Ports of Auckland. Photo / Michael Craig
Unjustified expense to ratepayers
For the council owned Ports of Auckland (POA) to announce (NZ Herald, September 8) that they would be spending “less than” three hundred thousand dollars on changing the company name to “Port of Auckland”, and justifying the move by saying the cost to implement only represents 1 per cent of their revenue is nothing short of a total waste of money and an insult to Auckland ratepayers. There are in fact three designated ports operating under the “Ports of Auckland” umbrella, the familiar Auckland downtown operation, the port at Onehunga (purchased from POA by Panuku Development Auckland, a wholly owned council subsidiary) and an inland port at Wiri — on this basis the plural “Ports of Auckland” name is entirely appropriate. One reason given for the change is because the Ports of Auckland has in recent years under-performed and wants to improve its mana. I hardly think removing the “s” from the word “Ports” will make one iota of difference to the “Ports” reputation and is a spurious reason. Come on Mayor Brown “walk your talk” and put a stop to this farcical costly decision.
Randal Lockie, Rothesay Bay.
Victory houses
Between 1946 and 1960 about a million Victory Houses, as they came to be known, were constructed across Canada. Most are still there today, 60 years later. They are usually two-storey, three or four bedrooms, completely insulated and weatherproof (we’re talking Toronto, deep snow), and centrally heated. The government saw a desperate need for houses and found a way to meet that need. Where there’s a will there’s a way. We can’t do the same — the will to do it is absent. Enough houses is the last thing landlords and homeowners want, and they are the ones making the rules in Parliament, with almost every MP being a landlord and homeowner. The vast bulk of wealth in New Zealand depends on there being a scarcity of houses.
Susan Grimsdell, Auckland Central.
Prescription charge
It is irksome to see trumpeting of no prescription charges when this is not true for some of the sickest amongst us. While GP prescription charges are now covered, specialist prescriptions still need to have the surcharge paid. In my case, this is my oncologist prescriptions — the various drugs that make my chemotherapy regime more manageable. Adding insult to injury, as a single person the bar for free prescriptions as a frequent user (20 scripts) is the same as it would be for a family or a couple. This is utterly inequitable. Worse yet, it resets at the start of each calendar year. As a single person I have never resented the taxes I pay that go towards educating the children of others — we are a society after all. I just wish our politicians paid a little more heed to the single and unwell amongst us.
Melanie Webber, Auckland Central.
Reinforcing prejudice
Imagine two news channels. One dedicated to praise for the All Blacks. One dedicated to slating them at every opportunity. Most Kiwis would watch the former and have their positive views reinforced, and viewers of the latter would similarly have their negative perceptions strengthened. This example mirrors the world of today’s media, where a huge range of media platforms offer an infinite range of factional opinion. Couple this with the predisposition of the average person to watch only those items which reinforce existing beliefs, and you have the answer to the question “Why is NZ feeling increasingly divided” (NZ Herald, September 5). With society becoming ever more complex and threatening, we seek sanctuary within our tribal cocoons fed by news we usually choose to reinforce our ingrained prejudices. As a result division between “us” and “them” in New Zealand and across the world can only get worse.
John Denton, Eskdale.
Finding answers
Robin Harrison (NZ Herald, September 12) referred to Jack Tame’s lack of ability to get the answers he wanted. However, he did finally get answers — that do not show Christopher Luxon up in a very good light. To the question of whether National are going to release the detailed costings of their taxation proposals, the answer Luxon gave was no. To his question of what was going to happen to the unruly people moved out of social housing the answer he received was that Luxon didn’t know where they were going to go and that would be a problem for government departments to sort out. When Tame suggested that taxing overseas purchasers of New Zealand properties might be in breach of free trade agreements with countries like China, Luxon answered that they had found a way around that problem, which is the sort of wording used when you are trying to do something that is not really allowed, which could put free trade agreements at risk. So, Tame did eventually get answers from Luxon, but they were very unsatisfactory.
David Mairs, Glendowie.
The high life
Anybody in New Zealand who thinks we are the only country in the world that has inflation, high cost of living, high prices, interest rate rises, lack of housing, people living on the street etc only had to watch TVNZ’s Sunday programme last weekend. The not so lucky country of Australia is in the same situation, if not worse. The UK doesn’t look much better. It would appear to those in the know that not much will change in the world or here in the next two years. A thought on the upcoming election. Why change the government now? Better the devil you know than the one you don’t.
J. Fraser, Waiuku.
Call of port
For the council owned Ports of Auckland (POA) to announce (NZ Herald, September 8) that they would be spending “less than” three hundred thousand dollars on changing the company name to “Port of Auckland”, and justifying the move by saying the cost to implement only represents 1 per cent of their revenue is nothing short of a total waste of money and an insult to Auckland ratepayers. There are in fact three designated ports operating under the “Ports of Auckland” umbrella, the familiar Auckland downtown operation, the port at Onehunga (purchased from POA by Panuku Development Auckland, a wholly owned council subsidiary), and an inland port at Wiri — on this basis the plural “Ports of Auckland” name is entirely appropriate. One reason given for the change is because the Ports of Auckland has in recent years under-performed and wants to improve its mana. I hardly think removing the “S” of the word “Ports” will make one iota of difference to the “Ports” reputation and is a spurious reason. Come on Mayor Brown “walk your talk” and put a stop to this farcical costly decision.
Randal Lockie, Rothesay Bay.
Fast talker
I fear that Chris Hipkins’ rapid speech may be losing Labour many potential supporters. Even listeners with normal hearing and English as their first language often have trouble following his glib responses to questions. They come so fast you wonder if they had been memorised in advance. In contrast, the slower speed of his interviewers makes them sound more thoughtful and their comments therefore more convincing.
Jeanette Grant, Mt Eden.
Dying promise
With Labour and National rolling out additional “sweeteners” aimed at capturing the hearts and minds of the voters, I have yet to read of an enhanced funding policy that will fully fund, and with ring-fenced funding, hospice care in Aotearoa New Zealand. The level of additional funding required is very small — a few million within the total billions of health funding. Society is judged by the way we care for our elderly as for our dying — there is still much work to do.
Peter Huggard, Waiheke Island.
Wet bus ticket
The new busway being built along State Highway 16 has new long and thin bus stops at the Te Atatū interchange. Unfortunately, the powers at Auckland Transport have no idea that when you wait at a bus stop in southwesterly-driven rain, even with a raincoat and umbrella, you’ll get wet unless there is adequate protection. For this reason it was asked whether they intended to add front panels. They replied, “the wait isn’t long and we’ve run out of funds”. As the wait will be up to 15 minutes this is, quite frankly, insulting. Perhaps they would like to stand at a bus stop in the driving rain for 15 minutes and discover how it feels to arrive at work saturated.
Samantha Cunningham, Henderson.
On numbers
No matter how Simon Wilson (NZ Herald, September 12) disputes Luxon’s numbers on education achievement we all know our system is failing our children and many leave school unable to read or write let alone add! Wendy Tighe-Umbers, Parnell.
On behaviour
Isn’t it strange that we can train dogs to behave but we can’t train a lot of supposedly more intelligent humans to behave. Jock Mac Vicar, Hauraki.
On language
Shane Jones has noted “we must not weaponise the Māori language!” The obvious response is “Too late! It’s done already!” Roger Hawkins, Central Auckland.
On Peters
Using Winston Peters’ reasoning, the English are not indigenous to England and the Scots are not indigenous to Scotland. Obviously Peters is angling for the redneck vote as he has done for 40 years. C.C. McDowall, Rotorua.
On rugby
Someone needs to tell the All Blacks the idea of the Garryowen is not to give the ball to the opposition but, like the English demonstrated against Argentina, to kick it over the opponents’ defence high enough to enable the kicker and his support to be underneath when it lands. Gerald Payman, Mt Albert.
Can the All Blacks still win the World Cup?
Excessive and poor kicking cost us last Friday ... will Foster tell the lads to leave their kicking boots at home, or will they keep making the same mistakes again and again ... and again. David W.
Just heard Hansen is now helping out the All Blacks. Wonder why? I mean Foster thinks kicking the ball away to the opposition all the time is supposed to help us score tries. Funny, cause when we hold on to the bloody ball and run it, opposition defences tire and we do far better. Laurence D.
It’s not so much a physical issue with the ABs but a mental one. They have not “looked” mentally positive for some time. Unless their motivation to win improves I can see them wiped out in the semis. Paul S.
This is the first RWC tournament I can recall where teams have required water breaks each quarter. The 30C-plus heat in humid conditions, both teams were almost gassed by the close of the first half, especially the French as they struggled to keep up with our tempo. Justin K.
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