Your views: Readers' letters

Voting matters

It seems many students do not care whether they vote or not.

It seems common to think that a voter is only voting for the person. In reality, when you vote you are voting for actions that will be taken later down the road. If there is a prime ministerial candidate who says interest on student loans should be decreased but is not elected, the winning candidate may not think student loans are an issue.

You may think this is not an issue now, but once you graduate and have to pay back those loans you will wish you had voted for that candidate who wanted to lower interest.

Voting for a candidate who shares your views increases your chances of a better life once you graduate. If you think voting won't affect you now, think how it might affect you in four years. As people say, if you don't vote, you don't get the right to complain.

If all college students voted, they would make up 20 per cent of the voting population, enough to sway an election.

Everybody, no matter what age, has an opinion on current issues, and young adults can voice their opinions through the power of voting.

No student wants to pay off loans well into adulthood, so if a majority of students voted, they wouldn't have so much student debt.

Election candidates know how powerful young adults can be, which is why they reach out to students and try to win them over. Students hold a lot of power in the way elections will go, but only if they vote.

Sure, this your parents' future as well, but it is mostly yours. What is decided now will affect the future of everyone, even in the next 10 years. Any decision made by a PM in their term has an effect, good or bad. We are the next generation, and if you don't like the way things are being decided, vote. The only way to get your opinions out there is to vote for that policy you have an opinion about.

Determine your place in the future.

MATTHEW URRY
YNZF Whanganui

Demand honesty

As chairperson of New Zealand Seniors Party, I took a bit of time researching NZ First policy on seniors and pensions. Their web page states the following objectives:
New Zealand First will:

■Maintain New Zealand Superannuation entitlement at 65 years as a universal, non-contributory, publicly funded pension scheme with no means testing.

■Raise the minimum residency requirement for full NZS from 10 to 25 years after age 20.

■Abolish Section 70 of the Social Security Act 1964, ensuring all NZS applicants will retain their overseas pensions without any deduction from their NZS or from their spouse's NZS.

■End the labyrinth of bureaucratic complexities and unfairness caused by existing reciprocal pension agreements with other countries; Overseas pensions are no business of the New Zealand Government.

New Zealand Seniors Party, on behalf of those affected by Section 70 (89,000 immigrants and 50,000 returning Kiwis), will hold NZ First to their election promises.

We challenge Mr Peters and NZ First that, if they find themselves in the position to be king- or queen-maker, they make these policies a prerequisite to forming any coalition Government.

It's time all political parties were held accountable for the promises they make to get themselves elected.

New Zealanders have the right to demand honesty from parties and politicians; they should be forced to resign if they make promises they cannot keep. If we cannot trust our elected representatives, who can we trust?

PAUL REA
Chairperson, NZSP
Hawera

War crime

As the late Malcolm Muggeridge famously pointed out, "It is true that the delay in creating public pressure for euthanasia has been due to the fact that it was one of the war crimes cited at Nuremberg.

So, for the Guinness Book of World Records, you can submit this: that it takes about 30 years in our humane society to transform a war crime into an act of compassion."

It is true that proponents of euthanasia try to cloak it in careful language and euphemisms. Incorrectly applied and used to hide or fudge the reality, words are weaponised much the same way that propaganda departments have waged war throughout the decades and centuries.

They attach the word "voluntary" to euthanasia, call it "compassion", and imply that being killed is the only true way to die with "dignity".

It is pretended that this is all for the best for the victims and that it will somehow become moral if enough people vote for it.

What is needed in this upcoming election is for voters to check if the candidates are in favour of protecting the most vulnerable members of our society, or if they support the reintroduction of this war crime.

K A BENFELL
Whanganui

Baxter statue

I think it ironic that Wanganui officials are considering having a statue of James K Baxter installed.

During Baxter's time at his commune in Jerusalem he was harassed, intimidated and indeed, virtually forced out by the local council. James very much disliked hypocrisy, pettiness and greed that were themes in his greatest poetry. And let's not forget his humorous "pub poems".

And to be sure, something should be written about his anti-authority rebelliousness underneath the statue.

REX HEAD
Papatoetoe

Editor's note: The Baxter statue is not a council project. It is the plan of a private trust formed for the purpose. It was the now-defunct Wanganui County Council that Baxter came into conflict with at Jerusalem - quite a different beast from the present Whanganui District Council.

Send your letters to: The Editor, Wanganui Chronicle, 100 Guyton St, PO Box 433, Wanganui 4500; or email editor@wanganuichronicle.co.nz
During the general election campaign period, no opinion columns or letters to the editor will be accepted from candidates unless they are to correct factual mistakes.
Electioneering letters from those involved in the campaigns of candidates will also not be accepted.
However, readers' letters on issues that concern voters are always welcome.