Not-so surprise ending
Simon Wilson (NZ Herald, January 18) uses books and movie titles that have alerted us over the years of destruction to our planet. One I've never forgotten was On the Beach, by Nevil Shute, a story set in Australia of radiation from the Northern Hemisphere. The ending left
a family on a beach, looking toward an approaching darkness.
We came through that dark period, but we're still left with its waste, which makes some places unusable for thousands of years. In Russia for instance, we have sightseers running around with artefacts taken from the Chernobyl radioactive site. Where they go from there we do not know.
But this pales into insignificance when we see the approaching changes to our planet taking place right now. We are not changing our behaviour quickly enough. We're not successfully talking to each other, not getting through to those in power, nor as yet have businesses on board. And we are not individually taking responsibility for what we buy, how we travel, what we throw away.
Wilson talks about which debates have been tried in stopping climate change, claiming this decade, and "them some" will tell. Do we have the "them some" years left? We may not have a beach to sit on this time.
Emma Mackintosh, Birkenhead.
Tongan relief
I watched our Defence Minister on Al Jazeera talking about New Zealand's assistance to Tonga after the volcanic eruption and tsunami.
Mindful that this was the feature item on their hourly news bulletin, I was hoping Mr Henare would come across well. In actual fact, he was brilliant.
He spoke eloquently and gave viewers around the world the impression, quite rightly, that we in NZ are very concerned and caring about our Pacific neighbours in Tonga.
He explained that HMNZS Aotearoa can carry 250,000 litres of water and, with a desalination plant on board, will help greatly with drinking water which is a high priority. We in NZ should be proud of our Navy and also of Defence Minister Henare. In my view this is exactly the sort of work I want to see our defence forces doing.
Glen Stanton, Mairangi Bay.
Making our luck
Re: "Has NZ dodged another Omicron bullet?" (NZ Herald, January 18); throughout this pandemic NZ has had a lot of "luck".
What needs to be understood is the factors which have made us "lucky" and other places "unlucky".
The most likely scenario is that Covid has frequently breached the border but failed to seed. It has most likely failed to do so because our largest city has a relatively low population density, relatively mild climate, a dead CBD and little public transport.
We also have a population mostly compliant with public health advice. NSW took the brakes off in the first half of November and has had, until recently, considerably looser restrictions than we have
Restrictions carry with them a very high cost and it is not okay to sit back and say "that is a nice surprise", bank the win and continue with policies that we know have damaged hundreds of thousands of New Zealanders without some serious debate.
It appears way too easy to continue with the application of the precautionary principle unchallenged.
Andrew Montgomery, Remuera.
Follow the money
Phil Goff's response (NZ Herald, January 18) to Greg Sayers' article (NZ Herald, January 14) on Auckland Council spending fails to address the key area of the huge increases in staff numbers and pay levels.
Parkinson's Law is at work here for all to see. Simplistically, this law states that in any bureaucracy "work expands to fill the time available for its completion".
More specifically it explains that, firstly, any official strives to multiply the number of his or her subordinates to increase their own importance and, secondly, officials make work for each other to justify their own existence.
If we add a third corollary, namely that all officials seek to increase their own pay levels (as a demonstrable proof of their value to the organisation) then you have the three key reasons behind what is currently happening at Auckland Council.
Sayers' claim that "the payroll bill requires an immediate 20 per cent reduction" is clearly right on the money.
John Denton (Auckland ratepayer), Eskdale.
Rolling in it
Mayor Phil Goff (NZ Herald, January 18) , while extolling infrastructural project developments, studiously ignores the elephant in the room. Council payrolls, of nearly $963m per annum (26 per cent of employees are currently paid over $100,000 pa) by any measure, are out of control.
Public sector pay scales now outstrip government and council rates by a reported 30-35 per cent.
Rationalisation and savings of council payroll costs could produce immediate recurrent and sustainable annual savings that are measured in the "hundreds of millions of dollars".
Mayor Goff, in his election campaign promised cost efficiencies. It is now past time for him "to deliver".
Larry Mitchell, NZ local government finance & policy analyst.
