Letters: Building over Auckland, Christopher Luxon, Northland holidays, and Dominion Rd

Opinion

Hammering the environment
In 2019, Auckland Council declared an intention to "put climate change at the front and centre of our decision-making". That was followed by the Government declaring a climate emergency, trumpeting the reduction of carbon emissions and protecting the environment.
Such actions don't seem to apply to the current property development frenzy in Auckland. Developers, who can afford to outbid all others, make their quick bucks but neighbourhoods are left with lasting negative environmental impacts.
Residential sections with mixed vegetation are important for carbon sequestration. Hundreds are being denuded each year for houses to be crammed in. Mature trees, including kauri, fall victim to chainsaws. The soil ecosystem is stripped away, replaced by gravel and concrete. There is barely a blade of grass on many finished projects, so rain is not absorbed by soil but drains into waterways. Trees and shrubs planted are mostly exotics such as palms, rather than flowering feeders for native birds and bees.
Now the Government wants to increase building heights which will create shade. This will have a detrimental effect on the health of the inhabitants in affected homes and on the growth and viability of plants.
Matt Elliott, Birkdale.

Right places
Like every other new government policy, whether at local or national level, more intensive housing must be judged by the possibilities it presents for reducing the immediate impacts and long-term damage already being inflicted on us by climate change.
Allowing higher rise and closer-packed housing is going to be a good thing only if it occurs in or around suburban "villages" where more people will be enabled to walk and cycle safely all their short trips, or on either side of main roads where there is already a viable option of using public transport.
We must be careful to maximise the advantages of the policy by careful choices of routes, and of sites for stops and stations.
Rose Lovell-Smith, Mt Roskill.

Here's hoping
Simon Wilson (NZ Herald, November 30) described the National Party: "Candidates have been characterised by rank opportunism, sleaze, and a panicky predilection for rushing hither and yon; in search of a credible leader, a coherent Covid response, a constituency to call their own, a core strength, a reason to be."
A good government needs a strong Opposition. Unfortunately, we have neither.
We have a Government that promised to focus on child poverty; it's got worse. A Government that was going to solve the housing shortage; it's got worse. A Government that was going to tackle global warming; even its allies the Greens say it's failed. The background papers for the "traffic light system" will not be published until next year; and this from a Government that promised to be the most transparent ever.
Let us hope that the new leadership of the National Party will make a better fist of it than the last leaders did. With a strong, focused Opposition we might even get a better government.
Nick Hamilton, Remuera.

Unwelcome description
Several correspondents recently have referred to Christopher Luxon as a middle-aged, white man. It goes along with the "pale, male, and stale" epithets.
If I was to refer to someone as a brown, middle-aged woman your correspondence columns would, rightly, be filled with people telling me I had no right to refer to anyone in those terms.
David Morris, Hillsborough.

Failed ideology
Christopher Luxon seems bent on returning the National Party to the "free market forces" ideology that has failed the bulk of New Zealanders over the last 20 years.
He may get back some of the former National Party members who defected to the Act Party but he will not lift any of the poorly housed and underfed out of poverty.
Robert van Ruyssevelt, Glendene.

Let them come
The Bay of Islands tourism industry employs more than half the workers in the mid-north and is in danger of permanent damage.
Operators have been hanging on by their fingertips. Just when bookings were coming in, we have a group of agitators talking about closing the Bay of Islands off to Aucklanders. While most of us know this cannot happen without civil violence, many still believe that the Government might allow this to happen rather than buy a fight. We just need a Government spokesman to say this will not happen.
Already bookings are being cancelled by nervous families who don't want to be confronted by this sort of thing.
If the agitators want to do something, they should put up their roadblocks around towns in the north and stop the locals - looking for those not vaccinated and sending them home. Northland has the biggest number needed for the area to get to 90 per cent vaccinated - a staggering 9000. That is not the problem of Aucklanders who have done the right thing.
Northland needs to take ownership and stop trying to load the blame on mainly vaccinated Auckland.
Geoff Minchin, Kawakawa.

Easily scaled up
Your correspondent Christina Robertson (NZ Herald, November 30) suggests trackless trams would necessitate the same level of cost, work and disruption to install compared with surface light rail and would provide lower capacity.
The Dominion Rd Business Association has made the effort to talk to the international manufacturers of trackless trams and other experts who confirm that the roads don't need strengthening (except perhaps for where the stations are located), no relocation of services is required, the capacity can easily be scaled up from the existing base of 7000 passengers per hour to meet the required demand for the foreseeable future, and the whole project can be done at a fraction of the cost of light rail – without destroying businesses in the local board ward of Albert Eden that Robertson represents.
Improvements to this emerging technology are being made all the time and it is a shame that trackless tram detractors, including the Light Rail Establishment Unit, haven't bothered to take the time to investigate these new developments. We await with great interest to learn of the Government's decision in the next few weeks.
Gary Holmes, manager, Dominion Rd Business Association.

Farm work
David Mair's letter (NZ Herald, November 29) suggests how well the agricultural sector is going is down to Jacinda Ardern's diplomatic skills. Really.
Apart from the high-quality products the farmers and the dairy companies produce which in itself helps sell a product, the Chinese market has been built up over many years by many people long before the present Prime Minister.
The shiny new tractors and utes mentioned in his letter aren't toys. They are important to run a farm. Many of the large tractors seen, especially in the first demonstration a few months ago, were owned by contractors supporting the farming sector.
Just for the record, my shiny John Deere tractor is 18 years old, does dozens of different jobs each year and is used most days.
To replace this relatively small tractor is about $120,000 - twice the amount we take and live on from the farm.
Bruce Turner, Cambridge.

Enough talk
We all know policing is not as safe as it once was. But after an incident, all we hear is talk and more talk from the police chiefs and politicians.
For example, what's the point of the commissioner stating the obvious after a hit and run incident that left a constable injured by saying it was cowardly? Of course it is but the question most want answers to is, what are you going to do to stop this and that goes right up to the top of the chain.
Talk won't solve anything. It's time some firm deterrents were employed. Arming the front line and backing them when things go wrong would be a good first step.
Paul Beck, West Harbour.

Trigger happy
The quickest way for New Zealand Police to seriously damage public support will be to have them routinely armed.
They already have access to weapons. They do not normally head into a gunfight and in recent events, even being armed, they were shot at.
Routine arming would make no difference.
This is not the wild west of the USA. Having spent two years there recently, I noted the many police force abuses which are regularly repeated with people being shot, essentially for not complying with police verbal instructions in a minor non-life-threatening situation. They are power and trigger happy.
Police must never be armed in New Zealand.
Dennis Pahl, Tauranga.

Site-seeing
I urge everyone who may be on either side in this Erebus memorial debate to visit the site in Dove-Myer Robinson Park.
You will see a temporary mock-up showing the location and scale of the proposed structure. You can assess for yourself the possibility of any effect on the adjacent 200-year-old pōhutukawa tree, possibly the oldest in the country.
You would note that 30 or 40 paces away is a memorial to 38,000 Dutch who lost their lives in war. And at the same time, you could enjoy a stroll amongst the roses in the adjoining Parnell Rose Gardens.
Derek Smith, Newmarket.

Short & sweet

On firearms
I'd rather Auckland Mayor Phil Goff had "zero tolerance" for unarmed police than for armed criminals. Mike Wagg, Freemans Bay.

On Luxon
Karl Marx was right. History does repeat itself. First time as tragedy (Key) - next time as farce (Luxon). Peter Beyer, Sandringham.

Isn't it refreshing to have someone in the room who actually answers the questions being asked of them, rather than waffling around the answer? Mike Baker, Tauranga.

Until dissidents such as Simon Bridges and Judith Collins leave the building, the hot seat will remain hot. Reg Dempster, Albany.

Sir John Key's nod of approval to Chris Luxon says it all. Gary Hollis, Mellons Bay.

On mayor
I'll support any Auckland mayoral candidate who admits a rail link to the airport will be redundant versus a fleet of driverless electric vehicles, and who will ban private helipads within 5km of any other private residential property. Stewart Hawkins, St Heliers.

On parking
Inner-city Auckland is ready to open cafes again. How about giving those businesses a leg up with an hour of free parking in the CBD? Hamilton and Nelson already have. Jeremy Hall, Hauraki.

The Premium Debate

Luxon's first steps

Luxon comes across very well, great choice. Willis will make a great deputy and I'm sure we'll see Reti, Bridges, Bishop in top spots. The fact he's a relative newcomer to politics is irrelevant to me. His strength is management of a large company, not spin-doctoring. As for his religious beliefs, get over it. Steven W.

Luxon has given New Zealand a lot of confidence that the National Party will soon re-emerge as a government in waiting. The gangs of intolerant misfits have no ideas how to deal with him and can only attack Luxon on his Christian beliefs influencing his politics, which has been shown irrelevant and only a mud-smearing campaign. Mark I.

I am wary of anyone with very strong religious views that they believe should in some way govern the overall behaviour of people who don't share those views. Being Christian or Muslim, Hindu, Jewish, or Hare Krishna (etc) doesn't disqualify someone from important public office. They all share the same important principles, which are also shared by most atheists and agnostics and the rest of us. What matters is how those principles are applied. Ed W.

Isn't it strange, with meth an epidemic, gun crime on the rise and all the other ills of society, that the apparently the worst thing a person can be is a Christian? Barbara P.

The announcement of Luxon as leader has been greeted by the Right with religious fervour. Any new leader for National would have received the same response given the "anyone but Collins" sentiment. There is a tinge of hysteria because this is the last throw of the dice. Luxon is the kitchen sink. The problem is that he represents no fundamental change to the public. He is just the corporate mask on exactly the same face. And if Luxon fails in 2023, which looks likely, then their only hope is for Ardern to retire to stop a four-term Labour Government. Rick F.

Congratulations to Chris Luxon and Nicola Willis and the rest of the National Party. It was an outstanding first-up speech and good to see short precise answers to the media. Well done and let's hope this is the future. 2023 is looking a winner if yesterday is anything to go by. Good luck. David S.