Letters: Child poverty, cost of living payment, inflation, the ruble, and Shortland St

Dame Whina Cooper's great-great-granddaughter Iyesha Puru-Tawa, 19, sounding a pūtātara in Kaikohe. Photo / Peter de Graaf, File

Opinion

Squandered resource
I agree with the activists referred to in your recent article (NZ Herald, July 29), who urge the Government to ensure the changes to the Working for Families welfare scheme actually reduce child poverty.
The Government says it is committed to a significant and sustainable reduction in child poverty in New Zealand.
Dame Whina Cooper said, "Take care of our children. Take care of what they hear, take care of what they see, take care of what they feel. For how the children grow, so will be the shape of Aotearoa".
Our leaders need to be brave and make policies that put the welfare of our children first. But the people of New Zealand need to understand what this means and make the same commitment.
They are all our children, our most treasured resource, and each one that fails to thrive, dims the future for us all.
Deborah Sim, Glen Eden.

Embarrassing riches
"Handout embarrasses absent Kiwis" (NZ Herald, August 1). Firstly, the cost of living payment is intended as a "hand up". For those Kiwis living abroad and feeling embarrassed at being included in the category deemed to be in need of some support to manage the current cost of living, the solution is simple. IRD cannot possibly be aware of where every New Zealander earning up to $70,000 in the last financial year and over the age of 18 is residing at any given time.
Rather than miss anyone, everyone receives it.
If the payment is not needed, inform the IRD with a "no, thank you" and return the payment. You will feel the warm inner glow of having done the right thing.
Then take a moment to be appreciative that your country has a Government that cares about its less well-off citizens and "puts its money where its mouth is".
Be mindful too that there are hundreds who do not need the National Superannuation payment and are neither offended nor embarrassed to accept those fortnightly payments for the rest of their lives, residing in New Zealand or not. Now perhaps that is, truly, "disrespectful to hardworking taxpayers".
R Selmeci, Orewa.

GFC lesson
Those who blame the Government and the Reserve Bank for the current high inflation have either very short memories or an axe to grind.
Following the global financial meltdown of 15 years ago, a huge amount of new money was put into circulation in countries throughout the world to avoid economies contracting and high unemployment.
Economic theory would say that more money chasing the same amount of goods and services creates inflation because prices rise.
Did it happen then? Most certainly it did not – from 2007 to 2020 the average NZ inflation was 2 per cent. That's remarkable but true.
This time, the additional factor is supply constraint and a colossal increase in freight costs – neither the NZ Government nor the Reserve Bank can influence either of these new factors. Blame Putin and Covid for inflation.
Tony Sullivan, St Heliers.

Ruble roulette
People may recall the boast by Joseph R. Biden Jr. that sanctions would turn the Russian ruble into rubble. If that is the case, then the New Zealand micro-currency is not doing too well either.
Russian prices, some from persons we know and some by third-party reports, converted to NZ dollars: For 95 petrol, $1.43 a litre; pork, $9.50 per kg; chicken breast, $7.90 per kg; milk, $2.38 a litre; sunflower oil, $3.17 a litre; and sugar, $1.59 per kg. Supply is plentiful and prices, especially for fruit and vegetables, are reducing as the harvest comes in.
Perhaps the Ardern/Robertson combo could do worse than ask Elvira Nabiullina how to run an economy under stress.
G. N. Kendall, Rothesay Bay.

Welfare bashing
I once read an adaption of the story of the Little Red Hen in the back cover of the 1974 Tauranga telephone directory, condemning amongst others, beneficiaries.
In 1986, I worked for a farmer-come-orchardist who complained about the unemployed on the benefit while also complaining about his loss of subsidies, aka welfare. In 1998, Jenny Shipley's government put ads on the radio accusing beneficiaries of committing welfare fraud if they took part-time work, effectively closing the most reliable way of gaining full-time employment.
John Key in 2007 took a predictable swing at beneficiaries as well.
NZ Business ran an article in either 1996, 97, or 98 on NZ businesses not wanting to employ long-term beneficiaries because it might require extra work - a confession of bosses' work-shyness?
After 40-odd years of consistent defamation of character, I think too many beneficiaries have just written NZ employers off as being of bad character. And too many kids grow up not seeing their parents work.
Businesses won't employ beneficiaries, so businesses enforce generational welfare dependency.
Wesley Parish, Tauranga.

Blown away
At times. Denmark has run its entire power grid on wind power alone and, on April 3, more than 97 per cent of California's power came from just wind and solar.
A decade of technical managerial systems and engineering progress has put the design and management of grids dominated by renewables within the grasp of people who run electric grids and, in the above cases, the fundamental barrier to the transition away from fossil fuels has been done away with.
This raises the question of how much progress in that direction is being made by our Government and, more specifically, the Greens - which they were surely voted in to do.
Gary Hollis, Mellons Bay.

Return to centre
From 1987 until 1997, I was employed by NSW TAFE in Australia at its head office in Sydney. From that office, we ran over 110 TAFE colleges across the state.
Planning, policy, payroll. IT, etc were run efficiently with no input from politicians (apart from photo opportunities when college facilities were opened).
My colleagues and I worked hard and effectively to deliver a low-cost high-quality product. When John Howard came to be PM he insisted on a decentralised model. Land was purchased, new offices built or acquired and more staff hired to operate the new "regional cluster" system.
We watched on in dismay as millions of dollars of taxpayers' money was wasted as functions were duplicated in the new model. A simple cost/benefit exercise will prove centralisation is the most efficient administrative model.
John Sharpe, Tauranga.

Emission impossible?
Excellent indeed is Jamie Mackay's article (NZ Herald, August 2) re: the emissions-cutting plan. Brief, succinct, to the point, humorous and very easy reading.
I believe strongly that all New Zealanders need to familiarise themselves as much as possible with what is at stake for us relative to the effect on our small, fragile economy and relative to the resultant redistribution of wealth within our population.
The main driver of our economy is that we produce food - full stop. To legislate anything that might damage our major source of income is nothing short of criminal.
There is, appropriately, much talk of the current risks of foot and mouth disease - but what about the risks of where Dr Rod Carr's emissions plans are taking us?
And please, I am not in denial that climate change is happening.
Steve Clerk, Meadowbank.

Biofuel backdown
The closure of the Z biofuel plant (NZ Herald, August 1) and the Government's biofuel mandate is a clear example of the folly of picking "winners" by the Government.
It's the Government's job to create the environment and give the support to double the renewable energy production in the next 20 years. For that to happen, a renewable energy strategy has to be developed which creates a level playing field for producers and consumers, and aggressively supports any increase in the production of renewable energy.
It's then up to the consumer to decide to choose what suits the individual or business best, be it methane from a biowaste digester, or electricity and hydrogen to replace coal, petrol or diesel.
Chris Kaelin, Te Awamutu.

Problem-solvers
In response to Hugh Webb (NZ Herald, August 2), why should the Opposition suggest workable solutions?
As we have seen in the past, Labour will take these ideas and say it was working on them all along.
We will all see what the solutions are when Labour is voted out next year.
As the saying goes, "never interrupt your enemies when they are making a mistake".
Mark Young, Ōrewa.

Rope on a soap
The idea of using the TV series Shortland St to promote nursing is just a step up from what has been going on for years on that show.
Any regular viewer will have noticed on the wall and fridge in the "staff room" posters for blood donors, Shine, Women's Refuge, Youthline etc.
Adding positive storylines about nursing may sound novel to those who deem themselves too superior to watch the country's longest-running drama but the message will however reach a wider, more receptive, audience.
John Capener, Kawerau.

Short & sweet

On sport
Look, we all know there is a "funk" out there but why not embrace the sporting success at the Games (forget about thugby) and avoid all the back-biting that accompanies a pre-election year? Hamish Walsh, Devonport.

On hold
IRD blames expats for not notifying it they have left the country. Does it not realise that most people haven't got days to waste trying to get through to it? Wendy Tighe-Umbers, Parnell.

On skills
We were brilliant rugby ball passers for 50 years then Wayne Smith changed the way we pass - he knows nothing about science. It's the same reason the Black Caps can't bat -coaches teach hands and head instead of feet. Richard Jones, Christchurch.

On expertise
If I had a dollar for every time I see or read the word "expert" in the media, any financial problems I may have would be eliminated. Garry Wycherley, Awakino.

On positivity
There are a lot of good things happening. It's time to stop being so gloomy. Jeff Hayward, Auckland Central.

On orbit
It will be relieving to most of us that the crew of the ISS (NZH, Aug. 2) is so culturally sensitive and generous in their use of te reo Māori during their flyby. Brian Cuthbert, Army Bay.

The Premium Debate

Who has the worst job - Ian Foster or Adrian Orr?

This is just for the argument's sake, if Ian Foster was making poor decisions like Orr, the impact of Ian's decisions is not severely felt by everyone. We are experiencing a living costs crisis as a result of Orr's decisions not Ian. Cindy S.

Adrian has the smarts to run the ABs in his spare time. He was a good hooker in his day, played against him in Taupō. He probably will end up running the IMF. Hal L.

Why did the RBNZ/Adrian Orr allow people to borrow cheap money to fuel an already overheated market? They have since been forced to virtually double interest rates to control inflation. It was business that needed help during the pandemic, not the real estate market. Wayne M.

It is not that the jobs are bad, it's more a case of whether the people in them are suitable to do the jobs they are tasked with and, in this instance, I would say no. David S. Who has the worst job? Taxpayers under the current Labour Government. Pip P.