Letters: On gangs, tax reform, science in schools, trade, polls

Police excuting search warrants in Southland which led to the arrest of 11 men with gang connections.

Letter of the week: Paul Cheshire, Maraetai

To the detractors of the much vilified Dr Jarrod Gilbert for having the temerity to suggest that gangs and crime are problems worthy of wider debate rather than lock ‘em up and throw away the key, I say this – There have been very few gang members come out of the suburbs of Remuera, Seatoun or Fendalton. It is affluent people who are preventing meaningful change and will continue to do so simply because they wilfully ignore the fact that children cannot choose their parents. What child would choose psychotic, drug-addicted, violent, depraved criminals steeped in poverty as parents - who themselves also had no choice? Until Big Business steps up to the plate and works with the Government to eliminate poverty we are forever going to be confronted with crime. The Māori gangs formed around the time of the collapse of the freezing works industry when Britain abandoned us and joined the EU. Whole communities centred around the local freezing works suddenly had no income and no alternative and, as time went on, dwindling hope. Poverty. Connect the dots, people – it’s not hard. In 1949, the final year of New Zealand’s egalitarian society, there were about 1000 people in prison or about one per 1900 of population. Today that number is about one per 600, a threefold increase, and the strident call from the wealthy is to lock more up. We already have one of the highest incarceration rates in the OECD! What’s the bet there’ll be a tax cut and money will be borrowed to build new prisons, if Act wins.

Slippery slope

“New Zealand Incorporated” is our biggest business - if it goes down the gurgler we all go with it, our financial standing, standard of living, health and education. The growth industries will be poverty, crime and lawlessness. We are already on the slippery slope. Big business needs a proven experienced leader and a skilful management team, together with a competent board of directors. We need aspiration, not desperation as at present. We need to all work and pull together, not in different directions with countless distractions as is the current situation. We need increased productivity and innovation - the Kiwi “can do” attitude that has been stymied by mediocrity must prevail. New Zealand can be great again but it will take time, effort , blood, sweat and tears - and not a moment to lose.

Randal Lockie, Rothesay Bay.

Loss of faith

Any faith I may have had in the NZ Labour Party has been quashed by the Prime Minister’s announcement that Labour will not introduce a capital gains tax or wealth tax if it is re-elected. No doubt it considers that any such tax would be electoral suicide. However, this country urgently needs many billions of dollars spent on infrastructure and capital investment in education, health and housing. Does Labour really believe that these needs can be delivered from the current combination of PAYE income tax and GST? If so, it deserves to be relegated to the opposition benches of our Parliament.

Peter Graham, Helensville.

Refreshing response

How refreshing to read the Prime Minister’s response to the most recent polls - “the polls were a message to Labour that voters thought it had lost its focus”. In my view Labour hasn’t, but I struggle to recall any leader’s response that genuinely acknowledged the reality and took the results on board, and, agreed to respond to what the voters are saying. Good on you Chippie - a rarity, a truly honest and genuine politician.

Peter Huggard, Waiheke

Seeking a destination

I want to live in a country that takes care of all its citizens, treats all with fairness and equality, takes care of its aged and disabled, provides a good education for all, with good healthcare, gives all views respect, does not attack other countries, does not seek military domination, and has an enlightened workable attitude for the future of our planet. I am not sure which country that is.

Keith Duggan, Browns Bay

Little impact

Emma Mackintosh is worried we might lose our fight to survive. I expect everyone is worried. But our survival doesn’t depend on the measures we take in our own tiny country. Our survival depends on the actions of the major ‘climate change’ countries - China, US, India, UK. We can show a good attitude, but any reduction in our emissions will have a negligible effect on climate change.

Chris Elias, Mission Bay

Science curriculum

The outrage by teachers and academics against the draft proposal of the new science curriculum as outlined in the editorial (Herald on Sunday, July 9) needs to be addressed. Apparently the new guiding document contains no mention of physics, chemistry and biology but is being described as “at the cutting edge”. It really will need to be as it is yet another concern to add to the problems recently highlighted in this country with regard to education such as high truancy rates, low numeracy and literacy rates and teacher strikes for better pay and conditions. Perhaps the sector needs to recruit, train and retain great teachers. This is done by recognising those who are passionate about their profession, who are highly qualified and who are rewarded and respected for their efforts in a challenging environment. However, as a teacher for many years, I see highly qualified men and women already doing amazing things with our students but not given the reward and respect they deserve. That leads to poor morale and low retention rates in any profession. This will only exacerbate the problems in the education sector.

Bernard Walker, Papamoa

Green policies

As Heather du Plessis-Allan writes (Herald on Sunday, July 9), Green voters are unhappy with their party’s current policies and direction. You would think that being Green and in favour of the environment would be the easiest political sell in New Zealand. Real Green policies would include dealing with forestry slash, stopping bottom trawling in the Hauraki Gulf, stop building on flood plains, leading the cry for better water, waste water and transport systems. But no. The NZ Greens cannot help themselves but waste time and effort on social engineering which they know nothing about. This is why the Green vote will collapse this election. No NZ party explains climate change and how to achieve mitigation in an acceptable timeframe.

Gary Carter, Gulf Harbour

Limited improvements

After reading Trade Minister Damien O’Connor’s puff piece on the NZ-EU Free Trade Agreement (Herald on Sunday July 9), you have to ask: So, what’s in it for the other guy? To find out, we need to go to the European Union website, and see how they are selling the deal to their constituency. And there it all is - level playing field stuff: equal treatment for EU investors in NZ; equal access to NZ government procurement contracts; non-discriminatory competition law treatment, and so on. Well, given the failings of free trade and level playing fields revealed by the GFC and Covid, I believe we should query this. A sovereign country should be able to put the interests of its own farmers, firms and workers first – as, of course, the EU implacably does with its farmers. Our vaunted trade negotiators should be given a more demanding brief than selling short our sovereignty in exchange for what are very limited improvements in access for our exporters.

Tim Hazledine, Emeritus Professor of Economics at the University of Auckland