Should Greens co-leader Chlöe Swarbrick have been asked to leave Parliament's debating chamber? Photo / Mark Mitchell
How many te reo Māori words are too many?
How utterly ludicrous that the Ministry of Education will cease printing the primary school reader At The Marae because it contains too many te reo Māori words, with vowel sounds that are different to those in English words.
Many years ago, I had the pleasure of being employed on several Scandinavian vessels. All the younger citizens of Sweden, Norway and Denmark I worked with were fluent in at least two languages apart from their own national language and that did not impact on their ability to pronounce the varied and numerous vowels in their own language variants. That was a time when most Pākehā New Zealanders were appallingly ignorant of how to pronounce simple Māori greetings and place names.
And I thought that we had moved on as a nation. Not so in some quarters, it seems.
Ian Francis Burke, Kaitāia.
Spine and guts
In 2015, then Prime Minister Sir John Key yelled across the House that the Labour opposition leader Andrew Little needed to “get some guts” to support sending troops to Iraq.
Key incurred no Speaker’s sanction. Why, then, in 2025 does Chlöe Swarbrick get dismissed from Parliament by Speaker Gerry Brownlee for a week for querying the spine of Government MPs for delaying their decision on whether to align with the overwhelming number of countries supporting a separate Palestinian state?
David Sanders, Torbay.
Leave it to the US and Israel
Chlöe Swarbrick was ejected from Parliament for the rest of the week.
We used to be such a humble country.
Surely if she took a reflective assessment, she would realise that she’s a small person in a small country, far removed from the decisions regarding Gaza.
A more humble person would accept that Israel is backed by the greatest country on earth, with some of the greatest minds from the greatest universities.
The decisions as to the actions to deal with the “Gaza problem” must be based upon sound analysis of weighty input and data from some of the top minds in both America and Israel.
Swarbrick should humbly accept that they are closer to the issues and must know best.
Simon Damerell, Ponsonby.
NZ’s lack of integrity
I am bewildered by the lack of integrity and concern shown by our New Zealand Government.
Why do they need so many weeks to make a simple humanitarian decision and to recognise the state of Palestine?
In the past, I felt so proud of New Zealand, as we have led the world in so many similar times.
Please don’t make me so embarrassed by this decision you keep sidestepping.
Mary Amoore, Pukekohe.
Do they want my vote?
Once upon a time, the National Party was the conservative one looking after big business and the rich. Labour was the socialist party supposedly concerned about the lower-income workers and the poor. Do they still?
It’s no wonder the ordinary citizen has lost faith in these parties when everyday services that affect our ordinary lives are closing down or being minimalised.
For those who are not internet-connected, where does one buy a stamp? Post offices are being closed down, and now stationery and bookshops that sold stamps are also closing down.
In our area on the North Shore, the ASB Bank has closed down several offices and withdrawn ATMs, several Post Shops have shut, and very few places are selling stamps.
These are the little things that affect many ordinary people. We used to do so much government-related business at a Post Office. Now, so many government departments hide from taxpayers behind unhelpful automatic phone replies, or refer you to a website that only a teenager could get around.
The question now comes: why should I bother voting this year? The representatives on local boards and city council don’t appear to be doing anything about these everyday inconveniences.
MPS have too many other important things to do, like stuffing up the country, to worry about us little people and our way of life, so I probably won’t bother voting next year either.
If they can’t be concerned about how I live, an ordinary everyday taxpayer, why should I worry about whether they get voted in, survive or whatever?
David Speary, Northcote.
Emissions add up
There are those who believe our country’s carbon emissions are minuscule and will have no measurable effect on the changing climate.
Any emissions, minuscule or not, add to the global climate crisis. This is real and can’t be ignored or denied because it’s inconvenient for the likes of Shane Jones and his “drill, baby, drill” approach to our future energy resources.
If more small countries follow the science, the greater the impact will be.
“Minuscule” is still an emission. It all adds up, either way. Only one way is the best way.
Jeremy Coleman, Hillpark.