculously large $40 million Lotto prize money, wouldn't 40 people with one million each be a better bet than one person with $40 million? Chris Blenkinsopp, Beach Haven.

It beggars belief that our leaders advocate self-isolation for incoming coronavirus carriers. Imagine advocating self-regulation for Auckland traffic. Rex Smith, Mt Roskill.

The Year of the Rat is becoming the year of The Plague. J Livingstone, Orakei.

Many of the people who claim to be discriminated against often seem to be simply seeking special treatment for themselves. Gary Andrews, Mt Maunganui.

Mike Hosking recently said low-paid workers and beneficiaries did not deserve a little more money unless they produced more goods or services. Perhaps he's unaware his job of voicing opinions (often negative) does nothing at all to benefit the economy. P Belsham, Mt Albert.

If China had allowed the free flow of disease information, people would have voluntarily taken precautions to protect themselves, and the disease might have still been under control. Jeff Liu, St Johns.

I record rugby games so I can scroll through the scrum resets. This way I have more time in my life. Colin Nicholls, Mt Eden.