Cruel treatment
How offhandedly cruel ACC is toward people at the most defenceless and stressful time in their lives, (Herald, September 22 & 27).
New mum Alicia Freeman, in excruciating pain with a fractured tailbone after giving birth, and special needs toddler Lucas, who sustained a severe foot injury while being
treated at Starship hospital, have had their lives shattered.
In both cases, independent medical assessment contradicted ACC findings. What happened to ACC's stated purpose of "while recovering from a significant injury we want you to have access to the right level of support at the right time"?
ACC appears to be adept at delays, prevarication and layer upon layer of reviews, whilst these families and possibly many more suffer. Currently, 93 per cent of new claims are for treatment costs only.
One has to wonder whether ACC's 2009 loss of $4.8 billion permeates the operational philosophy today. At the time, the ACC chair vowed to take a "hard-nosed approach".
All organisations must operate within budgetary constraints.
As the present Government seems fond of restructuring, it may be time to re-evaluate ACC. It's hardly a sterling advertisement for Labour, whose raison d'etre is being kind.
Mary Hearn, Glendowie.
Will to work
I've volunteered at beneficiary support organisations for 20 years.
In my experience, there is a sizeable cohort of beneficiaries who are capable of working but won't. I've asked people why they won't go and look (and get) work. Their answers boil down to "it's too hard to hunt for work and the benefit gives me enough anyway".
There is also a cohort unable to work full time for medical reasons – e.g. dialysis - who would work, but employers won't offer part-time work:
I had a friend who was a dialysis patient for 25 years and he volunteered because he couldn't get paid work. He was fortunate to get a transplant and shortly thereafter, was able to (finally, in his words) get a well-paid full-time role.
Andrew Parsons, Ōrākei.
Urgent action
I disagree with Stewart Hawkins (NZ Herald, September 28) in his criticism of the police for the action they took to gain access to the CCTV network to track persons they believe had created a potential spread of the Covid virus.
The women concerned had border passes into Northland issued by an authorised government worker. When one of those women later tested positive for the virus - and allegedly went into hiding – a massive search was put into action. To prevent a spread of Covid, police took steps, including accessing the CCTV network to track the woman.
Those steps were as necessary as they were urgent. The action was taken for the benefit of the country as a whole.
How simple it is now to criticise the police. Do the critics believe they ought to have taken time out and sought court approval to access the CCTV records, in the meantime allowing the virus to spread and delaying the Northland lockdown?
Des Trigg, Rothesay Bay.
Apology offered
Simon Wilson's criticism of the Taxpayers' Union in "Auckland mayoralty: unanswered questions for business about Wayne Brown" for the union's outrageous failure to criticise Auckland Mayoral candidate Wayne Brown for what the Auditor General in 2012 described as Brown's "unwise" mixing of private and public financial matters when he was Far North Mayor, is totally deserved.
In response to calling us out, I would like to offer an apology to Wilson and the public at large for this 2012 oversight and the deliberate bias we displayed in waiting until late 2013 to form the Taxpayers' Union.
To put things right, I commit to going back in time to ensure the union goes on record to criticise Brown. Perhaps Wilson might lend me his time machine?
Jordan Williams, executive director, Taxpayers' Union.
That's progress?
I suspect Grant Kemble's and Neil Donnelly's smiles (NZ Herald, September 26) will not be emulated by homeowners whose main ingress/egress is Carrington Rd. Four thousand more dwellings compute to up to 10,000 or more person-movements daily along this long stretch of relatively narrow road, already choked at rush hours.
That aside, surely those destined to inhabit the dwellings will not be thrilled at the artist's depiction of the planned environment either.
Naturally rolling contour flattened, mature shade trees a distant memory despite these warming times and six-storey square blocks?
Amsterdam and other European cities were doing intensification so much better in the 70s with landscaped contours, small right-angled hedgerows with sheltered seating, water features, mature trees, etc to soften hard angles, please the eye and lift the spirits of apartment dwellers.
New Zealand is not an overcrowded Third World country. Our lovely city surely can do much better for those who will never have the pleasure of their own homes.
Juliet Leigh, Pt Chevalier.
