Nurses have skills that they can use to work and see the world at the same time. Photo / 123rf
Nursing around the world
Driving along the Northern Motorway into the city, this week I saw a political party billboard by National stating the party will “bond nurses”. Their policy states that nurses will be better off by $87 per week. This policy is to make new graduates remain in New Zealand and not travel overseas to earn higher salaries and pay off their student debt faster. A graduate registered nurse in Aotearoa New Zealand will earn an average of $53,000. A quick move to Australia raises that sum to A$71,000. With a similar shortage of nurses in the UK and Australia, there would be ample opportunity for overtime and extra shifts to help to repay a student loan quickly. My sister-in-law is a registered nurse in Australia and works at least three additional shifts per week! Any offset to nurses from a bond system would not outweigh the adventure of an OE and gaining nursing experience in another country. A sensible student would undertake three years of study in Invercargill with zero fees and then move overseas to earn better money. A sensible government could increase the number of practicum hours a student spends in a clinical setting to assist with workloads. The current study arrangement appears to have nurses spend 907 days in an academic setting and 188 in a ward or clinical setting. Nursing has such wonderful transferable skills that can take a graduate around the world. In my opinion, that is why we lose so many nurses, not because of policy.
Gary Denney, Eden Terrace
Hipkins should go
Chris Hipkins has proved himself unsuitable to lead the Labour Party. After investigations revealed the very rich did not pay their fair share of taxes, there was a feeling from the public that some redress was warranted. Apparently all by himself, like Jacinda Ardern, Hipkins has ruled out any capital gains tax or wealth taxes “while he is the leader”. That means that he has to go. Otherwise, how is the Government going to pay for the health workers, teachers, increase in benefits, state houses and other programmes people are demanding?
Bob van Ruyssevelt, Glendene
A voter’s dilemma
After 60 years of national elections, I don’t know who to vote for in this one. I can understand Chris Hipkins, politically, wanting to cool things down, but he is going too far. The result is a Labour Party that doesn’t seem to stand for anything but the status quo; a party that is not going to take us anywhere. The National Party, on the other hand, is very clear - it wants to take us backwards with a range of policies that have been tried before and have failed. The minor parties are the only parties that have the courage to present us with policies that will take us forward. Not surprising, some will argue, they can afford to - but the reality is we need all parties to present us with policies that will deal with the complex issues we face. We need a better choice than to go nowhere or go backwards. I am going to vote for one of the minor parties; I suggest the rest of New Zealand follow me and show we are tired of the politics of power rather than what is best for New Zealand.
David Hood, Hamilton
Gain or ethics?
So Labour has forsaken (again) a capital gains tax. This is from a Government which is happy to impose taxation on the first cent that people who work earn, on benefits, pensions, vegetables and fruit, on petrol (which impacts directly on workers when the rich can afford it and companies can pass on their costs). This same Government seems obstinately determined to leave profits gained from capital well alone. Is this in line with Labour ideals, or does a presumed electoral advantage trump ethics? I think we should be told.
Chris Cottingham, Te Henga
Keeping promises
Christopher Luxon should not apply National’s standard of trustworthiness to Labour. John Key said National would not increase GST - then he went ahead and increased GST. Jacinda Ardern said she would not introduce a capital gains tax, and kept her promise. Which party has a better record of promises kept?
John Howes, New Plymouth
Cost-less crossing option
Auckland could have a non-vehicle harbour crossing option that involves no capital cost. For a short window of time - say, from 6am to 9am every Saturday and Sunday morning – Waka Kotahi [New Zealand Transport Agency] could separate the two western bridge lanes from normal traffic by leaving the moveable barrier where it normally is on a Friday evening and just rerouting traffic to the other side of it. This is just a twist on normal peak-time traffic management. The two western lanes are already separated from motor vehicle traffic by a median strip and superstructure from Curran Street to Stafford Road, and there is room for extra barriers and cones and a relaxed security presence. This makes the bridge available for walkers and joggers, hikers and hīkois, cyclists and scooterists, residents and tourists, old and young, to traverse the harbour bridge from Curran Street to Stafford Road, albeit for a short period only. At either end of the bridge, complementary urban routes will naturally form as the paths develop and the related opportunities are grasped. We fine-tune it as we learn. It’s an experiment that would cost nothing compared to the other options proposed, and can be extended or discontinued easily.
Simon Shanahan, Takapuna
Bridge funding
Simon Shanahan (NZ Herald, July 12) mentions the soon to be opened 1km Patuone link from Esmonde Road to Metro Takapuna. The residents of Hauraki through to Bayswater are hopeful that Auckland Transport will now fund the long awaited bridge across the Esmonde Estuary. This will connect them to the Patuone cycle/walkway, AUT and the 82 Express which takes 12 minutes to bus into the city. The Bayswater to Francis Street Greenway link has existed for many years. It is well used on this peninsula where the population is expanding. People must be encouraged away from Lake Road for their own safety.
Jan O’Connor, Hauraki
Train nostalgia
To be nostalgic and push to have train travel back in vogue, as is the current sentiment, it is necessary to keep a few things in context. Air travel has evolved to the point where the cost and the timeframe to get from point A to point B is the most economically viable. Prior to that efficiency, train travel was a cost-effective option for many. Back then, there was no dual expressway from Cambridge to Warkworth, nor a Transmission Gully revamp. These subtle infrastructure improvements have given us the independence to leave our homes when we want, and actually get to our destination much more efficiently; doing that in a Tesla is even more appealing to some. The rail revitalisation notion is unfortunately dead in the water - progress has seen to that.
John Ford, Napier
Back to the future
Luxon claims that his party has new ideas, but what are they? Going backwards seems to be their main aim - restoring a mythical past when everyone was happy. Their slogan “Back on Track” sounds alarmingly like “Make New Zealand Great Again!” Reducing government spending, removing ‘red tape’ and restoring tax privileges for the wealthy seem to be the main drivers of their ‘new ideas’. Plus building more prisons - of course, they will need to incarcerate more people as poverty soars. Not to mention yet more delays in facing up to climate change. Is this progress? I think not.
V M Fergusson, Mt Eden
Aim to feel safe
Yet another opinion piece (NZ Herald, July 12) claiming crime has not increased and getting tough on it does not work. Well, getting soft on crime has not worked either - in fact, any stats I have looked at show crime (and in particular, violent crimes) have all increased dramatically in the last five or six years. The only argument now centres on whether or not people feel safe, and that is a resounding ‘no’. If rehab does not work any better than punishment, then our only choice is to lock crims up to let us all feel safe again.
Brent Marshall, Whangaparāoa
Jury service
Might I suggest to Alan Walker that if he wants to refuse jury service, he should do it on the grounds of his religion and inform the Crown that the Bible says to “judge not lest ye be judged”. I did this in the UK in 1970 as a cover for my anarchist principles, which matched the Christian injunction. In reply, I was advised that I “had been excused”. No government likes having its pretensions to religious sanction challenged, so why not exploit their hypocrisy? Best wishes.
Ian Pashby, Montsenelle, France
Charter schools
Wendy Tighe-Umbers forgets that National wanted nothing to do with charter schools until 2011, when they needed Act as a confidence and supply partner. As I recall, there were 36 applicants to set up such schools based on a private/business model, but mostly funded by the taxpayers. Several were from US religious groups, and I recall one school in the north was funded to the tune of $27,000 per pupil, against $6000 per pupil in state schools. According to the OECD, everywhere that the charter school model has taken off, there has been a decline in educational standards.
I F Burke, Kaitāia
On tax reform
Without a capital gains or wealth tax, I won’t be voting Labour. Hipkins might as well be a Tory as far as this left-winger is concerned.
Rex Head, Papatoetoe
On gangs
Instead of joining gangs, those separated from family and seeking a sense of belonging in our society could join a church group, or any one of countless sports and other clubs and organisations.
Gary Andrews, Mt Maunganui
On Prebble
Richard Prebble’s article about Kiri Allan’s ‘bullying’ is a new low. The wily old silver fox bases it on nothing but rumour and innuendo. His motive - to keep this issue alive in an election year.
Lesley Haddon, Rotorua
Richard Prebble is correct - in New Zealand, to say no is rude and to demand a staff member do something is regarded as bullying. The permanence of staff means that they are always, sometimes quietly, advancing their own agendas. Ministers are regarded as short-timers, to be ignored until they leave.
Neville Cameron, Coromande
On TV noise
Could TV broadcasters please put an end to this semi-musical noise that overlays all programmes at present? This is surely of interest to the advertisers also. In all cases, especially the adverts, this inability to hear the spoken word is critical.
Dave Brown, Henderson
On buses
I object to the current practice of uniformed transport officers planting themselves at the entry door of free Link buses in the CBD. Most people appreciate reliable public transport, and these officials should restrict their engagement to those individuals who do cause trouble.
Ellie Carruthers, Grey Lynn
Chris Hipkins confirms he killed $10b wealth tax, capital gains tax in Budget.
He killed it because the research was telling him and the Labour strategists etc that they’d sink even further in the polls. The fact that they were considering introducing these taxes informs you that they will introduce them rapidly if they win another term.
Jonathan F
The wealth tax and CGT will just be shelved until the election is over. Labour can then blame the state of the economy and their coalition partners Greens and Te Pāti Māori for a turbo-charged version of it. The same goes for everything else that is currently ’shelved’.
Andrew O
Seriously disappointing. I will reserve final judgement until after I see the finance policy Labour will be going into the election with. There are clear injustices in the tax system, proven through many reports. Not open to question. I believe the experts. Partly as a result of this, there are serious injustices in our social fabric. Neither National nor Act have any intention of doing anything significant in this area. Both will do whatever they can to preserve the status quo. The rich will continue to get richer, the poor, poorer.
Alfred T
It’s unfortunate that a three-year Parliament is too short to bring in and evaluate a major tax reform. With a five year gap between elections, there’d be a serious chance of implementing a CGT or any other significant improvement in the fairness of the system.
Brian C
Let’s be honest here. Labour has no choice but to reject a CGT and a wealth tax. The latter especially is utterly unworkable and there are no exemplars anywhere on the planet where it was worth implementing. For Labour to go with the Greens on these policies would be the kiss of death for them, and they know it.
Richard S
'The contribution they’ve made to ballet in this country ... has been immense.'