Work clearing forestry slash pinned against the Gisborne Gladstone Road Bridge. Photo / Grant Bradley
Letter of the week: Timber harvesting change needed
The devastating floods on the East Coast, and the cycle of land degradation that will continue to unfold , if nothing is done, can only be mitigated by changing our timber harvesting practices. Currently New Zealand’s timber industry is locked into a low value, high volume, economic model that requires pine plantations growing on steep hillsides to be clear felled, to be economically profitable, leaving slash covered hills exposed to erosion, and the inevitable downstream flooding, and destruction of fertile farmlands, communities, and coastal environments. Clearly this situation is both ecologically, and economically unsustainable. Central, and local government, Industry, and stakeholders need to urgently develop initiatives that move us away from our over reliance on exporting raw logs. Adding value to our timber resources by investing in our wood manufacturing capacity, and developing overseas markets for a NZ brand of products. By adding value we can switch away from environmentally destructive clear cutting, to low impact selective logging , that preserves soils, and better absorbs rainfall. We must adapt our economic practices to harmonize within the limits set by nature, or face the consequences. Sean Jenner, Waitākere
Visions and questions from letter
Rene Blezer’s letter “Time to look after the law-abiding” (Herald on Sunday, May 28) conjured up a vision of something no-one would want to see, but it left me with a question, “Was the phone, once retrieved, answered?” Lorraine Kidd, Warkworth
Means test
The policies of both the Labour and National parties on the starting age for New Zealand Super can be met fairly easily by simply reintroducing a means test for those applying for the pension at age 65 years. Those with an investment income or assets which provide say $30K to $50K pa would not be eligible for the full pension and those exceeding this sum would simply be ineligible. The stupidity of politicians in not reintroducing a means test simply defies logic. Bruce Woodley, Birkenhead
Enough ministers?
As it seems likely that Jan Tinetti will join the long list of Labour government ministers that will be dismissed, if found guilty of misleading Parliament, one wonders whether the Labour Government will have enough members of ministerial capability to last the next five months at this rate of defections, or whether Megan Woods will collapse under the weight of yet another portfolio before the October election. Gary Carter, Gulf Harbour
Chance to shine
Perhaps the answer to Mayor Wayne Brown’s lack of empathy, trust and cohesiveness in his relationships with his councillors could be for all concerned (including admin staff) with the running of Auckland, take a month’s leave in retaliation for his aggressive and uncalled for hissy fits. Brown believes he’s the only one who has the solution to Auckland’s woes. He’s an engineer. Apparently this qualifies him to take control of an entire city’s governance. Let’s give him the chance to shine. On his own. Surely he deserves nothing less. Jeremy Coleman, Hillpark
No shares mandate
Mayor Brown did not campaign on selling the airport shares and more Aucklanders support retaining them than selling them. Let’s be clear, there is no mandate to sell the airport shares. But he should be supported sorting out the bureaucracy. Rather than providing balanced advice, officers have become zealous advocates for the share sale. That’s what needs sorting. When the sugar-hit of the sale passes, what next, Auckland’s golf courses? We’re told that the airport shares must be sold. There’s another scenario. In 2021 actual depreciation and amortisation was $1,006 million. In the budget consultation document its $1,268 million. That’s a $262 million hit on opex in two years. That there has been such a big depreciation adjustment in the same year that airport shares sale is being so strongly advocated is no coincidence. The Local Government Act does not provide a direct legal requirement to “fund depreciation”, rather councils must be prudent in the setting of funding levels. It would be quite prudent for Council to adopt a more regular figure for depreciation for 2023/24 rather than selling the shares, to continue sorting out council bureaucracy, and get fresh advice for the next Long Term Planning round next year. Greg McKeown, Mt Eden
Wise spending
It is the Government’s responsibility to ensure that taxpayers’ monies are spent wisely and prudently; spent on projects that meet a need (not a want), that will be highly beneficial to a large percentage of the county’s population. How do bilingual road signs meet this criteria? Philip Lenton, Somerville
Sign of prominence
I do not see the fuss over English and te reo Māori being used for road signage, but I do have a problem with the use of te reo Māori first and English underneath, which suggests that English is not New Zealand’s prominent language. We teach children from an early age to read from left to right and to look at a written notice from top to bottom. Road signs should be displayed using the same format. We might consider that overseas tourists will need to observe an important sign quickly while driving. English, in most cases, should be even slightly larger to avoid the possibility of a health and safety issue. Neil Jenkins, Auckland
Excellent unused service
Every 10 minutes from 4.30am to 40 minutes past midnight, seven days a week, a bus leaves Puhinui train station and goes direct, non-stop to the airport. The Southern Line and Eastern Line trains connect to that Puhinui airport bus. I wonder if any MP or Auckland City councillor has ever once used this excellent service to get to the airport. I suspect hardly any of them even know it exists. When I’ve taken this service myself, I have often been the only passenger on the bus. The trip takes 54 minutes, and it is never held up because of congestion or other traffic problems. It costs $2.61 per adult until fares double at the end of this month, when it will be $5.22 per adult, and $1.48 per child until the end of June – again it will double to $2.96. Seniors are free of course, after 9am. There are several reasons why so few people use this service. People who land at the airport have no idea that they have this excellent transport option. If by some chance a traveller heard about this excellent service to the city there would still be no way to use it because there is nowhere at the airport to buy an AT HOP card. Buses do not take cash or credit card. This has to be one of the best examples of how not to run a service that I have seen. Set up an incredibly expensive, very efficient Airport–City system, then make sure you’ve made it virtually impossible for anyone to use it. I wonder about the billion-dollar Light Rail to Airport project. Does anyone promoting it even know we already have rail + bus to the airport? Considering the enormous disruption that this project will cause over many, many years, and considering the vast cost, shouldn’t we all be seriously questioning it? Set up kiosks at the airport, to begin with, selling prepaid AT cards, where the card is free, and the cost is exclusively for travel. Put big signs everywhere. Make it easy and cheap. We could well find that the Light Rail project dies a quiet death along with all the other “Think Big” wasteful ideas that have come and gone. Susan Grimsdell, Auckland Central
Statistically worse
I’m sure that all of those businesses robbed or ram-raided recently will be comforted by the knowledge that crime was statistically worse under a previous National government. A wiser man than me once said something like: there are lies, damn lies and statistics that can prove or disprove anything that you may choose to use them for. James Archibald, Birkenhead
Armed police stood guard as the patched members were led out in handcuffs.