On wards and up wards
Our Prime Minister, Jacinda Ardern, and her Ministers had no alternative but to borrow billions of dollars, to help her team of five million through the Covid-19 crisis.
Of the approximately $60 billion dollars borrowed, much of it was spent in good areas, such as wage subsidies,
etc.
Regrettably, many billions were wasted as other commentators have pointed out.
Imagine the accolade Ardern would have received if she had built $15 billion dollars of new upgrades to our hospitals.
A desperately needed new hospital in Auckland, at say Greenlane, upgraded Manukau hospital and built other new hospitals and upgrades throughout New Zealand.
That would have been a true legacy to her leadership and one we could all physically see, touch, admire and feel good about.
But it is not too late for Jacinda to nudge Grant and say give me $15 billion for the above.
As Professor Harvey White (NZ Herald, February 28) has said, we will have many New Zealanders with "long Covid-19" and this will put enormous pressure on our already overloaded and fragile hospital system.
Tom Reynolds, St Heliers.
Lessons learned
As a Kiwi expatriate, it is with joy that I've received the news that the Covid isolation restrictions for returning New Zealanders have been lifted. The two years that the isolation requirement policy has been enforced have been tough, particularly when many of us have been fully vaccinated for well over a year.
There are lessons that hopefully have been learned by the current Government.
A significant increase in health infrastructure spending is needed.
Lagging six months behind the rest of the world in ordering vaccines must not be allowed to happen again.
The NZ economy has been further badly damaged by the failure of the Government to allow fully vaccinated travellers who test negative for Covid to visit NZ over the last year. Those travellers support what was the biggest earner of overseas funds for the country. The message of "kindness" that is propagated so prominently has taken a beating. Huge numbers of Kiwis were hurt by being denied entry for compelling personal reasons.
Let us all hope a crisis of this nature never happens again. But, if it does, the leadership gets better and more practical on managing it than what has transpired.
Quentin Durward, San Diego, USA.
Extreme backers
The thought that agent provocateurs may be among us funding and organising the "freedom protest" is deeply disturbing.
The presence of "Trump" and "Q-anon" flags at these rallies, organised by far-right conspiracy theorists concerns me and now we have attacks on the "fake news" media – actual violent physical attacks which is even more alarming and getting closer to people serving in Government.
Jacinda Ardern has become a focus of right-wing news outlets' derogatory reporting, from Good morning Britain, Sky News Australia to Fox News in America.
I guess that is the weakness of right-wing politics – there is no room for any other dogma which must be destroyed. Hopefully, that is largely why its adherents are in the minority. Election time will tell whether this blitz of negativity sways the masses.
Paul Cheshire, Maraetai.
Way we were
Like Jean McIntosh (NZ Herald, February 28), I am saddened at how much life in New Zealand has changed since she and I emigrated here. When I arrived in 1962, everyone had a home and a job. Families could live in an affordable state house or the family benefit could be cashed in to provide a deposit on a home. Most of us lived on the proverbial "quarter-acre section".
But it is unfair to blame the current Labour Government for the changes. The previous National Government, to achieve its "rock star economy" ambitions, invited anyone who had enough wealth to invest to come to New Zealand and buy up homes and property, which they did in large numbers.
At auctions, bids were raised out of the reach of ordinary homebuyers who are now forced to pay enormous rents to live in a matchbox making it impossible to save enough money to ever buy a home.
The present Labour Government has simply inherited this situation.
Anne Martin, Helensville.
Common ground
When I arrived in Aotearoa in 1981 from New York, where violence was commonplace and brusqueness was an official language, New Zealand seemed a beautiful and calm respite, but not always perfect.
It was the Muldoon era, and there were political turmoil and divided opinions. Over ensuing years, New Zealanders have united in the darkest hours, with compassion and love. The Christchurch earthquakes, the terrorist attacks at the Christchurch mosques, and the White Island tragedy.
My admiration for my adopted country was reinforced on February 22, 2011. I was evacuated from the red zone in the Christchurch CBD to Hagley Park. There was no cellphone coverage and roads were ripped to shreds. It was impossible to reach my husband who was at AMI Stadium. Through the dust and chaos, a taxi driver trying to find his own family drove me to the stadium. It took 90 horrific minutes and he, a total stranger, refused any money. That kindness and caring were repeated many times over the years.
I don't give a toss if I sound like an emotional old woman but we need that now. We need consensus and compromise. We need that New Zealand back.
Mary Hearn, Glendowie.
