David Shearer for Auckland City mayor? Oh please! Says one reader. Photo / NZME
I must say I am perplexed as to how having late night aggro alcohol fuelled violence is imperative to making Auckland the world's "most liveable city". I would have thought the opposite would be the case.
If indeed anyone is up and about at 4am being able to walk up Queen St unaccosted might be considered a good thing?
In 1967 NZ Parliament ended 50 years of 6 o'clock closing and pubs were able to stay open until 10pm. Around this time television broadcasts also finished at 10pm. The subliminal message was bars are closed and TV has stopped broadcasting so it's time to go to bed. Get up in the morning and head off to work and do something productive for your country.
To have bars open until 4am sends all the wrong messages. Stay up all night, get drunk, pick a fight and end up in either A&E or the police cells. Much better to get up early and pick apples than pick a fight. In my opinion we should immediately revert to 10pm closing, or at the most midnight.
By the way I love a few beers but usually after work whilst watching the 6.0'clock news. No harm in that as far as I can see.
Glen Stanton, Mairangi Bay.
Unclear track to light rail
Having just visited the light rail official website I am none the wiser. There is no mention of the enormous cost in dollars and in massive disruption or any suggestion that a cost benefit analysis of any kind has been done.
The type of light rail is not known, the route is not defined and the purpose is unclear. The feedback form is made up of loaded questions which suggest that if you do not like the proposal you do not care about the environment. This needs to be stopped in favour of other more practical projects such as augmentation of the railway from Helensville to Pōkeno and construction of a line from Puhinui to the airport.
Bob van Ruyssevelt, Glendene.
Churchill's legacy
At the request of the Green Party a portrait of Sir Winston Churchill which hung in Parliament for 60 years was removed, the Greens uncomfortable with it's presence, shame on them.
This statesman, alone, in 1939, confronted the tyranny of Nazism, a fascist cult conceived from the delusions of Aryan supremacy, racism embedded in its ideology, a point seemingly lost on the Greens. Churchill weaponised largely with the English language became a beacon of hope in those darkest hours, lifting the spirits of a nation, his eloquence and courage inspiring, a truly remarkable man. Just contemplate, without his existence world history may well have reshaped to the detriment of all free men and women.
The Greens' petulance and perception of history proves to be telling.
P.J.Edmondson, Tauranga.
Disapproval of Shearer
David Shearer for Auckland City mayor? Oh please! Since the formation of the "super city", Auckland has had only "Labour" mayors. And look at the mess.
Also, Shearer was rolled after five minutes as the leader of the Labour party because he could not handle the job. He will not manage Auckland either.
Auckland. Please. We need to do better than to put puppets for the Labour party into the job.
Helen Acraman, Waiuku.
Meaningless wars
What an unmitigated tragedy and disaster. The "West's" war in Afghanistan should never have happened. When Boris Johnson in London says "It was worth it" one can only shake one's head and ask what is he thinking. Similarly to the American war in Vietnam and the war in Iraq, the whole Afghan intervention was a complete waste of time and money — trillions of dollars — and what is even worse, of life and limb of so many people, including civilians. We should ask why did this happen? What was the learning of the disaster in Vietnam where up to four million people were killed? The famous song When will they ever learn is as topical as ever. No learning but repeating the same mistakes. At this stage it is right to pull foreign troops out. We must hope that the US and its "allies" will do better in the future in terms of avoiding meaningless wars.
Frank Olsson, Auckland.
NZ must act for Afghanistan
With the rapidly deteriorating situation in Afghanistan where Taliban are taking over large parts of the country it is past time that the New Zealand Government urgently grant humanitarian visas to the interpreters and other support staff that stood with the NZ forces for the years of occupation.
We hear of social justice and be kind so often, here is an opportunity for our Government show it . I believe the Taliban will take over and along with the many who helped the US forces those who assisted NZ forces are in danger of losing their lives. Now is the time to act before.
Peter Burn, Gulf Harbour.
For whom is bridge tolled?
When the original harbour bridge was built a toll for each vehicle was imposed to assist with the cost of the bridge. The toll was minimal but there was an cost to employ staff due to the technology limitations of the day, this did reduce the payback from use of the bridge, with the toll lasting 25 years. I'm surprised no one has suggested the same for the Governments planned cycle bridge (unless it was just an announcement with no substance).
Let's say there are 500 cyclists per day that use the proposed crossing if each one paid a toll of $10 that would mean a daily total of $5000 that is roughly $1.8m per annum so $750,000,000 would take about 416 years to pay off, not counting interest and other costs. A more realistic toll would be $100 per crossing so the bridge would be paid for in around 40 years. I think a survey of people that intend to use the crossing might yield most precise data, but how many would pay the toll?
Roger McCall, Taupō.
Climate issues on fire
The recent power blackouts have unleashed a tsunami of oil and gas apologists howling a charge of hypocrisy against the Labour and Green parties for increased coal imports etc. Clearly they are wrong. Let us remember the current high priced privatised power generation model that has underinvested for decades was the creation of Max Bradford of the National Party.
It has nothing to do with the recent Government ban on new oil and gas exploration which, though exploration was dwindling anyway, was nevertheless a very important market signal. Noteworthy since the power blackout another substantial investment in a large NZ solar farm has been announced.
The private sector is finally starting to respond to the demands inherent in a climate emergency. In the future zero coal will be imported. Simultaneous with this power blackout furore the latest IPCC scientific report on climate change was released demanding urgent action.
I give this Government credit for setting the political and commercial agenda for desperately overdue change. All this recent howling from a conservative rump of farmers and now oil and gas vested interests suggests real world constructive change is getting under way. Let's be absolutely clear. In an existential crisis there is no room for political football, dog-whistle politics or self-entitlement protection. Real unprecedented fires are already burning. To put out the fire we must work together or we won't have a future.
Wayne Parsonson, Kaitaia.
Electricity market fail?
The recent blackout was caused, in large part, by a failure of the market. We should never have had competition in a "market" that is supplying a service which is so essential to every household. Electricity is a commodity that has become as essential to modern life as air and water.
While the reforms of 20-odd years ago certainly created a competitive market — perhaps the most competitive electricity market in the world, it has come at a huge cost for the consumer. While very competitive, it is certainly not efficient or even effective. Competition has come at a great cost, as this incident has shown. All of this in the name of "competition" — so where are the advantages in such a market?
If we were to revert to a single supplier it would not be too difficult to design a system which mirrors a benign monopoly, and there would be central system control not influenced by the whims of a profit-hungry market participant. It is apparent that there are many reasons to question if we have the optimum electricity market — the Government is well-placed to decide if we should revert to a simpler, arrangement to ensure the consumer has a continuity of supply, and is not paying too much.
Arthur Davis, Lower Hutt.
It seems one thing's for Shaw, among New Zealand's political class there's room for only one Winston. Dean Donoghue, Pāpāmoa Beach.
I have a question: With the logical visual effect of cops on the beat, especially in areas such as Queen St, why was the two-constable regular foot patrol abolished? They would be at least a deterrent to some of the riff-raff goings-on there. Ted Partridge, Auckland.
Oh no! Not another failed central-government politician, already on a gold-plated taxpayer funded super scheme, as a mayoral candidate. Auckland mayoralty is not a retirement job. D Stewart, St Heliers.
Those in authority delaying the Sleepyhead Factory should get their heads out of the sand before the tide of progress comes in and they drown in their self importance! Mike Millett, Northcote.
By all accounts of global warming much sooner than predicted, by the time Auckland has perfected all its transport systems to the airport at immeasurable cost to ratepayers the airport runways will lie all lie under water, in which case the control towers might serve better as lighthouses. Gary Hollis, Mellons Bay.
What can you say or do? I don't expect anything any more from this government except ineptitude and this is just more of the same. It seems like Groundhog Day. Judith B.
We would not be in this precarious position with the threat of further lockdowns and border closures if we were not eight months behind where we should be with vaccination rollout. Richard C.
We gifted Amazon, the richest corporation on Earth, a 25 per cent taxpayer rebate on every dollar they spent on production. They walked away. Condemning the NZ Government for insufficient submissiveness to Jeff Bezos is an incredible evaluation of this situation. Steve E.
The loss of Amazon should not be shrugged off, the Government has also ditched the America's Cup, highly qualified people aren't valued, these are signals that all is not well. Walter H.
Until New Zealand has a thoroughly vaccinated population, we would be fools to open the borders. If the borders are open before that point, we are sitting ducks to any and all Covid risks. If that means Amazon take their funds elsewhere, so be it. Leigh H.
I don't think it is the end of the world that Amazon makes its movies elsewhere. It is a fact that NZ is impossible to get in and out of and the backlog of legitimate travellers is hundreds of thousands. This is a logical consequence. John A.
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