Auckland Mayor Wayne Brown. Photo / Michael Craig
Politicians who stick to their beliefs
I have to take issue with Simon Wilson’s analysis (August 5) about councillors who annoy Mayor Brown, some of whom are now facing his hand-picked opponents.
As a former councillor, I have worked with Alf Filipaina, Wayne Walker and Mike Lee, and Wilson’s criticisms are unfair and misplaced.
They are particularly unfair in that we are leading up to an election and I believe Wilson’s piece did not clearly spell out the factual basis for his criticism.
Does Wilson like politicians who suck up to the Mayor and get a few crumbs thrown from the top table? Personally, I like politicians who stick to their beliefs and who challenge the mayor’s authority.
I did not stand for a second term in Auckland Council because the tone was combative and the mayor of that time did not build a team. No subsequent mayors have done so.
By contrast, when Mike Lee led Auckland Regional Council, he did build a team of disparate politicians. We never caucused separately. During his leadership, the ARC brought the Auckland rail network into the modern age, kept the ports in public ownership, purchased three regional parks and acquired land for a 24 hectare park on the waterfront.
Since amalgamation, in 15 years, not a single new regional park has been purchased by Auckland Council and the waterfront park has not been developed. The loss of the ARC’s Metropolitan Urban Limit has allowed costly sprawl in all directions.
It is an unfortunate development that Mayor Brown is seeking to control more of the councillors. Robust debate is essential to good decision making. Compliance encourages authoritarianism. Auckland deserves better.
Sandra Coney, Auckland.
Road user charges
Chris Bishop enjoyed using his “electricity” painless billing analogy.
Just imagine creating “time of use” billing.
Drive cheaper off-peak, dearer on peak - effectively an incentivised congestion tax.
The future is using AI chips to control the roads. There could be road sensors that detect the impact of your vehicle and in real time charge your RUC bill.
Overloading your car will be just like weighing your travel bags at the airport.
Initially, the PR man will pull the RUC from under your feet so slowly it will feel just like having the wool pulled over your eyes. Before you realise it you’re addicted to cheaper off-peak driving. You could even buy off-peak travel cheaper in advance. Road planning genius.
Steve Russell, Hillcrest.
Road tolls to follow?
So road charges on petrol and EVs will be dropped in favour of electronic devices which will measure vehicle user usage, presumably from number plate recognition and charged accordingly.
I fail to see the difference and surely [this] must be a clear example of the Government giving with the right hand and taking with the left. To make matters worse, low-paid workers - which make up most of the workforce and do most of the commuting to work five to six days a week and are least able to afford it will - be the most punished.
And that is not to mention the huge cost of setting up the gadgetry and paperwork involved in collecting the road user fee, which amounts to road user charges in another disguise with road tolls soon to follow.
Gary Hollis, Mellons Bay.
Mind-numbing entertainment
Besides the numbing overload of commercials, I’m also saddened to see the current poor fare offered by TVNZ 1.
Other than 1News, it consists of mostly reality shows, quiz shows and a sprinkling of soap operas.
Where are the thought-provoking documentaries, dramas, comedies and news features that once were a feature? It looks like cost-cutting and a race to the populist bottom now rule the roost.
Mind-numbing entertainment driven by growing commercialisation of our last state-owned television station. It’s hardly any different now from the other commercial television channels.
Can’t one television channel at least be funded to put out high quality programming for the benefit of society?
Jeff Hayward, Central Auckland.
It’s the economy, stupid.
Matthew Hooton’s weekly article in Herald has once again exercised my literary juices.
He is right to point out that the most important problem facing us is the economy. I, like many, believed that if a National-led coalition won the last election, it would be the biggest hospital pass in the history of New Zealand politics. And so indeed has it turned out to be.
Then Hooton spent the remaining and major portion of his article attacking the Government’s work on race relations and also the stance taken by Hobson’s Pledge.
The race relations issue was another hospital pass which has become a very hot potato and is also a major problem in an ever increasing cosmopolitan NZ.
Sometimes I am not certain whether I am reading Matthew Hooton or Simon Wilson or indeed Simon Hooton or Matthew Wilson.
All of the above gentlemen would be best advised to pretend they are in Government and inform us of precisely what they would do to solve the multitude of problems we face, rather than continually sniping at the incumbents.
Steve Clerk, Meadowbank.
Pendulum policy swings
The main problem the NZ Government has suffered from for decades is the extreme pendulum policy swing that takes place each political electoral change.
For any future hope for NZ economy to improve and thrive, all politicians need to work in collaboration and ensure that this pendulum always stops midway -with no extreme right or left economic policies of business wealth versus social welfare benefits.
How can we come to a balance as a country with everyone contributing their fair share of meaningful work, savings, taxes, leisure, learning, healthy practices and rest time and with our politicians legislating to create a level playing field for all?
We used to have it until social welfare imploded and money and greed became the new religion.
Marie Kaire, Whangārei.
Auction obsession
I have often wondered why New Zealanders are so obsessed with selling houses at auction. Is this approach truly in the best interests of sellers and buyers, or is it largely driven by real estate agents looking to maximise their commissions?
In most leading Western democracies, properties are typically listed with an asking price based on market value, allowing for more transparent and measured negotiations. Wouldn’t it make more sense for New Zealand to adopt a similar model, establishing fair value before setting a sale price?
Auctions, in contrast, seem to create a hyper-inflated sense of urgency and competition. I am convinced they often have an unnecessarily inflationary effect on the housing market and are especially detrimental to first home buyers trying to enter an already challenging market.
It’s time we asked whether the current system truly serves the public good, or just the industry facilitating it.
Randal Lockie, Rothesay Bay.
The proposal for road user charges based on miles travelled will be good for those pensioners who only go to bingo and the pub once a week in their car. It will bring them some financial relief; unless of course the savings get swallowed up in some other tax dreamed up by an eventual socialist government.
John Ford, Taradale.
Te Reo Māori and NZ sign language are enshrined in law as official languages of this country - whereas English has been the default language of government, commerce, education and general society since colonial dominance was established. Doesn’t this emphasise the ridiculousness of this Government’s dedicated effort to diminish the place of an actual official language on our key identity document to favour our unofficial language that they happen to culturally prefer?
Malcolm Paterson, Te Atatū.
Given Labour’s obvious disinterest in the proposed new school qualification, can one safely assume there will be no criticisms of the reforms?
Ian Doube, Rotorua.
What a nonsense to say that New Zealand is running out of gas. The Methanex plant in Taranaki is owned by Canadians. It uses 60% of our gas production and exports 95% of its production to Asia. Is that the best use of our gas? Could it be eliminated if necessary. While Ballance uses 20% of our gas production to make urea, that is only a mixed blessing for modern farming. If our gas is really limited, let us have a real debate about priorities for its use. Not Methanex or Ballance I would think.
Danna Glendining, Taupō.
If Shane Jones were to watch David Attenborough’s film Ocean, he would understand better how to work with the ocean and allow it to replenish and give back, not just take from it. It should be compulsory viewing in Parliaments around the world. Perhaps ours could lead the way.
Simone McKegg, Grey Lynn.
What is the point of controlling inflation by exploding unemployment benefits?
Bruce Tubb, Devonport.
Labour’s response to an offer of cross party collaboration on the review of NCEA: Not Achieved.
Mike Wagg, Freemans Bay.