What may actually halt the Three Waters reforms? Photo / Neil Reid, File
Still waters
Standard and Poor’s recent decision to pause further consideration of indicative adjustments to New Zealand’s local authority and sovereign credit ratings, because of uncertainty and inadequate information about the practical details of the proposed Three Waters is what could ultimately sink the reforms. To work, the Three Waters reforms are reliant on access to enormous amounts of international debt financing at a reasonable cost. Standard and Poor’s has flagged that, among other things, it is concerned about a lack of clarity regarding what assets are to be transferred and when, whether or not councils would receive payments in return for their assets, and how large any such payments would be, how much legacy debt councils would be left to carry and how the potentially 1200+ Te Mana o te Wai statements from iwi and hapu would work in practice without overwhelming the water services entities and adding massively to costs. These questions are pretty fundamental to be still outstanding this late in the day. Standard and Poor’s decision to pause rating consideration will draw attention to these thorny questions and spook international creditors, which in all likelihood will bring the whole complex juggernaut to a grinding halt. ‘
Ross Weenink, Karori.
Flow-on effects
The Prime Minister talks about increased costs for Aucklanders. The fact is Auckland’s Watercare has done and is doing a great job and, under the Three Waters model, we will end up subsidising others who have not done well. Water services are an absolute primary responsibility of any council. The cost of upgrading all of the Three Waters varies with catchment, locality and population density and that is just the way it is. But the really insidious thing is the co-governance agenda that is undemocratic and results in a huge hollowing out of the council’s balance sheet with loss of control and autonomy. Wayne Brown understands this.
Doug Armstrong, former chair, Watercare Shareholders Group, Glendowie.
Dazzling logic
Rebecca Howard (NZ Herald, October 24) suggests we should stimulate our economy so much that supply growth outpaces demand, causing prices to stop rising and perhaps even fall. This is a variation of the Laffer reasoning among Republicans in the US that lowering taxes stimulates so much extra GDP growth that tax collections rise. There is no evidence whatsoever that this will actually happen. But failure will markedly exacerbate inflation. As Liz Truss discovered, you can dazzle conservative voters with this bogus logic, but not financial markets.
Robert Myers, Auckland Central.
Fairer pay
P J Edmondson (NZ Herald, October 24) extols the virtues of the Employment Contracts Act 1991. It’s been the Employment Relations Act since 2000 but it was originally formulated, by National to give employers full control of setting terms and conditions in employment negotiations. It was virtually “take it or leave it” for job applicants as National deregulated workers’ rights by suppressing their unions. Consequently since 1991 New Zealand has developed, and doggedly maintained, its low-wage, low-productivity reputation and performance, which identifies us to this day. Labour’s Fair Pay Agreements Bill sets the stage for New Zealand to shatter that dismal and disparaging reputation, ensuring considerably more equitable and productive work relations will be pursued by both employers and employees. Higher productivity will be the welcome and valuable outcome of the fairer wage levels and working conditions that will result from this Bill’s enactment. Clyde Scott, Birkenhead.
Village vacancies
It is interesting to read (NZ Herald, October 25) that residents who move out of retirement villages expect a refund from their dwelling place immediately. They may have left the village/apartment but until it sells there is often no money available to be released. There have been several situations lately where the resident has left and is still waiting for a refund for the premises. Sadly, sometimes they have to wait until the residence is sold which is what happens in most cases with a family home. It is a huge learning curve going into retirement villages, but it is always a good idea to read the small print with a lawyer and accountant before purchasing into any village. Retirement villages are great, but like all things in life we must plan and be aware of what we are going into.
Marilyn Cure, Pāpāmoa.
Cone craziness
Simon Wilson makes some good points about orange cones (NZ Herald, October 25) but misses the main one. Most reasonable folk are moved to near mutiny with the excess of cones and often no visible action. It would seem an industry has sprung up just to move cones onto and off the road, even stop lights are used where none are really needed. I have just returned from a road trip around South Australia where it was refreshing to see a single cone warning of two workers repairing the road, followed by another single cone. To be fair, this was on a fairly quiet country road. Drivers slowed down and gave them a wide berth; happy to see actual repair being done. In New Zealand, it would seem cones are put out to make driving more difficult, many times no workers are present. Near my home, for 10m of work, it seems 100m of cones are needed across an uninvolved intersection. How did it get to this? Have the safety concerns overtaken common sense? Were the rules designed by a committee with vested anti-car/pro cone interests?
Wolf Schmahl, Eastern Beach.
Costly extension
Auckland Council has proposed two options for the Leys Institute restoration. Option one ($18.8 million) includes seismic remediation, heritage restoration, and an extension between the Leys Institute and the gym. This also requires some extra funding, possibly a “targeted rate”. The second option ($13.8m) includes seismic remediation and the extension but no heritage restoration. I suggest a third option: seismic remediation and heritage restoration, the cost of which will be less than either of the two proposed options. I hope our new mayor gets involved with this and cuts the profligate spending that is proposed, as it appears to me to be a good example of the council not caring about spending ratepayers’ money. If the persons involved in the two proposed options want the extension then they should be the ones to pay for it, not the ratepayers they consider cash cows.
Rick Vine, Ponsonby.
Raised concern
I’m mystified at what is to me obviously an unnecessary and vehicle emission-increasing action by Auckland Transport on Pah Rd. The building of a traffic light-controlled pedestrian crossing is no doubt justified by the large volumes of traffic making it difficult to safely cross a four-lane road – I have no difficulty accepting that. What absolutely gobsmacks me though is why it is necessary to make the pedestrian crossing a raised one – meaning that all traffic travelling this arterial road will have to slow from the 50km/h speed limit to around 20km/h every time. This is completely unnecessary from a safety perspective as traffic will have a red light when someone wants to cross the road. Many hundreds of vehicles every day, having to slow and then reaccelerate (uphill in one direction); that’s just causing more fossil fuels to be burnt.
Gordon Peel, Hillsborough.
Ticket to ride
During the school holidays I decided to take my 7-year-old old grandson on the train from Britomart to Sylvia Park. I wished to purchase a return train ticket for him from the manned ticket booth at Britomart. The first problem was that I could not purchase a return ticket, only a one-way ticket! What? I was advised I could purchase the return ticket at Sylvia Park. the second problem was my attempts to purchase his return ticket at Sylvia Park were met with great frustrations as, although the ticket machine indicated to pay with either my credit card or Eftpos, it would not accept my payment. So guess what? He travelled for free. Surely someone in authority needs to question why one cannot purchase a return ticket at the start of their journey. It appears AT is deliberately trying to make things difficult for commuters and then wonders why people aren’t using its services. Well, we are using the services, we just aren’t paying for them because you make it too difficult. AT appear to have lost any common sense that they may have ever had.
Brenda Barnes, St Heliers.
Scrum power
Over many years I have been a great admirer of Argentine forward play, especially their scrummaging. In the 1995 World Cup in South Africa TV commentators and journalists all remarked on the power and precision of the Argentine scrum, though none of them appeared to know why it was so good. Their scrum power came from the fact that Argentina still packed the old South African scrum style, with the locks holding their props by the outside hip grip, and the flankers pushing in on an angle to help keep the props in place. In the 1999 and 2003 World Cups, the Argentine scrum was again the best by a wide margin, including six pushover tries in two games in 2003. Two were penalty tries, which require a tight and correctly packed scrum in which the front-row props must be able to keep their opposing props in place. Once Argentina shifted to packing on the inside leg of the prop, their scrums degraded to the same level as everyone else. If the Black Ferns adopt the old style, it might help counter the significant challenges they will face in the later stages of the tournament.
Richard Bruce, Red Beach.
On defence
Who would join the NZDF to earn $6k over minimum wage per year? Mark Young, Ōrewa.
On fuel
Who would have thought the day would come that a diesel car was more expensive to run than a six-litre V8? John Ford, Taradale.
Maybe now would be a good time to remove the road user charges. The decreased revenue would give an excuse for not fixing the potholes. Chris Elias, Mission Bay.
On Letele
I admire Dave Letele, who has asked police if the person arrested for the robbery of his foodbank can serve community service working at the foodbank. The Ministry of Justice could learn a great deal from him. Margaret Neill, Matamata.
On politics
The demise of Boris Johnson and Liz Truss is a clear message to New Zealanders not to trust politicians whose policies consist of repetitive slogans. Roger Laybourn, Hamilton.
On farms
Farmers have far bigger things to worry about than taxes. Artificial meat could wipe out NZ’s sheep, chicken, and beef industries within the next decade. Paul Henson, Taupō.
On wealth
Congratulations on running John Gascoigne’s expose (NZH, Oct. 25). Norway’s wealth fund is one trillion dollars while each Kiwi owes $140,000. I wonder if our politicians have better superannuation? Gerry O’Meeghan, Papamoa.
Business owners hit by rising wages, loss of consumer confidence
We have a Government that assumes all business owners are rich and making high profits while employees must be put first. Michael Wood and Jacinda Ardern are bent on wealth redistribution at the cost of all businesses regardless of whether they are sole traders, employ five, 50, 500 or 5000 and regardless of whether they can afford it. At the end of the day, it will be the poorest and the middle-earners who suffer the most, although the poorest will be looked after via the welfare system. Labour’s doctrine is fatally flawed and NZ is suffering as a result. Phillay P.
This has always been a worry for NZ as we have a higher percentage of small businesses than other countries. It may also put the government’s narrative of greedy, rich and mean business owners to rest. At what cost though? Potter O.
Basically, the Government and all employees think the owners of small businesses are killing it. Well, in 2023 they will find out the truth when they are on the dole queue. Ross W.
Employees are not the enemy Ross; seriously what an appalling statement. Dianne M.
Perhaps we are seeing evidence that we have too many small businesses trying to service a diminishing customer base. So perhaps some of those struggling small business owners need to give up and go work for another more successful business that can’t find staff. That’s how the market economy is supposed to work. Not propping up failing businesses with Government subsidies. Colin J.
Strange how all the “anti-Labour government " commentators have come out of the woodwork. Do they really believe that things would be any different under any of the other political parties? Look at the UK under the Tories. Rampant hyper-inflation, labour shortages, fuel cost increases... sound familiar? Look at Australia and USA - food costs and fuel prices are through the roof. Labour shortages. It’s happening world wide people; open your eyes and your minds. Vanessa V.
