Due credit to primary agencies
As we Aucklanders delight in our newfound freedoms and the pleasure of seeing life and fun come back to our city and region, let's acknowledge, with huge thanks, the mahi of Māori and Pasifika leaders and organisations in getting us to our amazing vaccination rate. We
owe them our heartfelt gratitude for where we are today.
Coming from behind in so many ways, not least in facing bureaucratic obduracy, leaders in West and South Auckland rolled up their sleeves and got cracking to bring their people on board the vaccination programme.
Using deep knowledge of their people and cultures, they pulled out all the stops to draw people in, to encourage and reassure them - and it worked. It has been a powerful demonstration of community-led action and a reminder of how much we are all dependent on each other in this challenging 21st century.
Mahi kanapa. Ka nui te mihi mai i a tātou katoa.
Mattie Wall, Westmere.
Wages and profit
The vision, inventiveness and energy of people who have become wealthy by their own efforts deserve to be applauded and well-rewarded. But much wealth has been accumulated by cost-cutting and paying workers as little as possible for their (essential) labour. Workers are still having to struggle to achieve a living wage. Years ago we were assured that wealth and growth would benefit everybody by the 'trickle-down' effect but the current obscene gap between rich and poor suggests someone forgot to turn on the tap.
Anne Martin, Helensville.
Rejoin the team
Fear of catching Covid is rearing its ugly head and Aucklanders are being asked to stay away.
Aucklanders in large numbers have also experienced that fear but have had to overcome it. Unlike the rest of New Zealand, we had no choice. Once Delta broke through the border, the numbers in Auckland were too large to contain it, even though the majority of us did what we were told. We had no choice but to overcome that fear if we wanted to reclaim our life.
So is the price that Team Auckland have been asked to pay, by having so many MIQ spaces, in central Auckland too high? I don't know but I do know that we cannot keep doing it.
For the sake of our children our families, our business, our elderly and our front line staff, we have been pushed to the limit and would appreciate it if we once more became the team of 5 million, equally sharing the responsibilities of keeping our borders safe.
Robin Harrison, Takapuna.
Ideal leadership
With Christopher Luxon a declared Christian, will we see him show Jesus' care for the poor, by introducing policies that stop the escalation of our country's devastating inequality?
Will he distribute his wealth to those without homes or other basics of life, in his knowledge of the impossibility of the rich entering the Kingdom of Heaven? Perhaps he will capitalise some of the $90,000 he is currently amassing every week from capital gain on his seven houses and use it to help hundreds of children who are missing out on education because they don't have devices at home.
A Christian in a position of power sounds perfectly wonderful.
Susan Grimsdell, Auckland Central.
Houses are homes
Thank you Pauline Somerville for your letter "The house always wins" (NZ Herald, December 9). One's home has always been associated with family security and welfare. Investors in houses are looking for profit; long-term profit via capital gains. When two or three houses are acquired in one name the banks look at further house purchases as a good investment for them too.
So the next one is bought and the next one and on it goes. The price really does not matter because the price of housing has always gone up and up. This has been going on for decades and increases the division between the haves and the have not's. What should be done?
I would start by limiting house ownership to just two properties, your home and your bach. I would encourage property investors to move their investment into commercial and industrial properties as these underpin the economic engine of the nation and return similar profits.
Our housing market it is being controlled by wealthier and more wealthy investors. Fewer and fewer Mums and Dads get a look in.
Ian George, Howick.
