Opinion
Test requirements scrapped at last
I see the Government is scrapping its overseas returnee Covid-testing requirements. This is a step in the right direction, albeit rather reactive (again). I recently returned from India on a business trip. Getting there was easy, coming back was challenging. Even though the website said you
had 28 days to complete your details before your departure date, you only had 24 hours to get a Covid test and get a negative result to get a travel pass to come home. I self-tested negative twice before leaving and got a certified negative lab report but the stress came from waiting within those 24 hours for the New Zealand Government to respond. Travelling the world opens your eyes to how far behind the rest of the world we are in getting on with living. In India, there were no conversations about Covid, mask-wearing was by choice and potential tourists questioned why they would bother coming to NZ on holiday. Hopefully, that will now change.
James Pulham, Auckland
Paula Bennett
I thought Paula Bennett's opinion piece (HoS, June 12) was a bit OTT. You can do a pre-departure test at many testing centres outside the airport. Qantas' website has a list of labs that perform these tests. Having returned from Sydney recently, I got a RAT done 24 hours earlier for A$45 at a drive-through five minutes from where I was staying. Results came within the hour and I had my travel declaration completed and printed well before I came to the airport. No stress at all, if you're organised.
Pasan Kay, Pakuranga
Public space
Bruce Tubb (Letters, June 12) makes extremely valid points about the use or misuse of public waterfront space. Perhaps as a true environmental gesture, the marinas should be removed, together with the reclamations. That should include Wynyard Quarter and the old Tank Farm area too. And if the Ports of Auckland have to abandon their site we can get several hundred acres of seabed back there.
Brent Murdoch, Greenlane
Catmur was spot on
As a life-long fan of Francis Ford Coppola's masterpiece The Godfather, I really enjoyed Paul Catmur's opinion (HoS, June 12). His analogy was spot on.
R Burnett, Kingsland
