Both of the above have excellent references and a very high work ethic, but how do they find employment?
We would be grateful if leaders of any political persuasion could provide an answer.
George Wilkinson, Epsom.
Police resources
At 11.15am on Friday, I was stopped at a drink-driving checkpoint in Pakuranga where I observed that seven uniformed police officers were present.
According to the policeman who stopped me, they had caught four offenders for being over the limit in the almost five hours since the checkpoint had been established. From his demeanour, he regarded this as a good result.
Obviously checking for drink-driving is important, but with potentially 35 police man-hours being used in this exercise, it seems an inefficient and wasteful use of police resources.
Brett Atkinson, Epsom.
Bridge breakdown
Recently I went over to Northcote and Kauri Glen Reserve. There, along with many others, I walked over a beautiful new bridge among the tops of mature Kauri trees. The bridge cost $2 million and I consider the money well spent.
Yesterday, I went to the Viaduct Basin. The bridge there has to be left up permanently as it requires extensive maintenance, which will take many months. The cost of repairing the Viaduct bridge is $2m - exactly the same as the Kauri Glen bridge. The Viaduct bridge is a vital piece of the city, with 9000 people using it each Saturday and Sunday in 2022.
Its repair needs to be fast-tracked so that Aucklanders and tourists can enjoy this magnificent area of our city.
Rosemary Balme, Howick.
Power privatisation
Chlöe Swarbrick’s article (NZ Herald, May 15), which covered the privatisation of power companies in New Zealand, showed her lack of commercial knowledge and experience.
It is a well-known fact that private enterprise is more successful in operating businesses than the Government. Privatisation resulted in higher profits, which of course generated more taxes for the Government, and also enabled higher dividends to shareholders.
What Swarbrick fails to appreciate is that the Government is still a 51 per cent shareholder in the power companies, so receives 51 per cent of the dividend distributed. She also overlooks the benefit thousands of New Zealanders are getting from their KiwiSaver investments for their retirement, as most KiwiSaver funds would have a good exposure to the power companies listed on the New Zealand stock exchange. Also many New Zealanders would have taken up shares when the shares were offered to the public.
In my opinion, privatisation has been very successful.
David Sewell, Napier.
Where’s the plan?
There have been three interesting economic opinions published in the NZ Herald lately.
Chlöe Swarbrick threw some light on the staggering dividends paid to gentailer shareholders, by far the largest shareholder being our Government. Why have income taxes when artificially high power prices are doing the same job?
Fran O’Sullivan recommended the Government follow the example of Singapore and sell off its remaining shares in the gentailers to supplement the lower tax take (NZ Herald, May 18). Has she forgotten what happened with the BNZ, New Zealand Railways and Air New Zealand? On top of that, Singapore’s miracle economy is due mostly to its strategic location as an ideal hub for international trade. How is copying Singapore going to help a nation of primary producers in the remotest corner of the Pacific?
Then we have Heather du Plessis-Allan recommending we stop the drain to Australia of our nurses and policemen by paying them more, funded by tax cuts (NZ Herald, May 19). I’d like to see that miracle.
Perhaps we need to require our Government to do what local authorities must. At all times, have a 10-year plan that provides a basis for accountability to the community. And please let it make sense.
Maurice Robertson, Torbay.
