Letters: Our readers' views

A selection of letters to the editor. Have your say by clicking the link at the bottom of this page. Please also see letters rules at the bottom of this page.

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Anne Tolley won the East Coast seat, according to your paper. Wrong! She secured fewer than half of the constituency votes. If we had the Single Transferable Vote system she might have secured a majority by securing some second preference votes.

Anne Tolley is not the only constituency MP who failed to secure a mandate from the voters of the electorate they claim to represent. Under MMP, only the overall balance of constituency and list members from each party is proportionate to the (party) votes cast.

Had Anne Tolley secured fewer constituency votes than her nearest rival she would still have been "elected" to Parliament under MMP, but as a list MP. I do not believe that this is democratic.

The advantage of STV, as I see it, is that voters can choose who they want to represent them. Under the current system of MMP, I did not vote for the MP who "represents" the constituency I live in; with my party vote I also had no say over the candidates the party chose, or how they were ranked. I believe that STV is a fairer system because voters can rank all candidates in order of preference.

I will be interested to see the outcome of the referendum. I was, frankly, shocked to hear that advance voters would prefer First Past the Post if MMP were to be replaced - FPTP is the least democratic of the four options offered as alternatives to MMP.

HAZEL AGNEW

Whakatane

I was appalled by the actions of some supporters of the two main political parties last Friday.

At one of the busiest intersections in Rotorua, Fenton St /Amohau St, several supporters were waving banners and gesturing like hooligans at passing vehicles. Also, a current Rotorua MP was shouting through a speaker system at the intersection.

At lunchtime it was National, and later on (5pm-ish) it was Labour.

I assume both these parties have a Road Safety agenda; however, the craving for votes showed the true hypocrisy of politics.

Let's hope, in time for the next election, those persons responsible will have reviewed their actions and counted themselves very fortunate not to have contributed to the road toll.

A WILLIAMS

Glenholme

New Zealand's assets were paid for by the taxpayer - we, the people, own them.

The Government, as a legal entity created by us, acts as an administrator to our assets and has no legal rights to ownership. This Government needs to be presented with a challenge in court with regards to legal rights of the true owners of our assets versus assumed rights of an administrator.

What we are seeing is a major crime against all taxpayers about to happen, and unless people take a stand and take their MPs to task about these possible sales, then this crime will proceed and we all will have lost some very valuable assets that we will never get back.

D BARNES

Lake Tarawera

It's always very tragic to read of the death of a woman and/or child on our roads. In last week's case, a logging truck was involved.

I frequent the roads around Rotorua, particularly SH33 and SH36 heading to the Bay of Plenty. On these roads I am forever grateful we have a 100km/h speed limit - about 62 miles per hour. I would hate to have these logging trucks on the British roads, where the speed limit is 70 miles per hour, though most vehicles on motorways stick to 80m/h. Fortunately, also, most British trucks are underpowered.

During the 50s and 60s, truck drivers in the US and Canada used to be awarded points and prizes for the number of commendations they received from fellow road users - the truck drivers in those days were helpful, considerate and friendly, always stopping to help motorists in trouble.

One of the worst aspects of the journey to Tauranga and Whakatane is having to run the gauntlet of bullying truck drivers and motorists with a death wish (and probably no insurance or licence).

The lack of a police presence doesn't help much either.

Out for a pleasant drive up the coast, only to have a massive double-trailered logging truck driving at 100km/h behind you is not going to make your day relaxed and carefree.

Is it not time that more policing of these two roads was brought into force - maybe a few prosecutions would help make the roads safer.

JIM ADAMS

Rotorua

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