University club
We can have Maori and other Polynesian carvings on buildings, flags, official documentation and anywhere else in our multicultural country that declares their race and place. Homosexuals flaunt their sexuality and demand normality. The symbols of various other races and groups adorn many buildings and edifices yet a group of university students who identify as Europeans and want to proudly declare their heritage with ancient Celtic designs are somehow deemed to have to be racist.
I believe the racists are the people making the complaint.
Max Wagstaff, Glendowie.
Too late
The Labour Party has stubbornly ignored the writing on the wall for years since Helen Clark's departure. Voters have consistently called for a fresh look from Labour. Jacinda Ardern was consistently mooted as leader and the talented Stuart Nash as her deputy. At the end of last year I joined The Opportunities Party, along with a number of others whose patience with Labour had expired. I'm inspired by their fresh-look policies in contrast with Labour's "same-old same-old" approach.
No doubt Jacinda Ardern will become the Deputy Leader next week. Too little too late, Labour.
Heather Mackay, Kerikeri.
Fund strategy
Jim Rose is wrong to say the NZ Super Fund should only invest in passive index-tracking funds. If we had followed his advice there would be $5.4 billion less in the fund today. That's a lot of dough destroyed. Secondly, the fund would have virtually nil invested in New Zealand - compared to the $5b we have profitably invested in New Zealand companies.
In a global award-winning manner our activities and results are benchmarked for all to see. We continue to succeed in reducing the burden of future superannuation costs, way beyond a passive-index fund. Jim is right on one thing: the fund is not a political football, it is set up to invest on an independent, purely commercial, basis.
Adrian Orr, CEO, NZ Super Fund.
Judge power
Despite the scaremongering from Susanne Ruthven and Geoffrey Palmer, who want to impose a written constitution on New Zealand, I would rather keep the status quo, where we the people have control over our lawmakers by being able to vote them out, rather than appointed judges who cannot be sacked.
Geoff Parker, Kamo.
Call for inquiry
The advice Dame Susan Devoy had from Dr Ranginui Walker, "Whatever you do, don't give up", applies to us all. Today all of us must act, the brutality children of whatever ethnicity receive at the hands of their own Government must stop. Bill English must act right now. Today, somewhere at this moment, brutality is being dished out to a child.
Craig Fraser, St Heliers.
Name the culprits
Your article about the lack of fire safety compliance in a 65-unit apartment complex was indeed startling. But where were the names of the building's developer? It's builder? It's designer? And the names of the individuals in charge of those entities at the time, not just a flick-off company moniker. It is time those individuals were exposed to public censure for the immense harm they have caused to many and to the country itself.
Penelope Sender, Laingholm.
Overseas pension
I first came to New Zealand in 1961, married in 1963 and had three children, all three successful adults who contributed to our society. In 1987 my employer sent me to Europe to market New Zealand goods, mostly in the food industry. We had an office and a company in Germany where a KiwiSaver-like pension fund is compulsory. It is not like the tax-funded super we have here.
When I came back to New Zealand to retire, my children and grandchildren all living here, I found to my horror the Finance Minister wants to pocket my pension earned in Europe. It seems rather unfair, a kind of robbery. I assume this will also happen to KiwiSaver contributors to be fair to all citizens.
This practice has to stop. It affects a lot of New Zealanders who worked overseas, as well as emigrants who came here in the late 50s and early 60s.
Siegfried Jordan, Mt Eden.
Bain case
Justice Binnie should keep his head below the parapet. We paid him a small fortune to investigate the Bain compo claim and all he delivered was a seriously flawed report upon which no competent minister handling public funds could act. Justice Fisher pointed out the serious errors of law and legal reasoning in Binnie's report, and Justice Callinan, adopting proper legal principles and an appropriate analysis of the evidence, found precisely what Judith Collins could see from the moment she read Binnie's report.
David Bain was never going to be able to pass the legal test for compo, namely to prove his actual innocence on a balance of probability. Binnie now blames the police for allegedly putting pressure on Collins. She is not one to bow to pressure, as we have seen time and again. Binnie's speculation is hardly of the stuff that could survive even the most rudimentary cross-examination.
Dr C. G. Marnewick, Bucklands Beach.
Rescue effort
Congratulations to Dylan Holzheimer on recovering from his fall on to rocks in the Coromandel Peninsula as reported in your article on Monday. The article highlights the excellent service provided by the rescue helicopters. However, it does not refer to any of the professional volunteer services that also responded to this incident. Local Coastguard, Fire and St John's crews were also tasked to assist Dylan. Without the many dedicated volunteers around the country many people like Dylan might not have the same outcome.
Stuart Brown, president,Whitianga Coastguard.
Gag blown
Thank goodness your March 1 editorial has broken the gag of political correctness with regard to immigration. Voters like me do indeed fear that our nation's ethnicity, character and culture are in danger of being undermined. Only those with a great dislike for our nation the way it is would like to see it undermined.
Racial diversity is great but multiculturalism is a tiger no nation has ever tamed. Some immigrants arrive with a religious duty to make us fit in with their culture rather than fitting in with ours, as witnessed by religious ghettoes in the United Kingdom, for example, within which more and more autonomy is being demanded, and "outsiders" are made to feel unwelcome. A small nation like New Zealand should avoid that at all costs.
Tony Molloy, Morrinsville.
Trees disappearing
In response to Judith Mackereth, we agree Auckland needs its tree huggers. Without protection, inner suburbs will soon look like treeless outer suburbs. Trees are being felled at an alarming rate in the inner-city as well. This is because Auckland Council was forced to remove the tree protection that had operated successfully for years, when the Government amended the Resource Management Act in 2015.
This was supposed to streamline building consents. Five mature Pohutukawa trees have been felled in our street alone over the last few weeks. This was not to squeeze in more housing in an already dense suburb, but because the owners did not appreciate their beauty and environmental importance.
So next time you hear a chainsaw, think about the environmental impact on the birds you will no longer hear, the quality of the air you breathe, and the vanishing tree scape that is being destroyed.
Elviena Collins and Anna Killgour-Wilson, Parnell.
