Keep the speed limit
I have just returned from a touring holiday in South Africa. The open road maximum is 120km/h which I have to say, a majority of motorists regard as a minimum. The roading system is excellent but the road death toll is horrific.
An increase in the speed limit from 100 to 120km/h on selected highways in New Zealand will result in creepage, that is, 140km/h will become the norm.
Yes, vehicles are better engineered and have a plethora of safety features but the skill of drivers has not matched these advances. There will be extra wear on tyres, increased fuel consumption and let's not forget that when your cranium hits that concrete abutment on the Waikato Expressway at 131km/h, your brain will attempt to continue the journey.
If you want to arrive on time leave 10 minutes sooner, 120km/h is crazy stuff.
Brian Symons, Mangawhai Heads.
Manor effect
Many of the investors in property are existing homeowners and a capital gains tax that excludes the family home encourages them to improve and expand the size of their existing home. It also discourages them from investing in or building a smaller rental home. This produces the "manor" effect, making existing homes bigger and reducing the construction of smaller, more affordable homes.
To have the effect desired by Labour of improving the number of affordable homes, all homes need to be taxed. This would have the additional advantage of removing rushes to invest in homes and make investment in productive industries more attractive.
Tim Harrison, Remuera.
Taxable gains
Labour has been talking about a capital gains tax for the last nine years. Over this time they have refused to give any details of how this tax will be applied. The average man in the street equates a capital gains tax with a tax on property speculation and has not seen the wider implications.
A capital gains tax (unearned income tax) is just that, a tax on all income other than that directly earned from employment. So what will happen to income received from insurance policies, private superannuation policies, savings interest, KiwiSaver or even Lotto (you buy a ticket hoping to win a large capital gain)? Is a Labour government now going to tax all these?
Neil Lomax, Hastings.
Health insurance
Rob Hennin's article, "Healthcare costs at tipping point", seems to assume that shifting health costs from the public purse to private insurance will somehow reduce overall healthcare costs. But the money still comes from out of our pockets, whether it be through taxes or premiums.
Shifting from public to private would increase rather than reduce total health costs. Fees and administration costs are higher in the private sector, and there is no overall budget control. It would also shift spending priorities from those who need care to those who can afford it.
Hennin claims the Government spends 22 per cent of GDP to keep us healthy. This is three times the OECD estimate of 7.4 per cent of GDP. Such scaremongering is unhelpful. Better to stick with the evidence that shows public funding is better than private insurance at containing health costs and directing funding towards those most in need.
Toni Ashton, Herne Bay.
Decriminalising abortion
Abortion affects two lives and the law reflects that. Though not perfect, it provides certain safeguards for women. The decision to abort shouldn't be taken likely.
For any other procedure you see a doctor once or twice, possibly a specialist, provided with informed consent which outlines all the possible side effects and the outcome. Then the medical procedure is done and followed up. Not with regards to having an abortion.
The biggest issue is lack of informed consent and parental notification. Many women who have had an abortion haven't been fully informed of possible risks and the procedure.
People don't like having to say that it is a mental health issue, but we need to take account of the women's mental health and be sure of her decision, with informed consent. Decriminalisation of abortion will not do that and ignores all the research which shows it harms women.
If there are any law changes, they should protect informed consent and parental notification. Require honest information about abortion risks and be fully informed of supports available and independent counselling.
Marina Young, Buttons Project, Kumeu.
Smoking cost
I agree with Robert Leahy's letter on the punitive tobacco tax. I have watched Ardern and English waffle on about fixing child poverty with no mention of the fact tobacco tax is a major driver of child poverty. We have parents paying $85 (soon to be increased) for a packet of tobacco while their kids go to school hungry with no shoes. These politicians are acting like drug dealers and their hypocrisy is astounding. Any party that announces that it will reverse this iniquitous tax will get my vote and I suspect many other votes.
Ian Austrin, Whakatane.
Spare thought for migrants
As the heat rises in the election campaign it is important that recent immigrants and refugees not become scapegoats for any perceived shortfalls in housing, transport, health services, employment or any other issues currently facing the nation. It is not their fault if we have too few affordable houses, inadequate transport, waiting lists or employment issues.
From a purely economic perspective both categories contribute substantially to the economy providing entrepreneurial, professional, and employment skills in hard - to fill jobs. Culturally we are immensely enriched by interaction with people from all over the world so let's embrace the refugees who have often suffered appallingly prior to arrival and immigrants, the majority of whom contribute positively to our lives.
John Marcon, Te Kauwhata.
Smarter port process
The biggest question of the Ports of Auckland is not where we should have all the cars and containers sitting around but why are they all just sitting there in the first place? With just in time processes now dominating supply chain operations, surely the most efficient model is to have full trains turning up at one point on the wharf with freight to be loaded directly on to vessels, then once empty, moving to where ships are being unloaded and having containers or cars or other freight put directly on to them for cartage to an inland terminal. Why unload them, stack them up, unstack them reload them?
Why would you move the port of entry 100km away from the city where the majority of the freight is either produced or consumed? How is the carbon footprint of New Zealand affected by moving all that freight all that way over land? What could you do for Auckland rail with the $1 billion or whatever it would cost to upgrade the line to Northport?
Rather than consulting a whole bunch of people with possibly vested interests why not ask an expert what is the most efficient process and work towards that?
John Christiansen, Mt Albert.
Waiting for greatness
I was still at school when John F. Kennedy and Martin Luther King inspired their nation with two famous speeches that sought a better future.
"Ask not what your country can do for you, but what can you do for your country," said JFK in 1961
"I have a dream," said King in 1963.
I have been waiting more than 50 years for someone in this country to inspire us.
Across the world there is a mood for change. Maybe Jacinda Ardern is that inspiration for change in New Zealand. I will give her a go.
Murray Reid, Tuakau.
