Letters: Kids need school lunches for nourishment, TVNZ jobs cuts amount to censorship, learning from China

TVNZ has cancelled the Sunday and Fair Go shows as part of job cuts.

Letter of the week

Children need nourishment, Minister

Unfortunately, MP David Seymour has not perceived the deep need for nourishment which affects many of our schools, in both urban and rural districts.

This need has been known for decades, and in many cases, food has been provided by local businesses, service groups and churches.

The provision of breakfast and lunch meals has been a feature of the school day, with adult volunteers and senior pupils assisting in preparation of meals.

Government assistance has lessened this burden in recent years, but the need still exists. It’s an expense certainly, but caring for children holistically is surely a basic aim of education.

To limit this provision of meals now, in unseemly haste, will certainly undermine the good systems which exist in many schools to meet an acknowledged physical need amongst students.

Teachers and parents alike will be alarmed at this sudden deprivation.

David Seymour needs to reflect on the effect of his pronouncement on this basic matter of wellbeing in our schools and families.

Diana Burslem, Epsom.

Cuts akin to censorship

Is NZ to become a country devoid of democracy with the cutting of the news and opinion shows and a Fair Go that exposes unscrupulous scammers?

It is the right of all New Zealanders to be informed via a reliable source, who are free to criticise those in power and bring justice to bear, instead of using platforms that spread misinformation and disinformation.

This coalition Government is taking legislation too far in order to give tax cuts to landlords and the wealthy.

Cutting reliable news and current affairs is bordering on censorship, in a country where democracy has always been treasured.

Marie Kaire, Whangārei.

Right-wing sledging

Bruce Cotterill is the last person to be giving advice to the Labour Party on how to find its way back to power (Weekend Herald, March 2).

His columns regularly ooze enthusiasm for the neo-liberal policies which the present Government stands for. He admires the current Government for “competence, confidence and a well-communicated plan”.

That’s fine, that’s his view of the world, but many people would struggle to see how he would come to such a view, given the ongoing controversies which assail us.

Cotterill has no understanding of what a socialist government would be attempting to achieve, and no empathy with its goals.

His column looks like an attempt to give objective, useful advice, but it’s really just the usual right-wing sledging.

Gavin Kay, Remuera.

Demand more from leaders

I was intrigued to read in Canvas that Samoan society has always been plagued by the elevation of mediocre men to positions of authority.

In this way social progress is stifled in many areas. It seems to me that it’s a universal problem and goes a long way towards explaining why the world is in such a mess.

The lack of women’s voices and ideas throughout history has meant that we have to endure a seemingly endless parade of dull, greedy and entitled male leaders. Our three coalition leaders and their cohorts are perfect examples.

But alas they are not the only ones making our country a backward-looking place. Many business leaders are equally hidebound, unwilling to put their pay cheques on the line for anything that might endanger their positions of power.

Tragically, one of the rare exceptions to this dire situation, Efeso Collins, a shining star of hopeful leadership, has been taken from us. We need to be more demanding of our leaders, instead of passively accepting their self-serving ways.

V M Fergusson, Mt Eden.

Learn from China

Bureaucrat-controlled China Inc has been so successful that the Americans and now the Europeans are putting up trade walls in an attempt to keep a little local production going at home (Weekend Herald, March 2).

The technology, build quality and price of Chinese products means they are the consumer choice.

In NZ we have let businesses make decisions that, simply, are always wrong. With the poorest productivity anywhere in the developed world, NZ business has let the side down and created a huge amount of unnecessary poverty.

With bankruptcies and operating losses now spiralling to levels not seen since the John Key years, we must learn from the Chinese, put the bureaucracy in charge and allow only successful businesses to operate here.

Mark Nixon, Remuera.

Scam protection

It is high time that our banks had clear liability to prevent increasingly sophisticated scams which are costing their customers millions.

Banks make vast profits in return for poor standards of protection, serving the scammers better than the customers.

The Banking Ombudsman also needs to be reformed and resourced to require it to award realistic compensation to victims.

Most currently give up the right to sue in order to get a very small (about 25 per cent) proportion of their losses back from the unprotective banking system being effectively protected by their Ombudsman.

The minimum for new legislation is a clearly defined statutory cause of action for customers against banks in respect of preventable scams, as well as a requirement for banks to have at least a system for confirmation of an identifiable and authentic payee in place.

Denis O’Rourke, Mount Pleasant.

Baggage cheats

I read that Air New Zealand is “pleading” with passengers to follow the carry-on baggage rules and also considering putting up fares.

If I have more baggage to take on a plane than what the carry-on rules allow, I pay for a checked bag.

If Air New Zealand wants more revenue and to get it fairly from their customers, then they can start here; when people turn up with three or four bags to take on the plane they should be made to pay and have them go as checked baggage.

Simple. End of story.

“Pleading” with passengers to respect the rules is pathetic, cowardly and symptomatic of a wider problem where some people follow all the rules and pay all the fees as applicable, while others think the rules simply don’t apply to them.

Hence we get people fly tipping carloads of rubbish, shoplifting , driving without a licence, registration and WOF, racking up fines and essentially being let off.

People choose not to follow these rules, and other people end up picking up the tab in the form of increased prices, increased fees, increased taxes or whatever. Not good enough Mr Foran.

John Christiansen, Mt Albert.

Boot camps work

I, and virtually every other late teenager in the 1950s, attended a boot camp in the form of compulsory military training. The scheme was very popular amongst employers and many of them reported that their workers came back fitter and better as a result.

I was fortunate to get into the Navy and once I had settled in and experienced a sharp lesson in how to behave in a group, I benefitted enormously.

I made friends that are still with me and met people in social groups, way out of my normal group. I learned how to work in a team, to be organised, how to wash and iron my clothes and be neat and tidy. I came out of it a better person than I went in.

Properly managed, I am sure that boot camps have the potential to do a lot of good for those who have lost their way.

Bryan Leyland, Pt Chevalier.

A quick word

Maybe the Defence Force can select a commercial contractor to manage its planes? Or better our PM always uses commercial services, as he once prophesied, especially Air NZ, as he may have lifetime free flights as a parting perk of being a former CEO? If so that would be a generous reduction in government expenditure, compared to running a 757 gas guzzler from Wellington to Melbourne, which is a far more expensive cost to taxpayers and in climate emissions.

Rob Buchanan, Kerikeri.

Law and order was a big issue in the election last year. Much of the focus was on smash-and-grab raids and violent burglaries. When the now Government promised to “crackdown on crime”, voters probably assumed that they had a plan. It seems that the plan is still in the pipeline. Banning gang patches will not stop smash-and-grab raids of course.

Greg Cave, Sunnyvale.

It would be more appropriate to refer to the Coalition’s 100-day plan as their ‘undo’ list. Don’t they realise the negative impression they are creating, particularly when it is not balanced by any positive plans?

Jeanette Grant, Mt Eden.

I would have thought Shortland Steet would have been the first programme to be axed, so that the millions spent producing it could be transferred to improving the lives of real people in real and under-funded hospitals.

Gavin Baker, Glendowie.

News that TV3′s news hour will be no more means advertisers now only have one channel to place their advertising, namely with TVNZ, then TVNZ’s advertising forecasts will have just enjoyed a healthy boost. Why then are they proposing to slash their own channel’s output?

Jeremy Hall, Hauraki.

The removal of rubbish bins is just another case of Auckland Council abrogating another of their core responsibilities. There is nothing more core for a council than rubbish. This will result in more untidiness while the council indulges in non-core and unnecessary wasteful spending.

Ken Graham, Greenlane.

All of the manufactured hullabaloo over the Hurricanes haka has, perhaps deliberately, papered over the real existential threat to women’s rugby. Did anyone notice the size of the crowd?

Adrian McCormack, Sandringham.

If the reverse had happened and the 71-year-old woman had bashed the 21-year-old man three times in the face, would she have got off with permanent name suppression and no conviction?

Wendy Tighe-Umbers, Parnell.

$30 million on a Premier House reno. You must be joking. Demolish the 160-year-old leaky eyesore and build a new, fit for purpose $20 million house that NZ is proud of. And spend the remaining $10 million on early childhood education.

Mark van Praagh, Hobsonville Point.

Lunches in schools, Therapeutic Products Act, gun control, Auckland light rail, Three Waters, the Treaty, anti-smoking bill, Maori Health Authority: All either scrapped or at least under threat. What’s next? Rights to abortion and gay marriage?

Rufus Carey, Grey Lynn.

So Government ministers will now be allowed to fast-track approval of very lucrative projects, regardless of expert opinion and environmental concerns. A one-stop approval process puts enormous power in a few hands rather than a broad panel, with huge amounts of money involved. Gee, what can possibly go wrong?

Jeff Hayward, Auckland CBD.