Is it time for a Covid management agency to oversee all New Zealand arrivals? Photo / Dean Purcell
No excuses now Prime Minister, you now have the mandate to get some real work done.
First on your list of priorities must be to establish a Covid Management Authority at the border to work in conjunction with the Ministry of Health. We cannot remain paralysed by fear of
the virus.
This will ultimately strangle our economy.
This authority should be overseen by your most effective minister and be tasked with the
development of robust protocols and procedures that ensure the safety of the population while also safely accommodating the inflow of the people we need to boost the economy.
The only reason for not allowing entry to overseas workers or technical expertise or foreign students or yacht crews or wealthy tourists etc, is that we don't have the systems in place to safely do so.
Lessons need to be learnt from previous failures in this area and all efforts applied to the formation of a comprehensive and failsafe regime at the border.
Shall we remain gripped by fear or shall we be aspirational, innovative and ambitious for the restoration of our economy?
You alluded to the answer to this question three years ago. "Let's do this."
George Williams, Whangamatā.
Three years ago Jacinda Ardern, a virtual unknown outside the corridors of power, was handed the Labour leadership three months out from an election, one they seemed destined to lose by a very large margin.
Ardern grabbed the reins, whipped her caucus into shape and took the win from under National's nose.
Three months before the election we have just had, Judith Collins, very well known all over NZ, was dealt the same hand.
National's disastrous performance really has very little to do with Covid and much to do with leadership, or rather, the lack thereof.
Our PM took the opportunity with both hands and nailed a great result, Ms Collins didn't.
The good ship National hit the reef it had been heading for, for rather a long time simply because nobody took the helm.
Covid and any other distractions are not a valid reason for their loss, just a very poor excuse to hide behind.
Jeremy Coleman, Hillpark.
Without actually saying so, Steven Joyce (NZ Herald, October 19) correctly identifies the ugly unilateralism of the Muldoon era as the trigger for change to MMP and more inclusive, equitable government.
Other right-wing pundits seem to have difficulty swallowing the dead rat of the Labour landslide, persisting in "blaming" Covid and the PM's star quality. They refuse to acknowledge that the overwhelming shift in party voting was a rejection of the bully-boy, "one way, my way", adversarial politics that persists at the heart of the National establishment.
People want good government, not bad politics.
D B Hill, Freeman's Bay.
The pundits are right. A lot of us usual (but swinging) National voters deliberately gave the Labour Party a huge mandate so the far-left Greens could be excluded from government.
I hope Ardern acknowledges and acts on this or the 2023 election might not look so sweet.
The same voters gave New Zealand First a boost in the 2017 election assuming they would go with the biggest polling party (National) and curb immigration. They have now paid for their treachery.
Max Miller, Red Beach.
Smug right up to election night, the Greens pushed their wealth tax policy as a top priority, if not a bottom line.
It's a miracle they increased their number of seats in Parliament pushing that agenda, which seemed to have overtaken climate change in importance to them.
Thank heavens for all the National Party voters who thwarted this inane unfair green tax grab by voting Labour. Now the Greens can no longer hold Labour to ransom for green schools or any other silly social policies not already on Labour's to-do list.
Best the Greens stick to what they do best and concentrate on cleaning up the environment and saving the planet from pollution.
Coralie van Camp, Remuera.
The Green Party will get more government spending and action on climate adaptation if it leaves Labour in charge with its own Minister of Climate Adaptation.
The Green Party would make sure that Labour is really working at a maximum on the crisis. The Green Party must put all its time and energy on ensuring Labour develops plans based on advice from many ecological, agricultural and horticultural experts on how we are to earn a living from our land with the weather changes that are occurring.
If the Green Party's efforts in criticisms and encouragement lead to historical changes, it will get it many more seats in the 2013 election.
New Zealand's endless grasslands methods of land use are dated.
Thousands of Kiwis must get work in nurseries, orchards, fodder trees on farms, advisors and appropriate increased research. Thousands of houses must be built throughout NZ to provide homes for these people.
We can't continue with farmers not having enough staff to get the best economic returns from the land they own.
Martin Toop, Hamilton.
Yet again we have witnessed an election in which candidates in an electorate have been defeated only to gain access to Parliament via the party list. This, in my opinion, seems inherently wrong and I believe it was never in the spirit (if not the letter) of the electoral changes which ushered in MMP. Gerry Brownlee in Ilam and Nick Smith in Nelson should accept that the people have spoken (vox populi) and they have been voted out. To return to Parliament via the list is, in my view, unconscionable and they should resign immediately. I hope that the Electoral Commission will look to close this loophole. Candidates should choose to either stand as an electorate candidate or stand as a list candidate; not both.
Stephen Alpe, Royal Oak.
Ever since that chartered accountant Sir Robert Muldoon tweaked to the skies our business tax breaks, NZ has been tax-penalising ordinary employees.
Sixty years of computer progress has allowed banks, insurances, and others to close so many branches putting so many workers out in the wilderness.
It's time for a new tax regime penalising workerless profits – you get concessions only by employing. In this way we can provide a liveable income for all by reducing the distorted wealth of the mega-rich who are creaming it via technology that should be funding all society.
Jim Carlyle, Te Atatū Peninsula.
It seems US evangelical voters are turning their backs on Trump - finally.
As a media-savvy, bloodhound Trump was cunning enough in 2016 to smell out large numbers of votes by harnessing the Christian sector.
Not a matter to him that he has never had a single drop of ecclesiastic blood in his 312lb body.
Hand-on-raised-Bible - after tear-gassing protesters in Lafayette Square in front of his Whitest House - was part of the duplicity. Trump playing the showman's shenanigans to boost his ratings with the dwindling base.
But will the US ever separate religion from politics? And will it ever embrace other religions to share its Supreme Court bench, where religion and justice are playing out their own battle?
Rob Buchanan, Kerikeri.
On election
Using the same logic espoused in 2017, with 50.9% of the vote, all the other parties could get together to form a coalition and claim that voters did not want a Labour Government. Gary Andrews, Mt Maunganui.
I believe in poetic justice. In 2014 and 2017, National allowed David Seymour to take Epsom in a "cup of tea deal". In 2020, Seymour takes a very large sip of that cup of tea. Eric Bennett, Red Beach.
It's either centrist or to the left for Government policies. It's obvious most Kiwis would appreciate the latter. Rex Head, Papatoetoe.
The media were quick to attack Judith Collins for any perceived flaws during the campaign. Why is there no outcry about the appalling speech delivered by Kelvin Davis on election night? Janie Weir, Newmarket.
After the dreadful, appalling and gloating speech by Kelvin Davis, my advice would be to change his filters as they clearly have ceased working. He is a chink in the Ardern armour and he will be an obvious target. Dave Miller, Tauranga.
We were watching Kelvin Davis begin to read his poem when Three decided to switch away. Any chance you could get this poem printed in the paper, please, as it promised to be quite entertaining. Joyce Laing, Drury.
On anthem
If the National Anthem continues to be de rigeur at rugby test matches, it should be rendered with competence and respect. It was butchered at Eden Park on Sunday. Peter Clapshaw, Remuera.
On cats
Ethan Sills wrote a great review for Mary Poppins. I have just one issue: The lions of the Civic are not lions, but Abyssinian panthers. Jean Smith, United Kingdom.
Police say they are following lines of inquiry to catch the offender.