Letters: Peters shouldn’t be taking potshots at the Prime Minister

David Seymour will soon be taking over from Winston Peters as Deputy Prime Minister.

Letters to the Editor

Peters needs to be put in his place

I certainly never thought I would ever be even remotely supporting the Prime Minister, but I have to comment on the Foreign Minister’s grandstanding and taking potshots at Christopher Luxon.

Publicly criticising the country’s leader, at home and overseas, however veiled, is inappropriate. Whatever happened to Cabinet accountability, let alone loyalty to the publicly chosen party leader.

Phil Goff was sacked for less with a far better reason for speaking out. It’s time the Prime Minister stood up and brought Winston Peters to order.

Graham Edwards, Hillsborough.

Seymour’s shaky record

With the impending promotion of David Seymour to Deputy Prime Minister, one must hope that Christopher Luxon stays at home. Seymour’s recent debacles over the Treaty Principles Bill and the school lunches, to mention two, do not inspire confidence in a senior government role. Any overseas commitments can be competently handled by Winston Peters.

Ian Doube, Rotorua.

ED wait times too long

Last week a new ED facility opened at Auckland Hospital and all involved were rightly happy at this welcome event.

However, the medical team running the ED qualified this happiness by pointing out that the staff required doesn’t quite match the full utilisation of the facilities. The minister, Simeon Brown, was at great pains to explain that with this new facility and the work he says the Government is doing to improve emergency departments, soon they may meet their target of 70% of ED patients being dealt with within six hours. He is quietly confident it will be soon.

But why are we satisfied with such a poor target being met? For goodness sake, how come people have to wait that long anyway? And as it is only a 70% target, that means lots of people are waiting considerably longer (anecdotal evidence from some EDs suggests some people are waiting 24 hours). We should be demanding targets of no more than two to three hours. After all, people are going to EDs, in many cases referred by their GPs, because they need higher level care, and they turn up at the ED with issues that need urgent attention.

Neil Anderson, Algies Bay.

Fast lane to congestion

The mad dash to nowhere by raising the speed limit to speed up business is a case of the blind leading the blind on two fronts. Firstly, the speeding up of traffic is linked to the congestion build-up on the motorways which in Auckland in peak hours begins around Penrose, with traffic reducing to a crawl at an average speed say of 10km/h.

By speeding up traffic from as far away as Hamilton, that congestion is going to back up further and quicker, reaching as far back as Manukau and beyond. So any time gains on the expressway are soon negated by traffic congestion backing up as far as Drury. A no-win situation similar to a cat chasing its tail.

But that’s not the worst of it. Meanwhile, recognising that speed kills, other countries are reducing their speed limits in an effort to limit the carnage.

Gary Hollis, Mellons Bay.

Shaw for party leader?

I really enjoy Shane Te Pou’s columns in the Herald on Sunday. I totally agree with his sentiment that with David Parker going, Labour needs to replenish its spiritual and intellectual reserves. His idea to recruit James Shaw is brilliant. Shaw has proven he has the conceptual intellect, integrity, broad appeal, and resilience to get things done. These traits have much in common with Parker.

However, under the leadership of Chris Hipkins, he could be stifled. Hipkins is a cautious incrementalist and may be prone to losing his nerve pursuing a transformational agenda. To entice Shaw, Labour may need a different leadership that is sufficiently impassioned and courageous to drive that agenda through. Perhaps James Shaw fits that bill?

Hadley Brown, Blockhouse Bay.

Make power while the sun shines

EVs are never going to be the be-all for decarbonising transportation let alone the economy. In Europe, consumers and car manufacturers have already responded to the fact that it makes little sense to buy an EV if the electricity is produced by fossil fuels.

However, EVs are an integrated part in decarbonising the economy. Until we accept that everyone in the energy sector, be it user or producer, has to work closely together, we will make little progress in decarbonising the economy.

Technology or solutions are available to make progress but a lack of political will and commercial interests are holding us back. We have had a lot of sunshine and little rain in the past four months. Had we had more solar capacity, a lot of energy would have been produced.

Chris Kaelin, Te Awamutu.

Could I get a limo, too?

I am truly upset and dismayed at the shabby treatment that our poor Mayor Wayne Brown is receiving. No limousine (Apr 8). I don’t get one either and thus I truly understand his frustration. When Wayne whines and gets his limo, do you think that you could put in a word for me as well?

Kevin Menzies, Onehunga.