Some Kiwis are left in limbo waiting for voting papers. Photo / Alex Cairns
Voters left in limbo by system fail
Call me old fashioned if you like, but there is something about the orderliness and trust in our voting system that gives me a sense of knowing that the vote that I make will be counted, and recorded accurately.
I have always voted on the day, and am reminded as I step into the polling booth that New Zealand was the first country in the world to give women a vote, and that makes me feel proud and ensure I get out and vote.
Something seems to have gone wrong this year when many, like me, are left in limbo waiting for our voting papers.
No explanation, no apology, no nothing.
We have been told we can just turn up and give our name, date of birth, and address and can go ahead and vote.
No rules, no structure, and no voting paper, even though there was plenty of time to ensure that these were received.
Robin Harrison, Takapuna.
EasyVote cards not needed
Political leaders have criticised the Electoral Commission on its tardiness in getting packs with EasyVote cards into the hands of voters.
The Electoral Commission has responded by telling us that the task is significant — the cost to taxpayers is unstated — but that voters do not need an EasyVote card to carry out their democratic right.
Surely such a response begs the question: “If we don’t need the card why bother incurring the (presumably) substantial cost in preparing and distributing them?”
Brian Milestone, New Plymouth.
Voting papers too slow
Voting opened on Monday, October 2. For a valid reason I voted on Monday, October2. My voting papers arrived in the mail on Wednesday, October 4.
This is inefficiency of the Electoral Commission at its finest.
Janet Boyle, Ōrewa.
Neo-lib Luxon won’t fix NZ
Christopher Luxon wants to build one of the best small advanced countries in the world. Yet another domestic dose of neo-liberalism isn’t going to achieve this goal.
Scandinavian countries are the most successful small democracies in the world. Their citizens pay more tax and the left-wing parties have dominated for decades. Those factors may be unpalatable for some New Zealanders, but the results speak for themselves.
Craig Clark, Devonport.
Council deserves praise
Congratulations to the Auckland Council on having the foresight to add a crucial piece of adjoining land to the Auckland Botanic Gardens.
The rapidly-expanding population of South Auckland requires more green space as the local population density increases. It is now well known that green space is important for mental wellbeing.
Then there is the more serious role of the gardens as a safe depository of provenanced scientific collections, research, plant conservation, education and a reputable source of botanical knowledge. The recent addition increases the scope of what the gardens grow and how they exhibit it.
The purchase of this land is the action of a responsible council whose rating base increases as the population increases, and the expansion of green space should go hand-in-hand.
Ewen Cameron, Auckland.
Growing gardens no waste
I disagree with John Deyell’s belief that the purchase of the land next to the Auckland Botanic Gardens is a waste of ratepayers’ money.
Those ratepayers who live in the vicinity of these gardens are more than happy that the council has decided to keep some green space around our city where people can relax and enjoy the open air, rather than have yet more ugly, intensified, eyesore buildings, with no space at all for children to play.
There’s very little open space left in Auckland, we should be thankful that at least some of it will be saved. Auckland needs more open spaces, not more cluttered boxes masquerading as liveable apartments.
Green is good, ghetto isn’t.
Jeremy Coleman, Hillpark.
Scooters need controls
E-scooters have recently had their exemption from being classed as motor vehicles extended for another five years.
This entitles them to continue sharing footpaths with pedestrians.
But what is being done to educate the scooterists to slow down and show more respect for those on foot? Most do slow down when the footpath is crowded but a small minority are frankly dangerous as they slalom their way at speed among unwitting pedestrians.
Several times each week while walking on Queen St I have a scooter pass uncomfortably close by me from behind.
So what can be done? Apparently the top speed of scooters can be selectively governed — slowing scooters on streets with a high pedestrian count.
Hire scooters should have a clearly visible label near the handles reminding riders to “share with care”. Perhaps there could be a campaign for a period of weeks with display advertising and “safety ambassadors” on some busier footpaths to get the message through. The scooter hire companies should pay for this.
Graeme Easte, Mount Albert.
Sword attack sentence wrong
As a result of a person patting a motor vehicle, the driver of the vehicle attacks the person with a samurai sword.
The person is left lying in a ditch bleeding to death. Only the fact, that some time after the attack, the person’s son happened to drive past and spotted his father bleeding in the ditch, was a murder conviction avoided.
No defence of past history, committed family man, genuine, a role model to many etc should in any way avoid a significant sentence for this act.
Let’s put it this way — would the perpetrator be satisfied with a sentence of 10 months’ home detention if his child was attacked by a samurai welding sword-wielding aggressor who left his child dying in a ditch? I don’t think so.
Ron Merrick, West Harbour.
Nats risk strategic error
Once the election lolly scramble is over, sanity may return to the governing class, and National will realise that their proposal to abolish the Auckland Regional Fuel Tax, before bringing in a system of road pricing, was a serious strategic error.
If they persist with this lollipop, the council should meet the challenge by adding a separately-identified rate next year to cover the resulting deficiency in needed infrastructural expenditure.
John Strevens, Auckland.
Act just wants lower wages
When David Seymour was asked why he opposed Fair Pay Agreements, Act’s leader said they were bureaucratic and inflexible. He also said productivity rose after National’s 1991 Employment Contracts Act (ECA).
Did it? A 1996 parliamentary report said aggregate employment data “tended to support the hypothesis” that the ECA improved productivity, although “different measures told different stories”.
Employers reported increased employment, part-time and casual especially, while “rates for overtime and penal rates have dropped”, which was what employers really meant when they called for more flexible employment contracts. The report said there may have been some deterioration in working conditions, rates for Māori deteriorated compared with Pakeha and “inequality may be worse than statistics show if conditions of people working for smaller employers, who are not adequately covered by the data, have deteriorated”.
Plummeting union membership and award coverage and a proliferation of individual employment contracts made it more than somewhat likely that inequality got worse.
Not surprising really, given Treasury’s 1990 briefing paper advice to the new government that “unit labour costs” needed to be lower.
Murray Williams, Mt Eden.
Fix the system
The issues outlined by Jordan Tewhaiti-Smith (October 3) indicate that New Zealand has serious issues with our health system. What can be done to rectify these problems?
Des Gorman is an Emeritus Professor of Medicine at the University of Auckland, and he has outlined a solution that will help to bring the health system on to a new and well-funded path.
The solution is very different from the current one (with a very different funding and management structure), so will the government elected soon have the fortitude to follow Gorman’s advice, or will they continue on the path to failure?
J.M. Coutts, St Heliers.
On council
Neville Cameron (Oct 5) essentially advocates Auckland Council get back to basics, and I agree. Many letters to the Herald have for years said the same thing. It just doesn’t happen. P.K. Ellwood, Beach Haven.
On police
As well as increasing police numbers, an admirable goal, let’s revert to their core responsibility, the protection of life and property, investigating crime, and bringing offenders to justice. Nothing else. Ian Doube, Rotorua.
On climate change
This is the first election since Cyclone Gabrielle brought home to us the huge financial and social costs we face in dealing with the effects of climate change. Should we vote for parties that recognise this and will lead us in the right direction, or parties that continue their “head in the sand”, carry on as usual attitude? Linda McGrogan, Taupo.
On diet
Covid may be a blessing in disguise for Chris Hipkins. He can take a break from sausage rolls and eat some healthier food. Rosemary Balme, Howick.
On sentence
It’s an outrage a samarai sword-wielding driver should receive home detention for a serious crime with a negotiated possible maximum prison term of seven years. What do you have to do to receive a seven-year sentence? Paul Blakeney, Waihi.
Scott Robertson barred from All Blacks games, Justin Marshall claims
I think it’s immature and negligent of the existing coaching group that Razor isn’t included with the team as an observer. Knowing that Razor wouldn’t want to distract players or Foster but a valuable time spent for the ABs future. Something not right here. Neville B.
It remains to be seen whether Robertson can coach at test level because it is NOT Super Rugby. Peter W.
As an individual, he has the right to sit in the stands along with thousands of others to watch whatever game he wants. Sounds like the ABs management are being rather precious. Mike B.
If this has come from Foster, I would be disappointed, and if true then the culprit needs to own up. Razor can do what he wants in the stands. Stuart B.
For most, we can see Robertson is our man for this era. I can’t wait to see the end of this Foster era, it’s been a joke on the field and a PR joke off it. Andrew E.
Nobody can stop him attending any games. It’s open to the public. I imagine that they didn’t want him in the dressing room or at training sessions. Fair enough. He is a respectful guy and will recognise appropriate boundaries. David F.
We have all known for some time that Robertson was not going to be welcome inside the ABs camp. Whether that proviso was placed on him by NZR or its CEO, who knows! Allan R.
'For the unluckiest people, we are very lucky.'