National leader Christopher Luxon unveils a new crime policy during a press conference in central Auckland. Photo / Alex Burton
Order in the court
Christopher Luxon is not correct when he claims the laws, particularly those addressing gangs, need strengthening - but I can well understand why his words resonate so strongly with the community. The laws as they stand are quite adequate but the failure of the Government to provide the police with adequate resources to effectively enforce those laws, and the absolute failure of the courts to administer those laws in the interest of the community, is the real issue. The latter is probably the key to the problem. We are told from the bench that a conviction and possibly a jail sentence might restrict their plans to travel to represent their country or their desire to become a lawyer - but surely those are the very people we do not wish to represent us or become part of our legal system? Another 1800 sworn officers would be a good start, followed by parliamentary advice to the judiciary to the effect that if they continue to treat the citizens of this country with contempt, the alternative might be the removal of their discretion and the imposition of minimum sentences, including mandatory jail time for major crimes.
Rod Lyons, Kumeū.
Mob justice
Shane Jones decries joining mobs (NZ Herald, June 20). But a perusal of the points he raises and solutions he offers pretty much look like a plea to join the National Party mob post-election. Not too much original in his rhetoric, seems we have heard it all before from Christopher Luxon and his gang.
Neil Anderson, Algies Bay.
Wayward cows
Tony Sullivan (NZ Herald, June 21) writes that in times of low private spending, the Government should take up the slack and spend more. This is true but is only one half of it. The other half is that when the private sector booms, the Government should curtail its own spending. For that, you can wait until the cows come home.
K H Peter Kammler, Warkworth.
Slippery slope
I hope our Commerce Commission is vetting the ownership implications of the Ruapehu skifield liquidation talks to prevent a decrease in competition among skifield operators. Competition will suffer if the liquidation results in closing Ruapehu. Instead, the assets must be made available at low cost so a new, competing entrepreneur can make a go of it. More insidious would be our other skifield operators buying into a newly-established skifield company. This would enable collusion to reduce competition. Creditors, especially banks, no strangers to the exercise of monopoly power, love the latter because having monopoly power enhances borrower creditworthiness.
Robert Myers, Auckland Central.
Restoring fairness
National and Act express indignation at new rules for DHBs, which make ethnicity one criteria for ranking patients’ access to medical treatments. National’s health spokesman says “race should have no place in surgical priorities”, and says he will refuse to rank patients on ethnicity. Isn’t the whole point that somehow, without anybody realising it (except those who missed out), we have for many years let race play a part in medical decision-making, and have ranked patients on their ethnicity, to a significant degree, and the new rule is attempting to cancel racial favouritism? Two examples of existing unfairness, are that specialist appointments are less frequent for Māori, who also have to wait longer for them; and the percentage of Māori getting an operation for a hip fracture in the two days immediately after their admission (which is best practice), has steadily declined since 2013. Meanwhile, the percentage of non-Māori getting immediate surgery for a hip fracture has steadily improved. These situations are manifestly unfair. Let’s restore fairness, by means of new rules if necessary, as seems to be the case; and all push together for improved health treatment standards for everybody.
Jill Whitmore, Panmure.
Thinking process
I am dismayed and disappointed at the use of ethnicity as one of the criteria in assessing patients for surgery. Aside from ethical issues, giving advantage to Māori and Pasifika to adjust for a disparity, does not solve the problem of what caused the disparity in the first place. My concern is there isn’t enough priority on addressing why the surgery is needed. Rather than trying to compensate for poor health after people get sick, the priority needs to be on prevention. There is an abundance of evidence that poor diet = poor health. The biggest contributor to a poor diet is highly processed food. Highly processed food is the reason why diabetes, heart disease, and obesity are becoming a bigger problem in every developed country around the world. This is irrespective of ethnicity. Highly processed food makes up more than 60 per cent of the average American’s diet. Yet, despite spending more on healthcare than any other country, Americans have some of the poorest health outcomes. This is aptly demonstrated in an average life expectancy that has started going backward. If we reduce/eliminate highly processed food from our diet, we can all enjoy much better health.
Nigel Owen, Huntington.
Delivering results
Reading beyond the headlines and opportunistic politicking, we find that the Equity Adjuster Score applied in Auckland from February has been delivering fairer outcomes for Māori and Pasifika patients. If the bottom-ranked ethnicity criterion has made the difference, it suggests that unconscious bias was previously at play in prioritising operations. Meanwhile, it’s a bit rich for National Party health spokesman Dr Shane Reti to claim improving housing and the cost of living is the answer. National opposed the Healthy Homes Standard, an increased minimum wage, and many other policies aimed at improving the health and wellbeing of Kiwis including the most disadvantaged.
Michael Smythe, Northcote Pt.
Common methods
Banks and oil companies have one thing in common. Despite their multibillion-dollar year-on-year profits they are very, very quick to increase interest rates and petrol prices and equally very, very slow to reduce interest rates and petrol prices. Surprise, surprise.
Bruce Tubb, Devonport.
Under the law
Two interfacing pages (NZ Herald, June 17) were supposedly not connected but are they? One featured a man with a raft of dishonesty convictions who spent time in prison for carrying out extreme physical acts of cruelty on a child but who on release was able to still practice law. The other concerned a radio presenter who after being accused of, among other things, allegedly verbally undermining colleagues, purportedly lost her job. One can only conclude that acts of nonphysical abuse by adults have more repercussions than physically abusing a vulnerable 3-year-old child. Children, unlike adults, are powerless against those who abuse them. In the words of Laura Bond, executive director, Child Poverty Action Group at the time of the proposed abolition of the role of Children’s Commissioner: “Having a single independent voice to provide children with a clear champion is important.” Enough said.
Glennys Adams, Ōneroa.
Death and taxes
Regarding the Greens’ economic policy which Simon Wilson explained in depth (NZ Herald, June 20), one aspect of this policy caught my attention: the 2.5 per cent wealth tax on mortgage-free property worth over $2 million for an individual or $4m for a couple. This means that if a couple owns a mortgage-free house worth, for example, $3m, they pay no wealth tax. However, in this instance, if one partner dies, their total income is now halved if both were earning or both were on a pension. This leaves the survivor owning a mortgage-free house worth $3m but now with a new wealth tax bill of $25,000 a year. The survivor could take out a $1m mortgage to reduce the wealth tax to zero but the mortgage interest in this day and age would be more than $25,000. Realistically, the survivor will be forced to sell their family home. They lose their partner and their house all in one blow. Is this the aim of this wealth tax or is it an unintended consequence?
David Crickmer, Henderson Valley.
Fertile grounds
It’s good that the proposed 80-hectare Riverhead development has been rejected (Business Herald, June 20). It’s not good that a large part of it in orchards and gardens has already been approved for housing. This area has some of the country’s most fertile deep black soil, and surely the council should have taken this into consideration when rezoning was done. It is extremely shortsighted to approve urban sprawl with no regard to the ongoing food supply. It is well past the time for the Auckland Council and the mayor to scrutinise this issue, which also affects areas around Pukekohe, and realise that once deep fertile soil is covered up with houses and roads, it’s gone forever.
Dave Spiers, Henderson.
Poor choices
Poverty is a political choice, says Greens co-leader James Shaw. How right he is. Poverty is choosing not to take advantage of free contraception. Poverty is choosing to have children out of a committed, long-term relationship. Poverty is choosing to have more children than you can afford to feed, clothe, house and nurture. Poverty is choosing not to ensure your children attend school. Poverty is social workers and the Government choosing - for political and ideological reasons - not to stress these basic rules for escaping poverty.
W. Ross, Remuera.
On banks
Rather than the Government starting an inquiry into the banking industry due to excessive profitability, it would be better to see the banks call for an inquiry into Government financial incompetence. Garry Wycherley, Awakino.
On Foon
Pipe doon, Meng Foon. Mike Wagg, Freemans Bay.
On shares
As an initial shareholder who paid $1.76 per share, I am surprised by the excitement that My Food Bag shares had risen by 1.4 cents to a whopping $0.20 cents. Murray Reid, Cambridge. Pukeko
On promises
“We will not force councils to amalgamate,” promises the Minister of Local Government. Didn’t his predecessor make the same promise about Three Waters? Wendy Clark, Pukekohe.
On weather
Why are Tuesdays in Auckland always fine weather? Very strange as Wednesday, Thursday and Friday will have heavy rain, with showers on Saturday and Sunday to spoil another weekend like the last one and many before.
Murray Hunter, Titirangi.
Richard Prebble: You’re not alone feeling negative about the economy
A large part of the reason New Zealand went into recession is extravagant Government spending on consultants and projects that are over budget, or sheer wasteful. Kiwis want the basics attended to. Potholes fixed, not flash vanity projects. Not co-governance but an equal playing field for all people. Honesty and commonsense communication and responsibility, not political spin nonsense. David F.
One of the greatest mistakes has been judging the current Government’s policies and programmes based solely on their intentions and how they sound, rather than evaluating their inevitable outcomes. As we face challenging times, we must seize the opportunity to make difficult decisions that will ultimately result in better outcomes for all New Zealanders. This opportunity presents itself in October, and it is crucial that we make the most of it. Will G.
Richard’s weekly doom and gloom article. When Christopher Luxon said NZ was “wet and whiny”, I immediately thought it was because he spends all his time talking to old conservatives for whom the sky is always falling. I have old conservatives in my life too, my older family, and we always have to brace ourselves for the flood of complaints when we visit. But I also work with young people and have young clients for whom New Zealand is a great place - and they are busy working and having fun here. And a lot of my old friends aren’t negative either. That is not to say we are not in a bad place, economically. But so is everyone else. I read a UK article the other day talking about mortgage defaults, inflation and the fact exports had declined 20 per cent. Everywhere has inflation problems. Everyone borrowed during Covid. But our overseas debt is tiny compared to everyone else and we still have a triple-A credit rating. We aren’t out yet. And based on polls, not everyone thinks it’s all Labour. Ross W.
The usual slander around “old conservatives”. I see them as people who care deeply about their country and are horrified at the way it has been vandalised since 2017. Can you please stop with the “we are doing so well compared to everyone else” narrative? This is meaningless. Our triple-A rating is under enormous threat right now. Tony M.
Auckland Airport is the first in the country to have LED lights for low visibility landings. Video / Auckland Airport