Letters: What’s the problem with Treaty bill?; tracks ‘upgrade’ does more harm; Fairer tax

Act Party leader David Seymour. Photo / Alex Burton

Treaty bill: What’s the problem?

Some people are trying to manufacture problems relating to the Act Party’s bill regarding the Treaty of Waitangi.

The lines do seem to be drawn between those on the left and the right of the political system. I have listened to both sides and for the life of me I am unable to fathom where the problems, if any, lie. Suggestions there is a rift within the coalition Government is a nonsense.

What is happening is precisely what was agreed. Act will draft a bill which will be put to Parliament for a first reading and subjected to the same scrutiny which applies to any other bill.

The detail in that bill will be available to the public of New Zealand who will then be able to get a better understanding of the contentious matters relating to the interpretation of the Treaty, which seem to have confounded many over several years.

For the bill to progress further, it would have to contain stuff that needs to be sorted in the interests of all New Zealanders. Surely this is not a problem.

Steve Clerk, Meadowbank.

No respect for culture

In his State of the Nation address, David Seymour declared that the Treaty of Waitangi was not meant to form a partnership between the races.

As far as Seymour is concerned, the Treaty says there must be one law and one government. He has no concern that Māori are currently an underclass which needs to be brought up to the same levels as Pakeha in such matters as health, education and standard of living. He has no respect for their culture, so for him one law means that in New Zealand there will be one dominant culture.

This is a recipe for starting a civil rights movement in New Zealand to overcome what is almost a form of apartheid being advocated by Seymour and his supporters, who formed only a small minority of the votes at the last election. Seymour is certainly correct when he says that New Zealand has become more divided over the Treaty of Waitangi, but incorrect when he denies it is the result of his actions — not unelected judges as he claims.

David Mairs, Glendowie.

Boring spectacle

The appointment of Joe Schmidt as Wallabies coach is touted as being a good thing as apparently rugby in New Zealand needs the game to be strong in Australia. However, that is not the answer to problems facing the game in this country. It does not address declining club membership throughout New Zealand, its decline in popularity to other sports as parents see the very real dangers of head knocks to their offspring, the decline in attendance at NPC matches, the red carding of players, the myriad of unfathomable rules that seem to stop the flow of the game, making it a boring spectacle, and the decline in playing minutes as overly large men try to catch their breath as they stroll to set pieces. Then there is the power of the TMO hunched in a “bunker” kilometres from the actual game, who seems to have taken over from the referee as the final judge of what happens on the field.

All this has resulted in a decline in TV viewership.

Bernard Walker, Papamoa.

Talking trash

I agree with some previous correspondence regarding the lack of information regarding the changes to recycling. What I also find amazing is at a time when there will be more rubbish to dispose of, Auckland Council is considering reducing the rubbish collections from weekly to fortnightly. What do they think we’ll do with the extra rubbish. Another brilliant council idea.

Brian J Edwards, Henderson.

‘Upgrade’ does more harm

Mayor Wayne Brown quite rightly condemns the exorbitant amount of money spent on pedestrian crossings. I live very close to Le Roys Bush, a stunningly attractive reserve in the valley between Birkenhead and Northcote Points. Over the past 10 years Auckland Council has upgraded its tracks at a total cost of over $4 million. The result has been a disaster because its planning and execution was carried out without taking notice of any information coming from the frequent users of the track or the volunteer group that cared for the bush. The view of both groups was that there was very little wrong with the tracks as they were, and council’s upgrading was likely to do more harm than good. Among the volunteer group was a well-qualified geotechnical engineer who pointed out that severe erosion of the bank along one side of the main track was likely to cause a slip if a retaining wall was not built.

That slip occurred following the storm last January, and the cost of reinstating the track is likely to cost many millions of dollars. Other slips caused by the storm did major damage to a number of timber staircases built as part of the “upgrading”. The staircases were quite unnecessary and the cost of repairing them will be huge compared to the cost of repairing the tracks, had the staircases never been built.

Laurie Wesley, Birkenhead.

Fairer tax

Act appears to be proposing modifications to the income tax system that are based on the idea of fairness — that we should move towards settings that would see everyone paying the same fraction of their income in tax. This is such a good idea that we should not restrict this “fairness” to just income tax. We should extend it to include everything else we have to pay for, such as food, drink, books, computers, cars, coffees, flights, rent, houses, fines, etc.

Act have been far too modest in their ambitions for this quite simple idea of universal fairness. Everything should be costed as the same fraction of a person’s income.

Chris Reynolds, Kawerau.