Douglas Anderson, Glendowie.
Living rivers
From here at the mouth of Maine's Penobscot River, I am delighted to learn of the New Zealand Parliament's recognition of the Whanganui River as a living entity. I wholeheartedly join the sense of celebration of the Mauri, congratulate parliamentarians and hope all New Zealanders can take pride in adopting this needed and exciting legislative innovation. It's implications are promising for life.
Carol Kinsey, Maine, USA.
Organs donated
The story in your paper on Wednesday about the tragic death of Gabby Marsh was very sad but extremely heartwarming at the same time. In addition to the totally selfless legacy that this wonderful woman left our society, is the extended story of what magnificent role models her parents are to every other parent in the country.
Her mother and late father can be eternally proud of the fantastic job they have done, raising such outstanding members of the community, in their three beautiful children. If their story and recipe for parenting were to be used to teach others how to raise caring, sharing and loving children, the world would be a much better place.
Gavin Sheehan, Milford.
Tired opposition
So the All Black coaching staff are reluctant to take on England in November as the players would be exhausted at the end of a long season. By contrast, I'm sure they are looking forward to meeting the British Lions, a group of 37 players cobbled together from four nations, after their long season.
Before playing the All Blacks the Lions will meet seven of New Zealand's very strong regional sides, containing a total of 161 players when you include the bench. With the way the game of rugby has become incredibly physical, I wonder how many replacements will have to fly out from the UK to replace injured Lions.
Richard Wynne, Henderson.
Shocking attack
Nikki Kaye does herself no favours by launching such a vitriolic attack on Jacinda Ardern in Parliament. I am shocked she has revealed this side of her personality, and disappointed she is using an unpleasant tactic normally employed by male MPs. By indulging in this sort of rhetoric, she has knocked back the hope that women, and particularly young women, could change the nasty culture of our parliamentary debates.
M. Rennie, Whakatane.
Exam errors
It is a disgrace that national examination papers can be produced containing errors such that students are unable to answer the questions. The root cause, a panel has found, would seem to be a failure in the checking system, but even more telling is the statement that no one individual was responsible for the blunder. In other words there is no accountability. In all of these cases, surely there is one individual who is responsible for the standards set and it is that person who should be made ultimately accountable.
Paul Beck, West Harbour.
Murray Ball
A good piece on Murray Ball, and a fine tribute to have your placard featuring a grieving Dog. A pity, though, that the stage show Footrot Flats the Musical didn't get mentioned since, with more than a 150 productions here and in Australia, it is far and away the most successful New Zealand-made musical and grossed as much as the film.
Whilst the writers can take some credit (I being one of them), it was affection for Murray's characters that sold the show. When Wal made his first appearance on opening night, the audience gave him a huge cheer and the show was an almost guaranteed success after that.
Roger Hall, Takapuna.
Library changes
It's understandable people voice concern when they hear changes are being made to libraries but it's important to be clear about the facts. There is no plan to close libraries, reduce hours, or diminish the vital role of libraries in our communities.
As the way people use and interact with our library network is changing, we need to change too, whether it's providing more ebooks, education and activities for young people or developing online research tools. We now have a 10 per cent - and growing - shift in demand from printed material to the electronic world. We need to move to a more digital-led way of working. That is the aim of our "Fit for the Future" programme which we are working through in consultation with our library staff.
The final programme will be announced next month. It will allow us to create a contemporary library service that offers value for money for ratepayers, and aligns our resources and services to meet the demands of a fast-growing and increasingly diverse Auckland.
Mirla Edmundson, General Manager Libraries and Information, Auckland Council.
Dotcom film
I find it incomprehensible as to how or why the NZ Film Commission felt that a worthy funding project would be a film on Kim Dotcom. Surely, even though much of his wealth may be frozen, he could have funded it himself if he felt it necessary to glorify himself? The trailer seems to suggest Dotcom feels himself a hero and was quite justified in the hacking and downloading which made him a fortune. I could suggest to the Film Commission many more worthy projects for funding on this scale.
Bill Ward, Te Aroha.
Health insurance
In his opinion piece, Roger Styles says, "We just need to address some of the disincentives that stand in the way of more people taking out cover". He may not have noticed that a major disincentive is the eye-watering increases in premiums as people get older that have forced many to cancel their policies and throw themselves on the mercy of the public health system, thus threatening its long-term sustainability.
Ian Dally, Henderson.
Immigrant labour
Matthew Ridge's car washing business is paying arrears to 97 mainly immigrant workers after employment abuses. It makes one wonder how many of these workers are the highly skilled immigrants New Zealand's immigration policy is supposed to favour?
Bringing unskilled workers from poor countries is a recipe for corruption. Overseas there are corrupt foreign agents selling false dreams to the unfortunate. And in New Zealand there are businesses thriving by exploiting immigrants. Clearly anyone desperate to attain New Zealand citizenship will put up with injustices that natives would report to the police.
Bob Atkinson, Birkdale.
Boosting productivity
Commentator John Gascoigne is right that there is no need for a Super age rise if production per citizen is boosted but he does not say that this requires a higher rate of capital investment per citizen. Unless we attract more foreign capital investment to raise productivity the way it is done in the "banana republics", the only way to raise our wealth and productivity is through saving and investing more capital ourselves as individuals and a nation.
However, trying to achieve that through freely consumable tax reductions will clearly result in only a proportion of that money ending up in boosted productivity investment, compared to the lot being invested with the NZ Super Fund. The latter is also more democratic with the whole nation participating in the retirement wealth creation, whereas most tax reduction money invested will primarily enrich the already rich and endow only them with the ability to boost productivity.
Jens Meder, Pt. Chevalier.
