It can be argued that by charging exorbitant fees, the expensive clinics are actually denying patients treatment and are thereby behaving unethically.
Without Pharmac, these vultures would cripple New Zealand economically. Isaacs is a brave person as the greedy vultures will be keen to submit him to every form of investigation, in order to close him down.
Neville Cameron, Coromandel.
Disabled workers’ pay
I read with incredulity that disabled workers are exempt from being paid the minimum wage.
This means they can be paid as little as $2/hour which, apparently, some in New Zealand are getting.
I fail to see how this can be justified. It borders on exploitation. Surely savings can be made somewhere so that these people can earn a respectable salary?
What about the large sums allocated for ex-National Party ministers to head various investigations into state enterprises such as Kāinga Ora?
I mean if these disabled workers all received the minimum wage and earned $500/week as opposed to $50/week, their self-esteem and confidence would improve and that would be in line with mental health guidelines.
Why target the most vulnerable in society? With a little thought, equivalent savings could be made elsewhere
Miles Langdon, Remuera.
Boy racer venues
I noticed that the heavily disguised boy racer interviewed on TV1 news the other night was quite confident that he and other boy racers would continue to race in areas where they shouldn’t.
He was also equally confident that any cars confiscated by police would easily be replaced. He said this would continue until “they” established a space for them to legally race in.
Obviously “they” meant a handout by councils and ratepayers etc. I’d like to challenge boy racers to get off their butts, fundraise and work hard to buy their own legal piece of land to race their cars on.
Instead of asking “what can my country do for me?”, how about asking themselves “what can we do for our country and ourselves?”
Just another group wanting a handout when it seems they can afford fines and car confiscation replacements.
Kay Robinson, Henderson.
Reducing crime
Successive Governments (but mostly National) want prisons to be privately built and run. The problem I have with this is rehabilitation.
If all the prisoners were rehabilitated, there would be no “customers” for a privately owned (hence profit-oriented) prison system. The Three Strikes rule ensures a steady stream of repeat offenders and New Zealand is heading for the top of the incarceration list of countries.
The Government and industry should stop handing out knighthoods to each other and work together on reducing poverty. Then we might see a reduction in crime.
Paul Cheshire, Maraetai.
Ragtag protests
We are becoming a nation of whingers who want nothing more than to satisfy our selfish egos and desires without any contributions, whether they involve sound, practical solutions, physical effort, or financial input.
It seems that every week dissatisfied minority groups are up in arms and protesting vocally without any thought to the greater good. They march, they yell slogans, they disrupt the law-abiding public and ultimately achieve nothing of substance.
The voters elected the current Government and whether we like it or not, they are here for the next couple of years. It is accepted that citizens have the right to lawful protest – lawful protest – not the ragtag, inane, disruptive exercises that we see today.
Ian Doube, Rotorua.
Cull or not?
While the Ministry for the Environment job cuts sound severe, with a reported cull of 303, the facts present a less dramatic picture (NZ Herald, June 6).
Of the 993 positions currently filled, 175 are terminating fixed-term contracts, voluntary redundancies already taken (45) with probably more to come, as well as the natural attrition that occurs organically, the “cull” of 303 roles seems significantly overstated.
Could it not be feasible that given redundancies, contracts terminating and natural attrition, that a cull is not required?
Mike Donovan, Remuera.
