Letters: Winston Peters’ ‘retard’ remark is a national embarrassment; what mahi is Darleen Tana actually doing?

"Mr Peters is a leader of this country and is expected to have standards befitting a leader." Photo / Mark Mitchell

Peters’ remark a national embarrassment

I am very concerned and embarrassed that Deputy Prime Minister Winston Peters believes using the “R” word in Parliament or, for that matter, anywhere is acceptable in 2024.

Mr Peters is a leader of this country and is expected to have standards befitting a leader. It is as insulting as the “N” word.

Twenty years ago, a student was suspended from my sons’ school because they, too, used the “R” word to bully others. I am proud to say I am a New Zealander when I attend international meetings. However, comments made by our Deputy Prime Minister will be hard to defend.

Bridget Snedden, ONZM, Down Syndrome International London; International Disability Alliance Geneva.

What mahi?

“I‘m here now and doing the mahi”: so says MP Darleen Tana.

I, and probably the rest of New Zealand voters, would like to know exactly what mahi she is about to undertake – given she is now supposedly an independent without any constituents. What mahi, and for whom?

The only benefit I can see that she is achieving is very personal – her continued government salary at our expense.

Ian Doube, Rotorua.

Future of farming

Richard Prebble’s comment piece (NZ Herald, July 24) has excellent points celebrating possible new technologies to reduce our agricultural emissions. That is, until he bizarrely concludes that “New Zealand will reach net zero emissions, but our emissions are so small it will make no difference to climate change”. Apart from the issues of per-capita emissions and fairness, Prebble ignores that we will make a difference.

If New Zealand pioneers low-carbon dairy farming and shows the world how it is done, others will follow. We need to invest in our competitive advantage, funding research into the tech solutions the coalition Government praises, and proudly lead the way in low-emissions farming. Our R&D investment in this is still too low and we risk missing the business opportunity to be at the forefront of this technological change.

Lance Cash, Taupō.

College lessons

Correspondent Clyde Scott (NZ Herald, July 24), is wildly astray with his comments on the US Electoral College. States do not have an equal number of college votes and for this year’s presidential election the numbers vary widely – from California’s 54 to Wyoming’s three. After each national Census, the numbers are recalculated.

Is Mr Scott not aware that this country has a similar system aimed at protecting the South Island’s parliamentary representation? The minimum number of general electorates in the South Island is set by law at 16. This means that regardless of further population shifts north, the South Island will always have seats worth contesting. This is the rationale behind the Electoral College. Getting from the original 13 states to the current 50 took more than 170 years and each one had to contemplate electoral irrelevancy were it not for the protection of the Electoral College system. Donald Trump knew this, Hillary Clinton did not.

Rob Harris, Masterton.

Testing times

As I am over 75, I visited my GP to obtain a medical certificate to renew my driver’s licence. A very professional and friendly nurse took my blood pressure and gave me an eye test. So far, so good.

Then she gave me a fictitious name and address which I had to repeat several times; I had a minute within which to name all the animals I could think of; I had to give her today’s day and date. None of these cognitive tests seemed relevant to my ability to drive a car, but she told me it was the “law”.

This “law” appears to be the Mini-ACE cognitive screening tool, driven by the NZ Dementia Foundation, and has been applied since 2020. It should be number 101 on the coalition Government’s “100 Day Plan” and consigned to the scrapheap.

Johan Slabbert, Warkworth.

Two health questions

Christopher Luxon has been very vocal about reducing the “14 levels of management between patient and Health NZ’s CEO”.

I have two questions for Mr Luxon about this. Could he please list, publicly, the levels he is referring to so we can understand what we are faced with – and also, is the CEO expected to be involved in every step of every patient’s treatment? If not, why bring it up in the first place, other than to justify a reduction in yet another vital public service?

Jeremy Coleman, Hillpark.

Road to redemption

I agree with correspondent Vivien Fergusson’s call (NZ Herald, July 24) for a return to the Ministry of Works, eliminating the private contractors who have overcharged, over-coned and underdelivered on New Zealand’s roads.

Does the Government and Auckland Council have the ability to return to this successful model now? No more studies or investigations – we already know this is a better model than the current one.

Gary Carter, Gulf Harbour.