Letters: Truancy, climate crisis, cycleway and transport

Police speak to suspected truants in a Northland park. File photo / Michael Cunningham

Truancy needs addressing

Having recently retired after nearly 50 years as a teacher and 25 years as principal,
I think I am reasonably qualified to make a few observations.
Education is both a right and a privilege, there are many children in the world who would give their eye teeth to attend school. So why do we have such a casual attitude to school attendance in New Zealand?
Most truancy at secondary school will have invariably started with irregular attendance (usually parent-condoned) at primary school. The patterns are there from five years of age.
Attending school regularly is a good habit and good habits come from positive attitudes and personal responsibility. Erratic attendance frequently coincides with lack of punctuality and a whole variety of excuses.
Blaming the school for non-attendance is a cop out. In my experience schools do their very best to get children to school. It is a parental responsibility, we still have families who allow children to stay home for trivial reasons.
The existing truancy services are too distant, too complex and often ineffective.
Children cannot learn if they are not attending school regularly and the price of ignorance is too high, for both the individual and society as a whole. If school attendance was sorted then some of our "achievement gap" might also be reduced.
Immediate action is needed, not more data, more talk and more analysis.
Liz Horgan, Mt Albert.

Political will

We are fast running out of time to set this country up with the infrastructure necessary for the increasing deluge of climate change catastrophes heading our way.
Too many of us are ignoring the warning signs; the fires, the rising waters, the increasing winds, the unpredictability of temperature in our seasons, instead, disregarding the reasons behind these changes, and worse, demanding that we continue on as usual.
There is no lead from politicians. There's this hold up of waiting for the rigid right to have their say and their way. Liam Dann (NZ Herald, February 18) is quite right in bringing to account Simon Bridges' latest ploy to woo voters by "going back to basics".
It's not the "back pocket" of the workers we must be concerned about, it's their right to live in a safe, healthy environment and no amount of money in that part of the derrière will accomplish that. Nor will keeping our transport system flowing on oil, belching out toxic fumes our atmosphere is struggling to cope with.
What a pity we can't form a government, choosing people who can do this for us. A "Grand Coalition of like-minded people" a letter writer once said. We need to see it as we did during the war years.
After all, we the people of this planet are at war right now - with ourselves.
Emma Mackintosh, Birkenhead.

Victoria St

The headline in relation to work on Victoria St says "AT admits cycleway project is running late" (NZ Herald, February 15). This is not the case. We have always planned on the major construction work being completed by the end of February with the whole project finished mid-year.
The bulk of the work will be completed within weeks; these require more restrictive traffic conditions for the safety of construction workers and the public. These works were planned for this time of year to minimise the impacts on Aucklanders – many of whom have been on holiday at some point between Christmas and Waitangi Day - and to coordinate with other city centre projects.
At the end of this work, traffic lanes will be re-opened.
We have always maintained that "easier" construction works will be completed after that, finishing in the middle of the year. The next stages are road resurfacing, lane markings (painting), tree planting, and so on. This will be done mostly at night - again to limit the impact to a smaller number of Aucklanders
We look forward to the next piece of Auckland's increasingly well-patronised cycling network and improved footpaths by mid-2020.
Mark Lambert, Executive GM Integrated Networks at Auckland Transport.

Envy tax

Your correspondent Neville Cameron (NZ Herald, February 18) seems to think that imposing a tax on housing will lower the price. Taxes invariable increase prices, not reduce them.
Most residential landlords are long-term buy-and-hold investors, not speculators.
Those people who do buy and sell and who could be defined as speculators are already liable for and do pay income tax on any profit they make.
Basically a Capital Gains Tax becomes an envy tax. You've got it, I hate you for having it, so you should be taxed on it.
Peter Lewis, Forrest Hill.

Tax breaks

The National Party wants to reduce the tax burden for middle-income earners (NZ Herald, February 18). I applaud this, as it is long overdue.
However, in my opinion it is better to reduce the tax burden of people on low income. People on the minimum income (about $20 per hour or $40,000 per annum) have not been compensated for the introduction of GST; nor the increase to 12.5 per cent; nor the increase to 15 per cent; nor the many other incremental rises of taxes such as petrol tax. This substantial elimination of income tax for the first $40,000 benefits everyone and not just those on middle incomes.
I would replace this with a sugar tax at the border (which would affect all products that include added sugar and not just fizzy drinks). This would produce a healthier nation with reduced medical bills.
Plus an annual tax on investment property (similar to rates but going to the central government) that cannot be passed on to the tenant or lessee. This would help shift our investments away from real estate towards income and job-producing investments.
Brian Taylor, Lynfield.

Reduced driving

Kent Millar (NZ Herald, February 18) reckons you need a car in Auckland and he's probably right, but I'd suggest a couple of tweaks in thinking to clarify that.
Take the T3 lanes; They are not empty; they contain packets of up to 70 people who have chosen not to compete for road space. In return, they can do things with phones, tablets and paper that drivers can't.
It's not about having or not having a car. What if you think in terms of taking part of a car off the road, rather than all? You can, if you take time to learn AT's network and how to use it.
From Royal Oak, I can consistently get to town in 35 minutes, Manukau in 40 and Glenfield in 60. Nothing has to run exactly to time, my phone tells me where they are and gives me options.
As a result, I've reduced my driving from 10,000km a year to 8000. I've taken a fifth of my car off the road, and made it a little easier for those who have no choice.
No, I'm not a cyclist. It's all in the way you think about it.
Mike Diggins, Royal Oak.

Limit cars

I agree with the points made by correspondent Kent Miller (NZ Herald, February 18), that bikes will not supplant cars to navigate our city, or reduce the number of cars on the road.
Sure, our visionary city planners have sold the idea that cycling is a great way of maintaining fitness and a viable mode of transport, but some of the zealots see cycling as just an alternative to using their cars, especially in winter.
The ideal would be to limit car access to the CBD; the strategy of sharing space with pedestrians in the inner city is a move in the opposite direction.
Ellie Carruthers, Eden Terrace.

Short & sweet

On investments

Nice to see NZ house prices recovering 7 per cent in the year to January. But the 29.7 per cent gain in the sharemarket's NZ50G index over the period gets more of my attention, and my money.
Steve Ellis, Takapuna.

On National

With National's promise of tax cuts and more money in our back pockets (and handbags), Ms Bennett will soon be able to upgrade to the latest even more iconic, gruntier and more fun motor vehicle of her choice. Norm Murray, Browns Bay.

On Elton

I hear that walking pneumonia is very bad especially when accompanied by the boogie woogie flu. Nevertheless, we wish Elton a speedy recovery and back to doing what he does best. Dave Pike, Beachlands.

In 2008, Neil Diamond gave a full performance with a raspy voice (laryngitis) and afterwards apologised to fans and offered a full refund. R Ainsbury, Martinborough.

On MPs

Mankind has invented many things. Coffee without caffeine. Beer without alcohol. Hopefully parliament without idiots is next. Pim Venecourt, Papamoa.
On rugby

John Stevens has echoed my sentiments exactly. The rugby rule-makers have somehow lost the plot. The game has become boring with the constant intervention of the referee. Ben Arthur, Massey.

On Gifford

The articles that Phil Gifford presents in your newspaper are nothing short of superb. Accurate, to the point and full of good humour. Dennis Ross, Glendowie.

On anthems

Ailsa Martin-Buss asks if anyone knows what "Advance Australia Fair" means. I do. It is the line that comes immediately before "Suck of the Sav, Sport." Tom Frewen, Horowhenua.