Letters: Oranga Tamariki, cannabis use, children's rugby and consumerism

Oranga Tamariki would do well to change their focus, writes Joy Robinson. Photo / Mike Scott

Opinion

Regarding Aaron Hendry's opinion ("We have babies that are not safe", Herald on Sunday, June 16), let's get it right.

"How do you decide that a baby is no longer safe enough to stay with their whānau?" If that is your focus then you change the baby.

However, if we ask: "How do you decide that a whānau is no longer safe for the baby?", then you change the whānau.

Oranga Tamariki would do well to change their focus. More people and resources put into supporting the whānau would create safe places for babies and the barbaric practice of taking a baby from its mother, father and whānau could become a thing if the past.

Joy Robinson, Whangamata

Cannabis use

Regarding "Nip it in the Bud" (Herald on Sunday, June 16), an interesting statistic from the European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction to support your view that the "spectre of increased use (resulting from cannabis legalisation) is one of the first fallacies to be weeded out".

The centre found that 25.3 per cent of Irish had tried cannabis in their lifetime compared with 25.7 per cent of Dutch. Holland has had cannabis products freely available since the mid 1970s whereas in Ireland it remains illegal.

The statistic speaks for itself.

Tony Bouchier, Kohimarama

Teacher's comment

The story "Unions 'use teachers as pawns'" (Herald on Sunday, June 16) quoted the founder of a charter school as saying, when commenting on the benefits or otherwise of union membership, "So us non-members are still winning ...". One has to wonder about the benefits or otherwise of attending a charter school in the first place, if this is the standard of English likely to be taught.

John Hampson, Meadowbank

Children's rugby

I generally agree with Simon Walters' article supporting the removal of high-stakes competitiveness from children's rugby, which should not be "driven by adults' ambitions" ("Are you ruining your kids' games", June 16). Yes, "young people primarily play sport for fun".

However, contrary to Walters, I believe over-protective adults are also a problem because they over-emphasise safety at the expense of fun. Fun should often have an appropriate element of risk: Kids won't learn to deal with risk or pain, or much else in the real world, if they are packed in cotton wool.

Gavan O'Farrell, Lower Hutt

Consumerism

Thank you Paul Little for writing a very correct, sensible, down-to-earth opinion piece ("Consumerism is killing the planet", June 16). Most of the time I like your writing but thumbs up on this piece. Sunday's paper of June 16 gets a thumbs up too, all very interesting articles.

Susan Lawrence, Kohimarama

Rotorua Museum

Whenever I read an article about the iconic Rotorua Museum, I seethe. The latest was in the Herald on Sunday of June 16. Why? The council is bragging about the $31 million, including its measly $15m contribution, in the repair kitty for work currently estimated to cost about $50m, but rumoured to be up to $91m. The mayor is looking for the shortfall.

Yet at the same time the council can contribute $20m to revamp the Lakefront, for which there will be two major beneficiaries of the financial return. Ratepayers aren't one, although the increased debt will be serviced by them. A good tidy-up and regular maintenance, which has been lacking, would suffice.

All ratepayers would benefit from the museum reopening. It generates about $2.2m/year to council (ratepayer) coffers.

In all the museum publicity, there has never been mention of insurance payout, not even for revenue loss.

Rotorua Lakes Council, get your priorities right! Museum number one.

Paddi Hodgkiss, Rotorua

Business Hall of Shame

Should Sir Ralph Norris, Sir John Key and Dame Jenny Shipley be inducted into the New Zealand Business Hall of Shame?

Bruce Tubb, Belmont