Letters: Labour shares the blame for unemployment figures; the folly of allowing more online gambling

Labour leader Chris Hipkins. Photo / Dean Purcell

Letters to the Editor

Labour shares blame for unemployment

Chris Hipkins attributes the rise in unemployment to spending cuts imposed by the coalition Government (Mar 17).

However, addressing the issue of overspending, which ballooned under the previous administration, remains a continuing challenge that will and has had an impact on unemployment. This includes Labour’s additional 18,500 civil servants under its watch and the ongoing financial burden they represent.

Labour, rather than presenting solutions, appears to focus on assigning blame to the coalition for the present economic and unemployment predicament. Hipkins has also highlighted a reduction of 13,000 jobs in the construction sector. Yet, when excessive spending reduces resources and the economy is mismanaged – compounded by the Reserve Bank’s interventions – such outcomes are hardly surprising.

It seems the engineered recession has played a key role in driving unemployment to its present levels.

Ian MacGregor, Greenhithe.

Job shortage

The front-page article on Monday talks about the increase in Jobseeker benefit numbers in Aotearoa.

This does not come as a surprise at a time when economic growth is flat and business confidence is low. However, the high number of work visas issued to migrant workers does not make any sense in such times. Is it to paint a picture of a false economy created from consumer-driven activities by migrant workers who are actively seeking rental properties and purchasing household goods?

Why do we have such high numbers of migrant workers on work visas at a time when university students are struggling to find jobs to support themselves and citizens are threatened by redundancies and job losses.

Sadhana Reddy, Lynfield.

Personal service

Regarding the increase in the number of people on the Jobseeker benefit, I and a number of other people I know are doing our bit to help this situation, which is unsatisfactory on many levels. We refuse to use the self-service option in stores and supermarkets. Each one of these devices is depriving someone of a job. I prefer to queue if necessary and communicate with a real person.

Anne Martin, Helensville.

Problem gambling

If online gambling is acknowledged as the most addictive, why is the Government about to license 15 new operators to prey on vulnerable NZ gamblers?

Act deputy leader and Internal Affairs Minister Brooke van Velden is about to allow a host of overseas online operators into the market, even though her own Cabinet papers report it will do a lot of harm. Being able to gamble 24/7 in the comfort of your own home is dangerous and only fuels serious problem gambling.

Time and time again we read of horror stories of addicted gamblers losing everything. Online gambling is merciless, with the profits going to mostly overseas operators. It is cynically stacked against the gambler who will inevitably lose.

These new licences are taking free-market capitalism way too far and are socially irresponsible and cruel. Gambling is an addiction that does enormous harm to a lot of people. It is not about having a bit of a flutter.

Jeff Hayward, Auckland CBD.

Biting satire

We live in a globalised world where goods and services are traded between countries to the benefit of buyers and sellers.

US President Donald Trump doesn’t like global marketing and is using tariffs to combat the global trend. Our Prime Minister, Christopher Luxon, is busy working towards a free-trade agreement with India, the largest population and the fifth-largest economy in the world.

This is just what we need for our troubled school lunches programme. Instead of making the school meals locally or importing meals from Australia when local providers go into liquidation, we can import butter chicken with rice and naan from India under the new FTA.

I suppose the next step will be to source nacho school lunches from Mexico. Do we have an FTA with Mexico? They might be open to negotiate one after the tariffs imposed by President Trump.

Peter D. Graham, Helensville.

Bus etiquette

It would be greatly appreciated if school principals at assemblies and parents at any time could take the opportunity to remind their teenage offspring of the basic rules of bus etiquette, which is to give up your seat for: those (anyone) older, pregnant women, those with a disability and, may I add to the list‚ nurses.

And you should allow passengers off before you barge on and be aware that when moving around with a large backpack you’re often hitting seated passengers in the head. School students are easily identifiable by their uniforms and it’s surprising and somewhat disappointing to see there is, in particular, a large Auckland central boys’ school that seems to have missed this messaging so far in their lives.

Samantha Cunningham, Henderson.