Work is under way to repair the Wynyard Quarter footbridge. Photo / Jason Oxenham
Making rugby safer for all
The heartbreaking death of club rugby player Cory Heather is shocking because it’s unexpected, and a game that New Zealand reveres has claimed another hapless victim.
Of course there are risks in any contact sport, and perhaps rugby carries a higher probability of injury, but it doesn’t mean those risks can’t be mitigated.
I do realise that what I know about rugby could fit on the head of a pin, but I failed to find anywhere a cogent reason protective headgear couldn’t be worn.
However, one prevailing opinion was the nature of contact in the game is very different in comparison with the NFL and consequently, headgear isn’t as crucial.
Also, apparently, rugby rules offer protection in how the game is played, (ie how to tackle safely and prohibiting dump tackles), which all sound perfectly reasonable, except to Cory Heather’s partner and his children.
So, after the howls die down, I’ll ask the question: why can’t protective headgear be worn at both amateur and professional rugby levels?
Studies are now revealing the increased long-term risk of persistent head knocks in the game, and official bodies are taking those increases seriously.
If they are concerned about the safety of their players, surely wearing protective headgear necessitates further investigation.
Mary Hearn, Glendowie
A bridge too far
It is sad but unsurprising that Auckland Council continues to mismanage the repair of the footbridge between Wynyard Quarter and the Viaduct (Weekend Herald, Apr 27).
This is an organisation that is willing to waste millions of ratepayer dollars on a vocal minority to build cycleways where the highest single daily usage count is 1799 (January 2024), but fails to expedite fixing a vital link that normally carries at least three times as many people each day.
Wynyard Quarter revitalisation has been a key plank for many years and the council needs to show leadership. The woeful mismanagement of this issue, coupled with the debacle regarding the council-run affordable housing around Auckland, should demand the mass resignation of the board and CEO of Development Auckland and the complete restructuring of the function of this council-controlled organisation.
The existing organisational chart should be scrapped and its capabilities should move under the control of the Auckland Council finance team. Auckland ratepayers deserve a hard reset of CCOs to overcome the sprawling zombie-like behaviour of these organisations.
Ongoing failure to show that the primary focus is on the city and its ratepayers can no longer be tolerated.
Michael Locke, Mt Eden
War footing
Once again we come across a situation where our elected councillors are unable to rescue our Viaduct restaurants from possible closure due to the long-term closure of the Wynyard Quarter footbridge.
The solution is forthcoming: relocate the bridge off site to carry out the remedial work needed. Advise all boat owners who require the footbridge to be open for access that they must relocate until further notice (late 2024).
Get the Defence Force to install a Bailey bridge until the repaired Quarter footbridge is ready for re-installation.
If this were a war situation, do you really think the footbridge being out of action would deter the enemy?
Greg Hawkins, Farm Cove
Genter conflict
It’s easy to imagine what Julie Anne Genter, a former Minister for Women, would have said if a male politician had aggressively approached a female MP and attempted to physically intimidate her in Parliament.
Genter has previously been accused of misandry and uses feminist buzzwords like “mansplaining” as an attempt to silence and bully men.
Perhaps the MP needs to take a closer look at her own behaviour towards members of the opposite sex before having the audacity to lecture men about the way they speak to women.
Andrew Davis, Te Atatū
Drop tax cuts
It is getting increasingly obvious this is not the time for tax cuts. It is just inconsistent with the mood of the country and the state of government affairs.
The Government recognises that NZ public affairs are worse than anticipated. Interest costs are much higher than earlier calculated and inflation remains high. The need for infrastructure upgrades is massive.
Tax cuts almost inevitably pay more to high earners than to low and middle-income earners. What may have been a reasonable election ambition now looks totally out of sync with the times, with so many either losing their jobs or fearing for job losses.
Changing your strategy to reflect a new set of facts looks more like the financial prudence this Government promised.
Frank Olsson, Freemans Bay
Trio of woes
The Weekend Herald (Apr 27) contained three news items that I found disturbing.
Two police officers were injured by a frying pan-wielding individual they were attempting to arrest. How could this happen?
Police are issued with self-defence tools: Tasers, chemical spray, and a baton. There is absolutely no need for officers to be injured by an attacker. Their training is designed to prepare them mentally and physically for scenarios such as this.
In Ōrākei, dog owners are depositing bags of dog faeces where a rubbish bin was removed by Auckland Council. Really? For goodness’ sake people, take the bags home and dispose of them in the approved manner like grown-ups.
People are staying away in droves from restaurants in the Viaduct precinct because a footbridge has been closed for maintenance. This is despite an available 20-minute detour on foot. Are they really that lazy?
John Walsh, Green Bay
Health haemorrhage
The headline in Saturday’s Herald was “Hospitals must save $105m”. Seriously! Surely Health NZ is joking.
We have had a 2.8 per cent population increase in the year. Sure, more frontline medical staff have been employed; 2500 extra nurses gets mentioned, but not how many nurses have retired or otherwise left the profession, so what is the “net” gain?
Boasting we are back to pre-Covid staffing is disingenuous. The state of the health service pre-Covid was so dire that there was no choice regarding the level of lockdown, otherwise we would have had a death ratio like, or worse than, the US, UK and Italy.
NZ hospitals have been underfunded for decades, but I guess that has to be if we want a tax cut.
Barb Stevens, Takapuna
Skills drain
The Weekend Herald (Apr 27) highlighted a Defence Force that can’t retain staff, health providers unable to deliver services because they are short of staff, and skills heading to Australia.
They all have a common theme: low wages for skill. We are now a low-wage economy when compared with comparable OECD countries.
This is only going to be exacerbated with the Government scrapping labour laws designed to help fix this, such as fair pay agreements, while signalling with its actions that it’s going to increase unemployment levels and suppress wage growth.
What we need is vision to find ways to get us out of the low-wage doldrums, which no tweaking of the tax scales is going to solve. Those election promises (maybe that should read “election bribes”) are only delivering a tremendous cost to our economy with no prospect of solving the skills drain we are facing.
Neil Anderson, Algies Bay
MPs’ pay
We seem to have reached a point where reimbursement in the form of wages or salary has no connection to work accomplished.
For MPs to deserve an increase, the ones who supply their pay — us — should see a country that’s run a bit better than before. We see the opposite.
Problems of a failing society are increasing, not decreasing. Education standards are dropping, hospitals are hardly surviving, climate events are poorly dealt with, poverty is increasing, housing is less and less available, more and more people are depressed and inequality, the most corrosive of problems, is increasing.
So what have MPs achieved over recent years to warrant us paying them even more?
Susan Grimsdell, Auckland Central
Real workers
It has amazed me for some time now how a person with no experience whatsoever can become a member of Parliament with a minimum salary of $163,961.
The salary of a minister rises considerably to $296,000 a year, also with no previous experience, to name just two positions. To make matters worse, list MPs don’t even get elected, so they don’t represent an electorate.
The new pay scales for MPs are unnecessary at this time when the economy is in dire straits, according to the Minister of Finance. MPs, I am sure, can live quite comfortably on their present salaries — give the police, nurses and school teachers the raises they are calling for, they are the real workers in this country.
Sharon Marks, Te Aroha
There is much debate around the justification for a rise in MPs’ salaries. Perhaps a fairer way would be to set a base and index rises to the same percentage increase as the police starting salary, the minimum wage, teachers’ salary, mean wage or nurses’ salary. This way there can be no perception that MPs are in a preferential position. Remembering these are public service roles and not a career option, the challenge will be deciding what that base should be.
Alan Johnson, Papatoetoe
Chris Hipkins says the salaries of those in the public sector should be in line with the increases handed to politicians. He seems to forget it was Labour that froze public sector pay, leading to nurses leaving for Australia, police leaving as quickly as they could be hired, and the worst Defence Force attrition in years.
Mark Young, Ōrewa
After the recent announcement of members of Parliament pay increases, I wonder if list MPs are looking over their shoulders. As list MPs they have no constituents. That must make them back-office workers. Under the savings targets required by the Government, these are high on the list for savings cuts. They must be wondering what the Government will do in its own backyard.
Laurie Slee, Shelly Park
If the reverse had happened and Matthew Doocey had done the same to Julie Anne Genter he would be rolled. In a world where everyone is expected to be treated as equals she should be gone by lunchtime.
Wendy Tighe-Umbers, Parnell
Julie Anne Genter is certainly an enthusiastic MP, and makes a change from some who frequent those chambers. The barbs and insults that flow across the floor would at home be called systematic abuse. Julie Anne’s enthusiasm for her cause, while at times a little over the top, is the sort of person we need to wake the House from its normal slumber. A worthy recipient of the forthcoming 10.5 per cent salary increase.
Reg Dempster, Albany
Why has something so common sense taken the Government so long to put in place. Cellphones have always been a huge and unnecessary distraction in schools. The school office is always available for emergencies. School is necessary for learning and discipline and for so long the students seemed to rule. Common sense is simple, but some people don’t have it.
Marilyn Cure, Pāpāmoa
Making it easier to get on with infrastructure is a fabulous idea. To call it fast-tracking implies checks and balances are overlooked. This is not so. What is achieved is unnecessary opposition for the sake of it; and trusting the development to the experts, not those who have frivolous requests and expectations that are plainly stupid.
John Ford, Taradale
So Eden Park has named itself New Zealand’s national stadium. What a load of tosh. Eden Park is poorly shaped for rugby, ridiculously shaped for cricket. There is no doubt New Zealand needs a national stadium. There is no doubt it should be in Auckland. There is absolutely no doubt it is not Eden Park.
John McDermott, Dunedin
I read in the paper that a new American fast-food chain called Popeyes opened on Monday in Takanini, with customers camping 19 hours overnight to be the first in line and thousands through the doors. People can’t afford to buy fruit and veges or put food on the table, but they can afford fried chicken. No wonder our health system is in such a state. So much for the recession.
Gail Mazur, Remuera
Motorists are advised to avoid the area or delay travel.