Letters: Nicola Willis may come to regret writing off KiwiRail’s board; sentencing overdue for a shake-up

"Finance Minister Nicola Willis [right] might reflect on the wisdom and repercussions of beating up highly experienced commercial directors like David McLean [left]". Composite photo / NZME

Willis wrong to attack KiwiRail board

Finance Minister Nicola Willis might reflect on the wisdom and repercussions of beating up highly experienced commercial directors like David McLean and, by implication, other members of the KiwiRail board.

For one thing, public sector directors are effectively gagged in their terms of appointment. And if they disagree with, or are disrespected by, a shareholding minister, their only option is to suffer in silence or resign, which I suspect is what happened here.

Willis may not think that the loss of McLean, who had a stellar commercial career, is much to worry about. But the pipeline of solid, commercially experienced candidates for significant public sector appointments is pretty small. Those of McLean’s ilk often have multiple (and often better) options but will, fortunately, consider such a role for public service reasons. However, the risk of being criticised for doing their job properly likely outweighs most of the perceived benefits for many of the best directors.

With public sector directors fees being lower than private and the risk of criticism from the political masters/mistresses being relatively high, Willis might find it hard to attract first-tier directors to these roles, thus depriving New Zealand of the best governors for our most valuable state assets. That isn’t good.

KiwiRail needs transformational change, which is risky for New Zealand, the Finance Minister and the board alike. That is when you need world-class advice.

Paul Jamieson, Ōmaha.

Show us the money

Strange that KiwiRail has reportedly spent excessively on consultants, yet when asked how much the figure is, it is then smothered by so-called commercial sensitivity, which was also backed by Nicola Willis, who said she would have problems in defending it. Surely the public should be informed, given it’s their money being spent?

Following that debacle, we now learn that the KiwiRail chairman has decided to bring forward his retirement – strangely, though, not related to any of this. One has to wonder whether his retirement will be gold-plated, but again, commercial sensitivity will probably be used as a tool to mask that.

Paul Beck, West Harbour.

Rethinking sentences

Derek Cheng’s article (”Plan to limit judge’s discretion signals politicians know better”, NZ Herald, June 25) expresses reservations over limiting the discretion of the judiciary.

In fact, all too often a sentence does not meet the requirements of the Sentencing Act 2002. That act specifically states “a court must take into account the gravity of the offending”. Yet time and again, that requirement is not followed when a sentence is imposed.

It is unacceptable that a sentence of home detention is now frequently imposed for serious violent offending. So-called “discounts” have become part of the sentencing equation and are often used to reduce the starting point of a sentence to less than two years’ imprisonment, thus enabling home detention to be imposed. This is rationalised by the provision of the act requiring a court to take into account the personal circumstances of an offender.

It has long been evident that the Sentencing Act needs to be redrafted in order to stop undue weight being given to the offender’s personal circumstances, thus ensuring a sentence that reflects the harm done to victims. Paul Goldsmith is to be applauded for taking the steps necessary to achieve this objective.

Bruce Anderson, Christchurch.

Life on alert

Ah, to be an older man like correspondent Alan Walker (NZ Herald, June 26), confident in his smugness to deride Golriz Ghahraman’s mental crisis as a “cop-out”.

I bet he has never had to walk down the middle of the road at night, keeping an eye on trees and bushes, never had to hold a lit cigarette in hand to burn and run if needed, never had to listen to snide comments about clothing you feel good in, which suddenly become uncomfortable, never picked up a phone to hear sexually explicit comments over how you’re going to be raped/killed/burned, nor listened to messages via the internet suggesting a rape is imminent because you (she) is too assertive and needs bringing down.

It doesn’t seem to matter what age women are, we’re all open to forms of abuse. We’re on alert from the moment we’re born.

Emma Mackintosh, Birkenhead.

Blues short-changed

My respect for Scott Robertson diminished after his selection of the All Blacks squad.

The Blues won the Super Rugby Pacific title by the dominance of their forward pack over all other teams, yet of the top four, the Blues were at the bottom of the list. Six of Robertson’s Crusaders mates in the forwards were selected and only three from the Blues. The reasons given why Hoskins Sotutu was overlooked are weak.

Whether we win or lose against England is not the point – it’s the fact that players who deserved to be selected were not.

Reg Dempster, Albany.