Mayor v AT
I am surprised that Mayor Wayne Brown is unable to do something about Auckland Transport (AT).
The new parking concept is lunacy, the bus lane system is a gotcha to enable AT to extort millions in fines and the overall impression is one of an entitled group outside any control. The current head, Dean Kimpton, is either ineffectual or part of the problem. The entire CCO system is a very expensive mistake and needs to be subject to council oversight.
Neville Cameron, Coromandel.
Fines shameful
To read that it occasioned two fines of $300 each to drop off and collect a 90-year-old outside the front entrance of the Town Hall (NZ Herald letters, May 13) is shameful.
Add to this a decision to suddenly charge for overnight and weekend central city parking when council approves apartment buildings without parking for all residents and it shows just how out of control Auckland Council is.
Hylton Le Grice, Remuera.
What’s behind grid crisis
In the fallout from the grid emergency last week, much of the commentary has blamed this on the decision by the Labour-NZ First coalition in 2018 to stop oil and gas exploration. The logic of this needs to be critiqued, especially when one consequence has been the ludicrous situation of importing Indonesian coal to fuel electricity generation.
However, this is far from the only reason for the grid emergency. A stronger case can be made that it is a delayed result of Max Bradford’s electricity sector “reforms” in 1992. These so-called reforms simply created a flawed market that is manipulable by the power companies to ensure excessive profits - not to mention a quadrupled administrative burden to run each generating company. The reforms moved the supply of electricity to a competitive profit model instead of a co-ordinated, centrally planned approach. Except for a few weather-dependent wind farms, the investment by the power companies into new generation has failed to keep up with demand.
That is the real reason why we had a grid emergency - and why we will have more in the future. All governments since 1992 share an equal blame for not having the fortitude to rectify this failure.
Murray Boardman, Dunedin.
Seymour wilfully ignorant
David Seymour seems to think racism started in 1972, when the Māori and Pasifika uni paths began. Or in 2022, when bowel screening for Māori aged 50+ began.
This is a purposefully, wilfully ignorant view. He claims these things are racist, but it was racism against Māori that necessitated their existence. In 2023, only 4.7 per cent of doctors in New Zealand were Māori, despite decades of this “racist” programme. Māori life expectancy is seven years less than others in our country, despite “racist” preferential treatment via things like bowel screening.
The reason why there’s a lack of Māori doctors and why Māori die earlier is racism. This country was founded with the idea that the Māori “race” was inferior and would disappear. But we haven’t. And we won’t. For more than a century, Māori have campaigned for fair and equal treatment, the exact thing Seymour says he wants. And for just as long, the Government has stopped progress, stirred up anger against Māori and called them greedy, the exact things Seymour is doing.
He knows what he’s doing. The words have changed but the playbook’s the same. He’s demonising Māori - his people - to keep his own power.
Caleb Rakete, Papakura.
Rugby’s risky spot
After watching the brutal Blues v Hurricanes game, I can only conclude that if rugby continues on this destructive path, it will fade away. All of the players would hardly be able to walk the next day, such was the physicality of the game. The players are like Kamikaze pilots throwing themselves into contact.
The next accident waiting to happen is from the development of the smash tackle, where the 115kg loosie is lining up the 75kg inside back. This will eventually result in serious injury if it is allowed to continue. It is sad to see the great game of rugby in such a bad space.
Jock Mac Vicar, Hauraki.
