Letters: Specialist shortage, wealth tax, housing, construction, China, and income insurance

The road to mental wellness is not assisted by difficulties getting into study, says one writer. Photo / John Borren, File

Opinion

Training beyond reach
It's very distressing to see the rise in children with severe mental health problems unable to access treatment, amid a shortage of specialist mental health professionals (NZ Herald, May 30). But here's another consideration - reviewing the pathway to become one.
I inquired with Auckland University after considering training as a clinical psychologist. With 20 years of nursing experience; an excellent clinical record; and an A average in post-grad health science, I thought I'd have a good chance. I was told it was extremely difficult to get in and unlikely without a full bachelor's degree in psychology (despite clinical mental health experience). Only eight places exist for training health psychologists and 20 for clinical, including quotas. Additionally, there is no option for part-time training. They said the course is "well in excess of 40 hours per week", and to do this with a family you would need "a high level of support".
I have two similarly experienced peers who were told the same, who then retrained in different fields.
Time to rethink this? How about part-time training for those with other commitments and recognition of post-graduate research in other areas, even if that pathway is given a different title? How about allowing more students?
Professional closure can't come at the expense of our tamariki and rangatahi. Time for a change.
Name and address withheld.

Poor excuses
David Morris's contribution (NZ Herald, May 30) is an example of how you think depending on where you sit in society. It is difficult to comprehend if one has been educated and had good jobs, a house, etc, why others who seemingly have the same opportunities reside in poverty.
Unfortunately, it is not as easy. The $100,000 truck drivers' jobs don't really exist.
Although the rich may have worked hard for their wealth, profits came in the main from the working man.
All governments and society have a responsibility to relieve poverty, regardless of why people sit there. It may not be right to increase tax for the rich but they won't move onto the poverty list. One can either have a conscience or not.
Reg Dempster, Albany.

House whine
New Zealand doesn't have and never has had a housing shortage. What it does have is a fraternity of lock-up-and-leave investors taking advantage of the banks' low-interest rates to buy up houses for capital gains rather than invest in the banks' pathetic interest on savings.
There are 40,000 such dwellings in Auckland alone, a high proportion of them are apartments that are either kept empty or used for only two or three weeks a year by long-distance commuters.
All of the above has been deliberately engineered by the Reserve Bank.
When governments cry about a housing shortage crisis that they have deliberately engineered often to feather their mates and their own nests, we have a clear as it gets case of crocodile tears.
Jacinda Ardern may not think its a problem but she isn't a first home buyer
Gary Hollis, Mellons Bay.

Taking stock
Your correspondent Dr Papert (NZ Herald, May 30) claims the Prime Minister is spreading misinformation in the USA about our gun laws.
The simple fact is that the young man who committed this outrage in Texas could not have legally purchased the AR-15 assault rifle he used in New Zealand. Following the Christchurch massacre, our Parliament banned military-style semi-automatic weapons and assault rifles.
The law change had almost unanimous support.
The Prime Minister's comments have been entirely accurate.
Alan Masters, Mt Roskill.

Material evidence
Mark Nixon (NZ Herald, May 30), blames private businesses for the Government's lack of progress on the housing crisis. It is not the responsibility of the construction sector to ensure the Government has building materials for its projects.
The Government could have sourced materials from anywhere in the world, just like it did with air purifiers for schools, in which it ignored local suppliers who could have installed the units at a cheaper price and more efficiently.
Instead, it went to South Korea for these. Many schools are still waiting for air purifiers to be installed.
Looks like this Government is that hopeless.
Mark Young, Ōrewa.

Farewell, Samoa
There must be a cost to those countries for electing to take the lollies being handed out by the Chinese to strip the Pacific islands of both fish, and their traditional alignment with New Zealand, Australia, and the US.
The Samoan Government must understand that access to New Zealand for Samoans will now have to be realigned to recognise the alliance with China. Access to New Zealand taxpayer-funded healthcare, for example, or welfare benefits for non-citizens of New Zealand must now be shut down. China will now have to step into that breach. That is what aligning your country with China means for your citizens (and voters).
Nanaia Mahuta must resign for this total failure in her management of the relationships with our closest Pacific neighbours. She has been asleep at the wheel.
Roger Hawkins, Herne Bay.

Incoming missile
This income insurance scheme being pushed through with urgency is coming at a cost of $3.5 billion dollars plus to employers/employees at a time neither are in a strong position to afford.
Ironically this is coming at a time of basically full employment and a serious skills shortage.
I know of a couple of people who if this goes through are considering manufacturing a redundancy out of their employer for the purposes of a career break - but I think that was hardly the purpose of the scheme. It's madness.
Elliot Lord, Pt Chevalier.

Road to ruin
More roads are needed, says the AA (NZ Herald, May 27). Time and again we've seen expanded roads quickly filled by relentless car-buying.
The real solution to Auckland's traffic gridlock is more expensive petrol, with the brilliant side benefit of reduced emissions, very important today. Congestion charges will be a step in the right direction.
It seems there are too many people getting jobs too far from where they live. We simply must get used to a little extra travel time on cheap, low-stress, buses. I'm now retired, but I did it daily, rain or shine, for many years, reading on the bus, leaving two cars at home, and walking at both ends of the bus ride.
Jim Carlyle, Te Atatū Peninsula.

High rode
The AA should rebrand as "Autoholics Anonymous", demanding ever more roading investment to free up gridlock in Auckland.
This is a return to pre-Covid single-loop thinking encouraging more people into a 15-year-old, 1500kg personal chariot to clog up any billion dollar road network upgrade.
Sorry to the high priesthood worshippers of tarmac, we have an existential (not future) climate crisis that will submerge our shoreline roads. Tāmaki Drive commuters will need to resort to submarines, not SUVs. Perhaps the AA can start courses for submariner training or, for the less well-resourced, snorkelling?
We're on a narrow isthmus and busily infilling every green space to accommodate more people and cars. Where will our flora and fauna live? Will there be a break in the traffic for a person strolling in the evening to actually cross the suburban street?
A solution already exists. Get a smaller chariot and use it when only necessary and share it with others, use public transport (which is really good) or personally-powered transport (walking, cycling). Don't let your boss drag you back to the office because s/he self-doubts their own utility.
H D Brown, Blockhouse Bay.

Spreading chaos
Auckland Transport does not have a monopoly on anti-car bloody-mindedness. Here in Tauranga multiple roadworks are causing traffic chaos, resulting in what is usually a 10-minute journey taking up to an hour and a half.
Instead of completing one job before moving on to the next, they are closing many streets at the same time. In addition, a residential street has been converted into a bus lane, further exacerbating problems and ludicrously imposing $150 fines on residents who have no other means of access.
With petrol now around $3 a litre, the extra cost to motorists is horrendous, not to mention the negative impact on air pollution.
Ray Gilbert, Papamoa Beach.

Timely arrest
As a resident of Mt Albert and a regular user of the beautiful walking track where a foul murder of a young man occurred recently, I am moved to write this letter to thank the police units involved most sincerely for their incredibly efficient handling of the attack. Within 24 hours, an individual had been named as a person of interest and a day later an arrest had been made.
The expertise exhibited by the police in this case cannot be praised highly enough and I am confident that I am expressing the sincere appreciation of the local community for the speedy resolution of this foul deed and the restoration of the reputation of Mt Albert as a safe and caring suburb of Auckland.
Dr Tom Miller, Mt Albert.

Short & sweet

On Ardern
What a fantastic achievement from the girl from Morrinsville to represent the best of New Zealand's soul to the "most powerful" in their grief. Mark McLaughlin, Ruawai

On China
China is welcome to the micro-kleptocracies of the South Pacific. No loss to New Zealand.
CC McDowall, Rotorua.

On taxation
Kushlan Sugathapala's comments (NZH, May 27) on our tax system are so sensible, I wonder that successive Governments continue to ignore the obvious. P Grant, Hamilton.

Thank you to Kushlan Sugathapala for his piece on taxation (NZH, May 27). The Labour Government, that I voted in, needs to make the changes outlined. Belinda Freeman, Hamilton.

On heritage
Perhaps it's a good time to remind people that one of the tourist drawcards for Auckland was its unique, wooden Victorian and Edwardian houses. Only San Francisco has anything similar, I believe. Annette Stewart, Greenlane.

On rugby
Apparently, just like the America's Cup, the All Blacks will be domiciled in Spain. Tell me it ain't so. Mark Holms, Mt Roskill.

The Premium Debate

Funding of child mental health services 'has not kept pace'

Maybe what might also be useful is some discussion around what is making the mental health of the youth so bad. Funding for treatment services is one thing and is absolutely essential but maybe some fences on top of cliffs as well as ambulances at the bottom would be a good idea. James W.

I thought Labour allocated $1.9 billion for mental health in 2019? Where did all the money go? John G.

Support other initiatives such as Mike King's programmes. As he points out so often, our mental health system funnels thousands of kids into a very limited number of experts - hence the long and pointless waiting list, when in the majority of times, kids just need a first responder type person to deal with the immediate crisis. As King also points out, the system is like having Formula One mechanics performing spark plug changes for family cars. Some common sense from our bureaucracies would be a wonderful thing. Gavin L.

I think it is time for Andrew Little to give an itemised account of what the $1.9b was spent on. Mathilde T.

There has never ever been much funding for mental health. What the young face now has been faced by those with mental health issues for years. I suffer from Bipolar II, although I have been lucky enough to keep my head above water and hold down a life and a job. When I was diagnosed by the public system, I was put on a two-year waiting list to see a psychologist. So I went through the private system at great expense. I also used to attend a weekly get-together with a group of about 30 or so people with bipolar in the local community hall once a week. While this was a great initiative, we were unable to get any funding from the DHB or government. What many don't realise is that investment in mental health is worth it. People with mental health conditions can live productive healthy lives if they have the right help, which does not in many cases need to be that much. However, if they don't get help they can end up taking their own lives or destroying other peoples lives. Laurence S.