Letters to the editor: MP should reconsider this brave conversation

Our children deserve to learn about the history of Greerton and be proud to say its name, not sad and afraid, writes a reader. Photo / File

My 7-year-old daughter attends Greenpark Primary School.

The first topic they learned about this year was the Treaty of Waitangi.

Towards the end of last term, they also learned about the Battle of Gate Pa and the impact it had on our people, our land and where we come from.

There was also a class trip to St George's Anglican Church and the Pā at Pukehinahina.

My daughter, with her classmates, learned about the suffering her people endured during this time, fighting for something that was rightfully theirs. Men, women and children - her ancestors - dying for defending their home.

Tauranga MP Simon Bridges mentioned online that he wanted to save people's confusion by not going ahead with the name change. I see confusion because Greerton is named after a man who was in charge of the deaths of so many. I see confusion on my daughter's face as she is taught that she is growing up in a town named after, what in my opinion, was a murderer.

This is history. This is a part of who we are, all of us. I ask Simon Bridges to re-consider this brave conversation.

Our children deserve to learn about the history of Greerton and be proud to say its name, not sad and afraid.

Holly A'Court
Tauranga

Past can't be changed

Why are some people intent on erasing reminders of the past as if this will somehow make things better?

The past cannot be changed and we should learn from any mistakes of the past (which are not ours).

Changing the name of Greerton will benefit no one.

There are enough problems to deal with in the here and now without wasting time and energy on such a pointless exercise.

Steve Porter
Welcome Bay

Bin issue

The introduction of the Tauranga City Council bins will, I expect, hurt some well-established local businesses that have served us for years.

Why then does the council not contract their bin collection service to some of these businesses instead of propping up the economy of a foreign company?

Ian Young
Papamoa Beach

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