"Healthcare will always be short of adequate funding." Photo / 123RF
Why healthcare costs rise
Gary Anderson (NZ Herald, November 6) says healthcare is no different than any other product where if you want the best it has to be paid for.
In actual fact, healthcare is an entirely different animal, where continual advances in expensive technological procedures, and an ageing population, create annual medical cost increases considerably above basic inflation. We also have a dire situation of neglected infrastructure, and as Herald political deputy editor Thomas Coughlin writes, there is now a large budgetary blowout with the pay of government employed nurses outside the hospital system needing to be remunerated at the level of their hospital counterparts.
State-provided healthcare, as in most countries, is therefore unable to keep up with demand despite continually increased annual funding. This results in waiting lists for both consultations and elective surgery.
Some people wanting the best are prepared to pay directly for care, or for private health insurance with medically insured numbers increasing. This despite the 1987 abolishment of tax deductibility of health insurance premiums, together with the imposition of a ridiculous fringe benefit tax on health insurance paid for by employers for their employees.
What is certain is that government provided healthcare will always be short of adequate funding.
Dr Hylton Le Grice, Remuera.
K Rd parking
We elected Mayor Wayne Brown and his council to run our city. We did not elect bureaucrats in Auckland Transport to defy his wishes and upset many retailers in Karangahape Rd.
Auckland Transport to me ranks as one of the most inefficient and expensive of council entities. I believe it has for some time been running a studied, determined campaign against Auckland motorists, designed to make life as difficult as possible for them and I would guess that this particular activity does not form part of their job descriptions.
Perhaps it could be pointed out that staff who exceed their brief, upset ratepayers and will not do as they are told, are really not much use.
Geraldine Taylor, Remuera.
Call for suspension
Dr Allen Papert is so right in condemning (NZ Herald, November 8) Chloe Swarbrick’s comment “from the river to the sea” as hate speech and asking why she hasn’t been charged for making it. When former Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern was asked to define hate speech, she stated you will know what it is when you hear it. To say that about a law makes it unworkable. However, it is an inflammatory statement, and she should be suspended from her party just as Andy McDonald, senior Labour MP in the UK, was suspended for using the same phrase recently.
Bernard Walker, Papamoa.
Defending Swarbrick
Good on Chloe Swarbrick for not apologising. The Israelis are killing innocent Palestinians, including 4000 children. Collective punishment is a war crime and against the Geneva Convention.
Diane Anderson, Sunnynook.
Free speech rights
Dr Alan Papert wrote to condemn Chloe Swarbrick’s comments at a recent Auckland rally (NZ Herald, November 7). While I agree with his diagnosis, his proposed remedy of arrest and prosecution under “hate speech” laws is as alarming as Swarbrick’s rhetoric. Freedom of speech is the principle that underpins a free society. As per Chomsky, “If we don’t believe in free expression for people we despise, we don’t believe in it at all.” Let’s keep people where we can see them and where their erroneous ideas can be freely contested: speaking in public.
Vaughan Hibbert, Tuakau.
Finding solutions
Although many correspondents will find it difficult, let’s assume for a moment that a National-led Government is not hellbent on destroying our environment. Environmental outcomes can be targeted in one of two generic ways: Dictate from above, for example the Labour/Green exploration ban. Not one iota of fossil fuel is saved worldwide. To make it worse, we have to import highly polluting coal, emitting twice the CO2 compared to gas. The other way is by simply setting the limits, and let the economy (shock, horror) decide how to achieve them. A prime example is an emissions trading scheme. When applying a sinking lid, it provides a vastly better outcome, at the least cost.
K H Peter Kammler, Warkworth.
Treaty referendum
Willie Jackson warns of warfare if a referendum is held to canvas the views of New Zealand citizens on the principles of the Treaty of Waitangi.
He claims that principles have been “arrived at through decades of examination from court cases, academic study and the Waitangi Tribunal”. However, in my opinion this process has seen a rampancy of judicial activism, lateral academic interpretation and considerable overreach from a Waitangi Tribunal focused on its own longevity rather than concluding its primary role of grievance settlement.
The two prominent Māori people referenced by Jackson have, in his own words, worked and won through the “English system”. They did not require the establishment of a set of principles not imagined by either of the two parties to the signing of the original document. Their cases relied on demonstrable breaches of the original undertakings given.
Willie’s proposal seems to be that, in order for the grievance process to be concluded, the majority of New Zealanders must accept that the minority view should apply, the exact opposite of the “tyranny of the majority” disparaged by Rawiri Waititi. This is hardly sympathetic to his acknowledgement that there is another party to the Treaty.
Mark Street, Devonport.
Fossil fuel needs
Heather Maguire (NZ Herald, November 8) does not understand the huge contribution that energy from oil and gas makes to the modern world. If, as she suggests, fossil fuels were dumped, New Zealand would be back to the Middle Ages. During the transition, millions of people would die from starvation, cold and disease. Energy from coal started off the industrial revolution and low-cost energy has driven advances in health and welfare. If there is a need to reduce emissions of man-made carbon dioxide we should look to burn more gas and less coal, build more hydropower and geothermal stations and consider nuclear power. Choking off the supply while a need still exists is a recipe for disaster.
Bryan Leyland, Pt Chevalier.
Labour get ready
Former prime minister John Key warned that Kiwis could become “tenants in their own country”. National’s tax-the-rich scheme on foreign house-buyers will accelerate that process.
The Labour Party needs to be ready for a snap election when National’s tax plan falls apart and the “coalition of chaos” implodes. Legislation passed in 2021 empowered Inland Revenue to gather data on tax paid by wealthy New Zealanders. The subsequent report by IRD revealed that the richest New Zealanders are paying way less tax than the average wage-earner.
New Zealand desperately needs a fairer tax system, which is what David Parker and Grant Robertson had been working on for three years. So it’s good to hear Labour leader Chris Hipkins confirm that a fairer tax system is “back on the table”. All MPs need a course in economics so they understand that campaign promises need to be sustainably funded, otherwise they are just empty promises.
Pauline Doyle, Napier.
A sporting chance
Recent issues on a rugby field in Paris and a cricket stadium in India reinforce the view that these two sporting codes are being undermined by administrators. The Rugby World Cup final in Paris saw “overkill” by officialdom ruin what should have been a great final between the All Blacks and Springboks.
The cricket match between Pakistan and New Zealand was a farce. The outdated Duckworth-Lewis rule awarded the winning points to Pakistan who were 200 runs behind New Zealand when rain ended play. Had play resumed, NZ may have got the nine wickets they needed for the win. It would make more sense for points to be shared when rain prevents play.
Clearly it is time for both codes to take a long, hard look at their rules and re-instate control of the games to referees and umpire out in the middle.
Jim Wallace, Waikanae.
Which bird is best?
The brouhaha surrounding the US talk show host John Oliver selecting the puteketeke or Australasian crested grebe as Bird of the Century made me search in my jolly useful reference book The Fiat Book of Uncommon Birds in New Zealand 3, published in 1975, Janet Marshall (paintings) F.C. Kinsky and J.C.R. Robertson (text). The puteketeke features on the cover. The information inside is informative. In the book, this bird was called the Southern Crested Grebe (fully protected). But which bird will get my vote?
Barbara N. Barwick, Gisborne
Our vote-counting system
Driving to work, I heard Newstalk ZB’s Mike Hosking interviewing Karl Le Quesne, the chief electoral officer, on the failure to count votes correctly in three electorates. In one case, 505 votes were assigned to the Leighton Baker Party instead of to National. Le Quesne was not convincing at all and inferred that there may be more errors discovered.
Surely in 2023 voters must be able to rely on a robust fail-safe voting system. Sadly this is not the case. If more errors are discovered this will make matters worse. Integrity in the system of voting is paramount to all New Zealanders but we have been seriously let down.
I have no confidence in an antiquated system which relies on staff entering data by hand. Le Quesne described the system and said that what happened are data entry errors done by his trained staff.
Something is seriously wrong in the system.
Stewart Germann, St Heliers.
On beach
Auckland Council is, again, replacing tons of sand on Orewa Beach. This is to cover up tree roots left exposed by recent high winds and big seas. How many times will council go through this procedure before they realise the futility of what they’re doing? Surely big rocks would give more permanent protection to the sand, trees and properties. And they’re attractive to look at. Janet Boyle, Orewa.
On Caramel Brownie
As the new Government-elect negotiates with potential partners, we see Caramel Brownie (Sepuloni from Labour and Brownlee from National) representing New Zealand at the Pacific Islands Forum. Makes you wonder what else may be possible? Gary Carter, Gulf Harbour.
On leadership
Steve Dransfield’s fear of the country soon to be run by the Marx Brothers is unfounded (NZ Herald, November 7). The Three Stooges are already at work! Martin Adlington, Browns Bay.
On negotiations
Yet again Winston Peters is playing the “notice-me game”, Christopher Luxon should just go off to the APEC Conference and let Peters reflect on his future. He has two choices: Either be in Cabinet or just sit on the cross benches. Katherine Swift, Kohimarame.
On maintenance
In the middle of Te Atatu Peninsula village, we have a roundabout. It has nice trees and shrubs on it and is regularly maintained. This morning there were 14 people crammed onto it who had arrived in three trucks and four utes. They were there for about two hours. The cost of this would easily exceed $1500 and no noticeable difference could be seen. I would hate to think of the annual cost of maintenance here. L Mallon, Te Atatu.
Fire crews were quickly on the scene and it appeared to be under control within minutes.