'An engaged and well-informed electorate and quality political debate are essential for a successful democracy.' Photo / Mark Mitchell
LETTER OF THE WEEK
We are facing a troubled political era unless we actively improve our democratic process. A fractured electorate has returned an equally fractured Parliament which is likely to lead to unstable government and an absence of long-term planning.
An engaged and well-informed electorate and quality political debate are essential for a successful democracy. Short-term thinking, ill-informed debate and claims of “mandates” which don’t stack up create an ugly, increasingly divided society.
Parliament, with its adversarial format, cannot remedy this problem single-handedly. But a better informed public discourse certainly can, particularly when it comes to big complex questions, such as our system of government, or our need for a constitution , or the role and purpose of the Treaty of Waitangi in our law. We have so much to decide, and the danger of social unrest is real if it’s done badly.
Media obviously has an important role, but the advent of fake news and social media post-truth memes have made their job more difficult.
Citizens’ assemblies have lifted the quality of public discourse and have informed better legislation in a number of countries. In Ireland, they have helped to peacefully reform their constitution . We should learn from this country with so many similarities to our own. We must find a better method of making progress towards a well-governed country, and citizens’ assemblies have much to offer us.
V M Fergusson, Mt Eden.
What about National Service?
Isn’t the answer for falling New Zealand Defence Force numbers (NZ Herald, January 3) fairly easy to resolve? While I don’t agree with all youngsters being forced into two years’ “National Service”, surely it is a far better option for the young unemployed who would otherwise be receiving an unemployment benefit?
The old saying that the devil finds work for idle hands is also a truism. If boot camps are a short-term possibility for the younger lawbreakers, at 18, the services must also be a viable option. A win-win surely?
I know spells in the RAF rescued two of my uncles from a lifetime down the local coal mine. It gave one a career as a baker and the other as an R&D engineer for a large local employer. My dad was in the Royal Signals and learned all about fixing radios amongst other things and was able to use that knowledge in a part-time (paid) capacity in addition to his chosen profession.
We wouldn’t be lumbering our problems on the services, but the disciplines wouldn’t do many any harm.
Ray Green, Birkenhead.
Unsafe drivers
I recently travelled to the Bay of Islands from Auckland. With the recent new roads that have been built it is now a much safer road and as a result there should be fewer road accidents.
However, one thing I did notice is some people seem to feel that they have to pass all of the cars in front of them, no matter how fast the cars in front are going. Even when I was driving at 100km/h there were one or two drivers desperate to get past, often passing when approaching corners where there could easily have been a truck coming the other way.
Until such drivers learn to drive at the legal maximum speed and overcome their desire to pass every car in front of them, there will always be road accidents. There needs to be more highway patrol cars catching these unsafe drivers who place other road users at risk.
David Mairs, Glendowie.
Learning from the Danes
The British royalty could take a leaf out of the Danish royalty’s book with the recent actions they have taken to pare back operational excesses and unnecessary traditions, such as are apparent in the UK system.
The first was the removal of titles from more peripheral members of the family. This created a kerfuffle at the time but has not been reversed. Now the queen has abdicated in time for her successor to take over before he gets too old. But most significant and admirable of all, is the planned no-frills, no-fuss coronation process. The Danes don’t expect the sky to fall on their heads as a consequence. Traditional elements of the monarchy which remain can still be rolled out for the tourists.
Instead, Britain (and by association, New Zealand) has an elderly eccentric monarch, who had an ostentatious expensive coronation, retaining ridiculous pageantry, and members of the royal family who still have their snouts in the trough.
While we are thinking about it, here in New Zealand, why don’t we ditch our association with an expensive anachronism which is the British monarchy?
Marion Howie, Epsom.
20-year plan needed
Mike Baker raises many salient points about New Zealand’s balance of payments deficits (NZ Herald letters, January 1), and that the $30 billion deficit is a drain on a struggling economy long-term. However, solutions post-Covid may require at least a 20-year and beyond plan.
Whilst tourism provides approximately 3 per cent of our GDP, there is a chronic shortage of skilled labour in the hospitality industry and it’s difficult to find and retain qualified staff. Add a net migration gain of 128,8000, and the tourist centres, particularly Queenstown, suffer from an acute shortage of affordable housing for workers. As for balancing the import/export paradigm, we are 20 years behind in infrastructure planning and demographic resolutions addressing population increases in our major cities. One of the results: we import inferior Indonesian coal to power businesses and homes, whilst exporting most of the premium bituminous coal that other countries value because of its cleaner burn and lower ash content. Ethically, somewhat of a clean fuel conundrum, but at least the level of imported coal has dropped to its lowest level in 22 years, and the previous government’s investment in the Decarbonisation Industry Fund has positively impacted our industrial reliance on coal.
Marie Kaire’s excellent letter of the week (Weekend Herald, December 30) also highlights the need for a long-term sustainable plan and a bipartisan political party construct. Realistically, a two or three-term government may not be able to ameliorate all these issues, but it’s possible there can be cross party co-operation to achieve a long-term plan. We needn’t be the “too little, too late” country, because we are lucky that we haven’t reached the parlous state the US is in, with a huge political divide hampering any meaningful legislation. All we need is determination and courage and perhaps a touch of humility, to resolve these problems, and New Zealand has never been short of any of those attributes.
Mary Hearn, Glendowie.
Australian prices
I do not contest Suzanne Chetwin’s valid criticism of our supermarket duopoly, but she does herself few favours by complaining about the price of an ultimate luxury like raspberries (has she ever attempted to pick, let alone pack a delicate soft fruit like a raspberry) without drawing sensible comparisons.
We visit close relatives with children in Victoria and join them in shopping regularly at a very large local market where during a visit last month I made a photographic record of - in particular - fruit and vegetable prices. Most prices were very similar to NZ and many were higher. Does this imply local growers are simply meeting supermarket prices?
Across the road from the market, we concluded Woolworths’ prices for most items were very similar to our supermarkets and often higher.
Australian meat prices are significantly lower than NZ, but the explanation is Australian farmers are slaughtering drought-stricken stock in vast numbers with the inevitable reduction in shop prices.
This is definitely not suggesting Chetwin’s suggestions about government intervention are not well-founded
Robert Burrow, Taupō.
A QUICK WORD
Bliss is driving Auckland’s roads during the Christmas/New Year break, with few cars on the road. May I respectfully ask all the holidaymakers who left Auckland over this summer break to make their exodus a permanent one.
Graham Fleetwood, Botany Downs.
On behalf of Kiwi shoppers a big thank you and a mighty welcome to Sue Chetwin and her team readying themselves to take on the supermarket duopoly (NZ Herald, January 3). If this lobby group is successful maybe we’ll have a blueprint for keeping banks in line.
Emma Mackintosh, Birkenhead.
Every year there are often comments about those who receive honours and those who don’t. Do we realise that anyone can nominate anyone for an honour. All you need to do is fill in the form with a few accompanying words of wisdom. For those that are contemplating nominating this writer, unfortunately you’re too late, again. the King’s Birthday list has already closed.
Reg Dempster, Albany.
I am aware that costs involved with TV coverage of live sporting events is costly and that providers (in this instance Sky TV) need to trim their costs to make their business model work. I am, however, dismayed at the poor production properties of Sky’s ASB Classic coverage; particularly the long-distance commentary, seemingly done in England. I was delighted, though, to learn from that commentator that Auckland is New Zealand’s capital city. Pay peanuts, get monkeys.
Colin Rippey, Mellons Bay.
Please don’t blame the roads for the amount of crashes. How absolutely ridiculous to do so. Not wearing seatbelts, speeding, drugs, alcohol, texting and lack of concentration are the main factors. Who out there has a degree in common sense? I’m very nervous.
Lynley Cullinane, Burnside.
How on earth can the Auckland Council noise control measures be so ineffective that a single person can accumulate 65 complaints?
Andy Watkins, Titirangi.
There soon will be an Australian on the Danish throne. I wonder how this will affect the Australian public regarding their thoughts and actions on disclaiming royalty and entertaining republicism?
Tony Lawson, Northland.
Pigs left to graze in open paddocks and in balanced numbers behave like any clean, grazing animals. But crowded into muddy holding pens and sties where they slobber for their food, they are forced to “live like pigs”. No different, recent music festival revellers similarly ended up battling mud and mess when crowded into grounds when grass become trampled. Mud is our national treasure!
Rob Buchanan, Kerikeri.
Like Fletcher Hawkesby, I too had testicular cancer. I was living in the UK and had experimental treatment under Professor Oliver at London Hospital. A young registrar - Dr Blair McClaren - was in the department. Blair is now the head oncologist in Dunedin who deals with testicular cancer. To cut a long story short, 30 years later the cancer relapsed and I was sent to Dunedin Hospital presenting with a rare form of encephalitis. The treatment I received by Blair and his team was miraculous. My brother, a cancer radiologist in South Africa, described it as “gold star” treatment. We in New Zealand are really fortunate to be able to treat this common, deadly cancer and save many lives.
Dr Alan Papert, Queenstown
The circumstances around the death are being treated as unexplained.