Tony Potter, Remuera.
MIQ process
Assuming the Herald's leading article is correct, and I have no reason to doubt that, it is time for the Prime Minister to do what she was elected to do and take positive action.
First, she must ensure the MIQ process is working correctly, which is something it has failed to do from day one.
Second, and this should have been done long ago, she must sack the most irresponsible minister of all time, Chris Hipkins. If he has a shred of integrity left, he should resign.
This situation was predictable and indeed I did predict it shortly after Omicron reared its ugly head. Pandora's box is well and truly open and I'm not sure even hope is left.
Rod Lyons, Kumeū.
Meaning of isolation
As all of Auckland holds its breath, the border has been breached by someone with a pretty loose idea of what isolating at home really means.
Apparently, it means visiting a nightclub and a bar and wandering around downtown Auckland for a couple of days. What is to be their penalty?
A trip to Wānaka is apparently worth $750 but there were no consequences from that breach. I wonder what the consequences for this breach will be. Red traffic light forever?
Paul Cheshire, Maraetai.
Policy problem
Given that Omicron is extremely virulent and sweeping across Britain, why was a British citizen even allowed to enter our country?
In these extreme Covid times, surely only New Zealand citizens should be able to enter our country.
It is incredible that a British citizen was given permission to enter our country to party in Auckland and act as DJ at the Rhythm and Alps Music Festival. Hardly essential work in these medical pandemic times.
Peter Jamieson, Titirangi.
Booster shots
I had my second shot in mid-August. I went to Book My Vaccine but it is still set to a six-month interval and won't give me an appointment until mid-February.
I went to my local pharmacy and they said they were on a vaccination holiday until January 18. It seems much of the system is shut down and it is almost as difficult to get a shot as it was for the first one.
Will someone please go to the beach and tell the MoH that Omicron has decided not to take holidays. We seem to be asleep at the switch once more.
Peter Sheppard, Takapuna.
Danger on the water
Fun on the water can turn to disaster, as it did 13 months ago, when a father and son spent 40 minutes "battling for survival" in Manukau Harbour — neither of them in lifejackets.
When a father takes his 5-year-old son on to one of the most dangerous tide-prone harbours in New Zealand and lets him take his lifejacket off to go to the toilet unsupervised, then when he falls out of the boat — jumps in after him without a lifejacket on — something's gone wrong somewhere.
Auckland maritime bylaws require lifejackets to be worn only on vessels longer than 6m in times of "increased risk".
The terms "merciless waters", "current of the incoming tide", "cold water only about 18C" in the media, show that perhaps this was a time of increased risk.
Fortunately, this story had a happy ending, but this near-tragedy could have been avoided had we just had better laws.
Rules for lifejacket use need to change. Perhaps "all those under the age of 12 and anyone who cannot swim — must wear lifejackets at all times".
Where children and the vulnerable are concerned there can be no sloppy law — the sea takes no prisoners.
John Clark, Glen Eden.
Police and guns
It's clear from the news from the United States, including last week's Los Angeles police stray-bullet fatal shooting of an innocent 14-year-old girl shopping for Christmas clothes, that universal arming of police is a mistake.
Keep the guns in the hands of a few units of armed police experts and give larger insurance and disability benefits to all police.
Among other things, the need to call in special armed experts allows a "count-to-10" moment that can prevent panic behaviour like grabbing a gun instead of a Taser.
Robert Myers, Auckland Central.
Lack of data
Congratulations to the Herald and journalist Anna Leask for putting together the distressing list of women who have died from violence in the past decade. And thank you for naming prostitutes/sex workers in that list.
I recently wrote to the Minister of Justice asking for information about harm against prostitutes since the passage of the Prostitution Reform Act 2003.
The act established a committee to review and report on impacts of the act. After a review in 2008, the committee was disbanded and the review it recommended for 2018 to measure the long-term impact never occurred.
As a result, virtually every question I asked the minister was declined as unable to be answered. In fact, the ministry even asked for an extension to look into my request.
No government agency can tell me how many prostitutes have died, nor hospital admissions for violence.
Nor can they tell me how many offences against prostitutes have been reported to police or if the number of prostitutes has increased or decreased.
The only information they could give me about whether the number of under-age prostitutes has grown or decreased is those charged and convicted, resulting in an under-count as most young people are not charged.
Finally, on the question of sex trafficking, they referred me to MBIE.
So on the question of the harm perpetrated on this group of vulnerable New Zealand women and children, the Government does not know.
Having passed an act that is one of the most "hands off" in the world, the Government is doing nothing to monitor the welfare of these women. Thank you for giving them some visibility.
Sandra Coney, Auckland.
Fresh food
I was shopping in one of the two major supermarkets on December 28, and 90 per cent of the vegetables had packed-on dates of December 21 and 22.
I realise that we're in a holiday period and there are supply-chain issues, but surely six to seven days old isn't optimal freshness for anything except root vegetables.
We don't import broccoli, lettuce, etc and New Zealand growers supply more than 50 varieties of vegetables.
So the question needs to be asked: Why aren't the two duopolies, whose enormous profits have been well documented, not utilising some of those profits to ensure they can deliver vegetables at their peak freshness and nutritional value?
As has been previously reported, New Zealand has one of the worst obesity problems in the developed world. One in three adults and one in 10 children are classified as dangerously overweight.
Quite apart from the waste of having to bin a vegetable that goes off a day or two after purchase, I'm pretty confident customers would rather have fresh produce than stamp giveaways to purchase overpriced casserole dishes.
Mary Hearn, Glendowie.
