A healthy balance
It is hard not to feel some sympathy for Andrew Little. Having always been on the other side of the bargaining table, he is now running the health system and seeking to balance all the competing budget demands.
If there is merit in unifying all the DHBs into one
system, it is the potential co-operation that can be achieved both on the IT front and also to address those currently not served well in minority groups or in rural areas.
The one health system due for implementation at the start of July should be given a chance to prove its effectiveness for all New Zealanders long before reintroducing other silos in the form of any additional health authorities. Why not get one system right and take stock as to whether another is needed?
Why not put money into proper remuneration for health staff? Value health. Pay hospital nurses appropriately so they don't head to Australia. Address the pay differential for aged care nurses by increasing subsidies for rest home and hospital care systems.
Caring staff did the heavy lifting during the pandemic for all of us with little real recognition. They are sick of being exploited. Get one system right.
Chris Chrystall, Epsom.
Banking profits
The shame of bank profits going to Australia (NZ Herald, June 1) is that the New Zealand Government is paying a large proportion of them as a result of making financial institutions exempt for GST purposes.
When GST was introduced, the banks made a collective bid to be exempt from collecting GST because the fractions of GST to be collected would be difficult to calculate on their abacuses.
However, now with the supercomputers that they are using this should be a relatively easy task to collect and pay to the Government.
Making the banks exempt from GST, means that the GST paid on all their purchases – rent, machinery, plant, stationery, power etc, are all available for a GST tax refund, direct from the New Zealand Government. Aren't we mugs?
Graeme Berryman, Titirangi.
Watson appeal
Two long blonde hairs found on a blanket recovered from his sloop were highly likely to have been Olivia Hope's. This put Olivia in Watson's sloop – powerful evidence of Watson's guilt (NZ Herald, June 1).
When Watson was first interviewed by police he lied about what he was wearing on New Year's Eve. Photos were soon found to show Watson wearing different clothing than he'd described to police. Police asked him to bring those items into the station. He didn't. If Watson is innocent and had nothing to hide, one would think he would have located the clothes. If he is innocent, as he claims to be, after being named the prime suspect in a double murder, you would find and present the clothes to the police. It is obvious he didn't want the clothes forensically analysed.
Watson also never said the words "I didn't do it" during the trial. Failure to deny has been proven as a key indicator of guilt. The most important thing to an innocent person is to deny they did something; the truth is their biggest ally.
Mark Young, Ōrewa.
Smoke signals
The Pacific nations have been very vocal about the lack of action by countries like Australia and New Zealand on climate change. This inaction, they say, puts them at risk from rising sea levels.
I note that China produces as much CO2 in 30 minutes as New Zealand produces in a year and, yet, a number of Pacific nations are happy to sign up to aid from China.
Another case of dollars overcoming principles.
Michael Sommerville, Beachlands.
Work choice
Regular correspondent Reg Dempster once again (NZ Herald, May 31) has drawn a somewhat familiar conclusion between the so-called haves and have nots.
His reference to the "rich" deriving their profits from the working man is an example of the entrenched thinking of how not to achieve a balanced society.
People who choose to work for another person or entity do so of free will and they get paid money to do this.
The fact that they are working for a person or entity that has risked all in many cases to build a business is somewhat forgotten.
Paul Jarvis, Ōrewa.
