Judith Collins and Gerry Brownlee should cease deliberately spreading rumours by innuendo, exaggeration and incorrect statements simply to scare New Zealanders into voting for National. Isn't it preferable to have a Prime Minister who makes evidence-based decisions in conjunction with a team of experts in the various Covid-19 relevant fields before going public? I think so. Judith, stop using the Donald Trump playbook.
Rachel Merritt, Whakatane
Border demands
While there are many questions to be answered I wonder how your Labour-bashing opinionists feel about National demands only a short time ago that the borders should be opened. You can't have it both ways. For evidence just look at the disaster in Australia. Your writers are not asking pertinent questions but just continuing to play politics, and National has been reduced to promoting Trumpian conspiracy theories to try and discredit Labour's efforts.
Garry Bond, Hastings
Surgical approach
The latest Covid-19 management decisions are reminiscent of using a sledgehammer to crack a walnut. There should be a way to apply a much more surgical approach. This depends on using test kits that can produce a result in under half an hour and using high powered contact tracing teams i.e. working on contact tracing all night with large teams of helpers. It also means requiring people to notify health staff if they have symptoms and carrying out immediate quarantining. It also means that the elderly need to be quarantined/protected. The higher lockdown levels should then be only applied to strategic smaller areas based on the contact tracing. The numbers of personnel required to police this could be supplied in part by the armed forces. Besides these things it is important to allow most other people to continue in business as much as possible. This is how Taiwan has successfully handled the virus.
Stephen Eichler PhD, Ōhaupō
Workable solutions
One family has coronavirus and the whole country grinds to a halt again, didn't this Government learn anything the first time? If distancing and masks are sufficient protection in the supermarket or pharmacy why can't they be used in other shops and businesses so the economy can continue? Maybe bars must close but there is no reason why I cannot don a mask to buy paint from Bunnings, compost from the Plant Barn, fish and chips from Toby's, meat from the Mad Butcher or get my car serviced by a mechanic. These businesses and many more will be disadvantaged and some will have to dump tonnes of perishable food for no reason, and just when they were recovering their losses from last time. The administration needs business input to form workable lockdown rules which control the virus without crippling the economy.
Alan McArdle, Glen Eden
Acting selfishly
Panic buying and mass escapes from Auckland's imminent lockdown certainly show that many Kiwis have no self-control and are acting very selfishly. It's all "Me", "Me", "Me" and not "we" as a united nation. "We" are all in this together believe it or not and if "We" don't stick together and "work" together over this insidious pandemic then go make sure your funeral arrangements are up to date. I won't be, because like the majority of "sensible Kiwis" I will be in self-isolation following good Government advice. Good on you Jacinda, I support your government's actions totally. Anyone daft enough to consider opening our borders to big business opportunities is another of those "Me" people. Have we forgotten already about the "Me" "Me" people in Victoria, Australia? Poor buggers!
Bob Jessopp, Auckland
Data security
Nothing Juha Saarinen says in his comment "NZ in blast radius of US-China tech war", comes as any surprise. US security expert Bruce Schneier's covered much the same sort of thing on his website schneier.com, and it's old news at TheRegister, the irreverent UK-based tech news site. The major problem I see with the likes of dear old Google, Facebook, and what-not having such a large amount of our personal data to on-sell to interested parties, is that neither the US tech giants nor their data consumers are renowned for data security. Nor for that matter are various organs (security or otherwise) of the US Federal Government, which likewise claims the right to vacuum up data from everybody. I expect the latest data on citizens X, Y and Z to enter the data silos of the NSA, CIA, etc, are available to the PRC and Russian surveillance agencies within the hour. And vice versa. The Seventies threw up the useful expression "digging your grave with
your teeth". I guess the security agencies and tech giants will go all out to prove the truth of that expression.
Wesley Parish, Tauranga
Money for racecourse
If its aim is developing the regions to generate employment, "power up prosperity" and "enable better social outcomes", how can the Government justify allocating $10.4 million (one of the largest allocations) for a racecourse in Christchurch city? Apart from the urban location, the "soon to be stranded asset" argument (an old boys' game), and Covid-19 priorities, the only growth, once built would be in the betting industry. This is not known to generate "better social outcomes" for families. The PGF was generally understood to be a development fund to revitalise the regions. Development is ideally the best use of human and material resources to produce a better standard of living for beneficiaries. Areas of controversy, as in this case, may be the beneficiaries (present and future); key development foci invested in or bypassed; and the nature and ethics of development processes applied. Would including adequate representation of women on key decision-making panels ensure the interests of women and children are taken into account? I hope transparent evaluation will be done which shows how often they were beneficiaries of this fund and future such funds.
Frances Palmer, Titirangi
SHORT & SWEET
On stocking up
It surprises me that whenever Covid-19 rears its ugly head, people rush to the supermarkets and stock up with toilet paper while neglecting to buy face masks. It just goes to show which end of our bodies we consider most important.
Alfred Hoyle, Rotorua
On supermarkets
With us being forced to buy from supermarkets only looming, and small businesses getting snubbed, I guess the mighty supermarket duopoly will be busy buying up mattresses. They will need to stash their extra cash somewhere.
Glenn Forsyth, Taupō
On Brownlee
Why would any of the people of Christchurch vote for Gerry Brownlee when he failed them as Minister of Earthquake Recovery and many have still not had their homes fixed? Now he has the audacity to suggest that the Government would hold back information which could result in Kiwis losing their lives as a result. This man wants to be Deputy Prime Minister; God help Kiwis if he ever becomes Deputy leader.
John Laing, Drury
On Collins
Why doesn't Judith Collins stop bleating on about everything, Covid-19, the election, she has nothing constructive to say about anything. She is worse than Simon Bridges ever was. God help all of us if she was ever made Prime Minister of New Zealand.
P. Dixson, Henderson
On symptoms
All along we have been told to stay at home if not feeling well and especially with cold and flu-like symptoms. However the latest Covid-19 people have gone off on holiday and spread their bugs. Sadly some will never learn to follow basic and commonsense practice for the benefit of all.
Kay Robinson, Henderson
