"We should demand that our elected Government make policies and laws designed to lift families and communities out of deprivation so that their destiny is hopeful." Photo / 123rf
"We should demand that our elected Government make policies and laws designed to lift families and communities out of deprivation so that their destiny is hopeful." Photo / 123rf
Letters to the Editor
Among New Zealand’s new crop of dames and knights are those awarded and well-deserved because of their services to philanthropy and community.
One such person is Dame Julie Chapman, who has worked for many years in feeding and clothing hungry schoolchildren in low-decile schools. Another is property developer SirTed Manson, whose charitable foundation funds 12 low-decile schools in South Auckland, where Manson grew up.
Buried in the NZ Herald item (December 3), the principal of one such school says this: 90% of new entrants have a developmental age of a 3-year-old, two-thirds live with a caregiver other than a parent, one or both parents of 70% are currently, or previously jailed. The social and learning skills of the children are supported through funding for teachers and educational psychologists, support from counsellors and speech-language therapists and other inputs, inputs we would expect to be state-funded.
The vision and efforts of those who established charitable foundations are to be applauded. But the very fact we need charities to support our poorest and most vulnerable little children should be a wake-up call to us all.
We should demand that our elected Government make policies and laws designed to lift families and communities out of deprivation so that their destiny is hopeful. We should insist that the leadership and teachers in the most challenging schools are rewarded for their efforts even when students do not achieve educational standards at the same level as those in more privileged schools.
Who knows, perhaps in a year’s time it will be the principals and teachers whose names appear in the New Year Honours list.
Nicola North, Blockhouse Bay.
Invest in our kids
Christmas and new year provide an opportunity for reflection. Susan Glasgow, chief executive of children’s charity Variety (Herald on Sunday, December 29), opines that this is a good time for family discussions around kids' views on wealth and others' experiences.
She believes that the impact on both privileged children and their less fortunate peers can assist children in developing kindness and empathy. That said, we must continue to work towards a decent standard of living for every child.
A society willing to invest in early interventions will ensure that life outcomes for children are not predetermined at birth.
Often, families need an advocate who is on their side. A family-centred approach whereby trusted individuals, organisations such as Primary Health Care, Whānau Ora, community housing providers and charities are the first point of contact.
Glennys Adams, Waiheke.
EV road charges illogical
HoS’ editorial proposed that “EVs perhaps could be taxed for their assumed road use” (December 29). It would have been useful for the editorial writer to note that light electric vehicles, such as cars and SUVs, pay $76/1000km in road user charges, the same as light diesel vehicles, and that plug-in hybrid light electric vehicles pay RUC at the rate of $38/1000km.
Light electric vehicles, such as cars and SUVs, pay $76/1000km in road user charges, while plug-in hybrids pay at the rate of $38/1000km.
Very light electric vehicles (weighing less than 1000kg, typically bikes and scooters that are not registered and don’t have WoFs) do not pay RUC, and, of course, electric heavy goods vehicles pay RUC as they are heavy goods vehicles.
The Government has not followed the evidence and logic when it comes to deciding the level of RUC for light electric vehicles and charges EV owners more for the use of roads than owners of equivalent petrol-powered vehicles despite EVs not requiring imported fuel and having less impact on the environment than internal combustion engine-powered vehicles.
I would like to see more money made available to our frontline medical, education and police staff and firefighters.
Like many others, I do not trust the Government to take my taxes and use them for these deserving individuals. So here’s an idea. Why not provide a tax discount to those frontline staff?
A drop from 33% to 30% for money earned above $53,500 up to $180,000 would give those deserving workers an immediate and clear benefit straight to their pockets. I don’t understand the workings of the IRD bureaucracy, but this change seems relatively easy and inexpensive.
Nick Rowe. Greenlane.
Boot camps
Chlöe Swarbrick frequently tells us the Government’s boot camps don’t work, and the media, and especially TVNZ, provide her ample opportunities to do that.
Personally, I have always thought the benefits of a boot camp regime would inevitably vary from one individual to another rather than having an “all or nothing” outcome. The Green Party’s solution to crime is to pretend there isn’t any, and that is a far worse alternative to boot camps.
Phil Chitty, Albany.
Court solution
When is Auckland Tennis finally going to wake up and spend $49.99 on some ex-railway tarpaulins to cover the centre court quickly every time it rains? Squeegees and beach towels to wipe up raindrops went out of fashion with the Dark Ages!
Bruce Tubb, Devonport.
Super city’s secret success
It was great to read Robbie Paul’s opinion piece (NZ Herald, November 30) on “Entrepreneurs creating a super city for investment”. We need people like Robbie right now.
The article read like a litany of success, such as the positive vibe it created without a hint of negativity. This was the exact opposite of most other articles in this section of the Herald, where the country’s woes are given lavish exposure.
One sentence stood out: “Every corner of Auckland has entrepreneurs working on important missions.” This hyperbolic statement has an air of mystery about it. A quick look around some of Auckland’s corners and entrepreneurs on important missions were nowhere to be seen.
This subtext would seem that these entrepreneurs are working silently, secretly and surreptitiously on escapades that nobody should know about. This is just in case our opposition parties spotted them and decided that we can’t have people being too successful and becoming too rich and that they needed to be taxed out of existence. Keeping the populace poor, reliant and malleable would appear to be their motto.
Bernard Walker, Mount Maunganui.
Red Cross real life-saver
On December 30, 2024, Jersey and Guernsey Channel Islanders commemorated 80 years since the arrival of the first of six shipments of desperately needed food and other supplies on the International Red Cross vessel, SS Vega.
The islands, occupied by German forces, had been cut off from any shipments from France after the Normandy Invasions in May 1944. Food parcels from the NZ and Canadian Red Cross saved many islanders from starvation.
The NZ parcels, packed by volunteers, included tinned corned mutton, lamb and green peas, coffee and milk, chocolate, honey and cheese. Tinned fish was the main protein source in the Canadian parcels. Each islander received sufficient food to last a month.
During World War II, NZ Red Cross provided nearly 1.14 million food parcels to the Channel Islands and elsewhere. This, like the welcoming of 700 Polish children and their caregivers here in 1944, is something for the NZ Red Cross and us to be proud of.
