Similarly for Newton and Nubia Santos (NZ Herald, April 15). They came here, settled down and became valued members of the community.
An oversight by a professional – not themselves – and another rigid response by the grey cardigan brigade sees them having to leave. What utter crap.
Geoff Orchard, Ōhaupō.
Bureaucratic lunacy
What a brilliant gem of bureaucratic lunacy has been delivered by Immigration NZ in the case of the Yussupov family.
Older Herald readers may recall Spike Milligan and Smile, but the fact is this ridiculous decision represents a nightmare for the family concerned. Can someone in the upper echelons of Immigration please inject some common sense and humanity into the situation?
Brenda Walker, Titirangi.
Drug funding
The Government has a great opportunity to please several sectors of the community at the same time – to resolve its cancer funding dilemma, it should introduce the long-justified increase in alcohol tariffs requested over years by various anti-violence lobbies and government-funded inquiries.
It would be a churlish person who would not feel a sense of satisfaction as they raised their glass, knowing they were helping save someone else’s life.
Fiona Downes, Hobsonville.
Extra EV fee
The road user charge on full electric vehicles (EVs) is now $76 per 1000km, plus the admin fee, which was quietly not discussed, even on the official road user charges (RUC) notice.
There it says: “You’ll pay $76 per 1000km plus an admin fee” – but no mention of that fee. It turns out to be $12 per transaction, which one learns only after going to the RUC website.
Considering it’s all automated, $12 per transaction is a hefty extra. I thought it was contrary to New Zealand retailing laws to hide the costs of any product?
Rob Buchanan, Kerikeri.
Boy racer deterrent
I don’t know if it’s more annoying or just plain scary that our police can’t get on top of boy racers. Any school teacher, sports coach or employer knows how important it is that everyone knows who’s boss.
While our police are figuring out how to do that, why don’t they paintball every car that turns up to a burnout? That would prove a serious disincentive for the boy racers to attend these events.
W. Radford, Kohimarama.
Offshore inspiration
Simon Wilson’s excellent Budget article (NZ Herald, June 4) hits the nail on the head – we have a crucial generational choice to make, but political self-interest is stopping us seeing it, let alone making it.
Wilson highlights two countries that have responded to similar social and economic challenges in opposite ways – Singapore through less tax with more personal responsibility, and Denmark as unashamedly a welfare state. Both are lauded globally as successes.
Meanwhile, New Zealand lurches from one election to the next, putting the self-interest of a few ahead of the directional choice our country needs so desperately to make.
So here’s a suggestion. Assemble a group of MPs representing all parties. Send them away together for 10 days each in Denmark and Singapore. Brief them to study the economic and political environments, but also to talk with lots of people in the street about the good and bad elements of their country. Take media along.
The outcome would be a report showing the benefits and challenges of each approach. Hopefully, it would be a consensus, but if not, the respective conclusions should show who supports which option and why. Then let’s reach a national accord and get on with it.
Ernie Newman, Cambridge.
Impossible ask
The journalist Polly Toynbee has a comment on the current British election which fits New Zealand perfectly: “Voters who think they stand aloof from ‘lying’ politicians might ask themselves how much they are to blame for demanding the impossible – Swedish-level public services and US-level tax rates.”
C.K. Stead, Parnell.
