Kiwibank could open "small" banking hubs in every suburb and small town in New Zealand, says a reader.
Kiwibank
In my view Kiwibank has a golden opportunity to ingratiate itself with ordinary Kiwi mums and dads right across the country. With the big four Aussie-owned banks having shut up shop almost everywhere this has left a gaping hole in the banking system. Although online banking is the preferred option for most, there are still thousands of folk who prefer to deal with a real person.
Kiwibank could open “small” banking hubs in every suburb and small town in New Zealand. Much the same as post offices did in years gone by. They could be innovative and share space with any existing business to save rent costs.
For example, it could lease some space in supermarkets much the same as Lotto does. Mind you, there is no shortage of empty shops available on main streets everywhere.
If the Government is serious about helping Kiwibank compete with BNZ, ASB, ANZ then it should give Westpac 12 months’ notice that it will take the government banking away from it. Give it instead to Kiwibank which would process the pay for teachers, nurses, police, supperannuitants. This would be a massive shot in the arm for Kiwibank and be the lifeline it so desperately needs to compete with our big brother bankers across the ditch.
Glen Stanton, Mairangi Bay.
We need to come together not drift apart
I am sure I am not alone in expressing my dismay that multiple Islamic groups and Imams have complained that they were “not consulted” before Minister Mitchell’s quite outstanding achievement in launching the religious accord recently announced.
How extraordinary that any religious leaders would refuse to participate in an accord designed to establish and ensure nationwide religious tolerance for all who wish to adhere to the common goals, values and understanding within the community.
Worse than that - their only reaction was to complain. How tiresome. Did any of those complaining ever say, “What a great idea - that sounds interesting - we would like to learn more!” Or even, “Thank you for the initiative, Minister?
Once again, a tiny segment of our multi-ethnic society has chosen to distance itself from the significant majority, from reality and from common decency - and to what gain?
They merely earned a tired sigh from the rest of the country and a “Well we should have expected that”, rather than the option of a gentle nod of approval and appreciation from the other 98% of the population. Which was what could have happened had they not immediately defaulted to victim status as so many other segments of our multicultural and multi-ethnic community used to do.
Fortunately, most of these segments have chosen to grow and move on as New Zealand continues to lead the world in tolerance, dedication to peace, and cultural development.
I will say it on everyone else’s behalf: Thank you Minister Mark Mitchell, and your officials, and those religious leaders who put peace and tolerance first, for making such an appropriate and meaningful contribution across our society.
This initiative will benefit all thinking and considerate New Zealanders throughout our country.
Roger Hawkins, Herne Bay.
Standard electricity plans
A big thank you to Raphael Franks for the Herald series on electric power. Everyone, including the Electricity Retailers and Generators Association, agrees that choosing the best electricity plan is difficult even for electricity retailers.
With each individual retailer inventing their own confusing set of plans, choosing the best plan is impossible. The Electricity Authority (EA) must create a set of 3 standard retail plans that all gentailers must use in place of a multitude of plans that nobody can understand. It is time for actual competition in the electricity market.
John Caldwell, Howick.
Auckland’s housing
Thank you Christine Fletcher and Troy Churton for warning us of the tactics of the Minister for Housing, Chris Bishop, to turn our beautiful Auckland into a future slum city.
As a minister, he should be more concerned as to why there are countless blocks of already built, empty, bankrupt apartments
Our well-experienced local government representatives are not speaking “hyperbole”.
They know the Auckland Unitary Plan. Although unpopular, it was years in the making and it allows more than enough intensification.
In the last 12 months 40,000 people have moved out to live in Christchurch. Minister Bishop should be questioning why.
Yet he is hell bent on riding roughshod over the unitary plan, ignoring the community, to have more high-rise blocks of housing built with no off-street parking.
He returns to the Hutt and leaves Auckland in chaos.
Jsn O’Connor, Hauraki
Passports
Hobson’s Pledge and their ilk will be delighted at Brooke van Velden’s announcement demoting te reo on New Zealand passport covers — typical as it is of this coalition’s peevish, vindictive and, at times seemingly childish, racism.
They would be less pleased at the reasoned and pointed Herald editorial on the subject, in defense of the cultural value of te reo in Aotearoa.
You have to wonder where van Velden and her colleagues have been while a years-long renaissance in tikanga Māori and te reo has been blooming to the benefit and enrichment of our society, culture and environment.
Peter Beyer, Sandringham.
FBI office
We should be absolutely horrified that this Government has allowed the FBI to set up an office in Wellington particularly as there seems to have been considerable secrecy about it.
Kash Patel, the Director of the FBI, was reported to be in New Zealand but the Government was not prepared to inform us till the office had been set up.
Patel also seemed to be immediately at odds with the Government about why this office is here, claiming that one of the reasons is to keep an eye on the Chinese Communist Party. As the latter is one of our major trading partners, the Government had to try to hastily bluff its way out of a very embarrassing situation.
Sadly, this is probably only the first of many future occasions where the USA will try to interfere in our democracy.
Sue Rawson, Papamoa Beach
Palestine state
Sir Keir Starmer has told UK parliamentarians that “statehood is the inalienable right of the Palestinian people”.
Palestinians have been waiting 100 years for this.
Historians know that Britain was the governing power of what was then Palestine in 1917, and author of the 1917 Balfour Declaration which backed the establishment of a Jewish homeland on Palestinian territory.
Good to know that MPs in Britain are catching up with history.
Pauline Doyle, Napier
I get it, better to be safe than soggy, but if these emergency alerts keep interrupting people’s sleep, the only real tsunami will be the tidal wave of New Zealanders disabling emergency notifications entirely.
Huw Dann, Mt Eden.
How do you stay current on the electoral role when you are homeless and don’t even have a letterbox?
Bill Irwin, Nelson.
There has obviously been an ongoing culture of alcohol abuse within our Navy for a lengthy period of time if it requires a stern mandate from no less than the admiral in command to rein it in. But why has it got to this level? Like naughty children, if steps are not taken to curb bad behaviour, then it can get quickly out of hand and, in the Navy’s case, it obviously has. Take a leaf from the US Navy, which almost overnight made its ships alcohol free. Problem, at least whilst on board, solved.
Paul Beck, West Harbour.
The comment that most urban dwellers have spent time on a farm may have been true many years ago but it is not now. I live in an urban area surrounded by farming on the Coromandel Peninsula and the interaction between farmers and local urban dwellers on their farms is nearly non-existent for the majority of town people. To suggest that large-city people have access to farms is extremely unlikely. The disconnect between farming and the majority of New Zealanders being city folk is a major issue. City folk generally will not understand farming and that is a problem when a large portion of our national income is derived from farming.
Paul Graves, Whitianga.
Congratulations to Christine Fletcher for calling out Chris Bishop. Finally, a councillor standing up for Auckland. Bishop is right when he says the simple answer to housing availability is to build more houses. But what makes him think that his “planning reforms” will achieve that? Auckland already has an over-supply of residential zoned land available for development. Adding to that will not achieve anything. If Chris Bishop wants more houses, as Minister for Housing why doesn’t he just get Kainga Ora to build them?
John Burns, Balmoral.
While the cellphone alert of the tsunami risk worked well, further “peace of mind”, in-depth, informative, official and real-time information updates were hard to find or they were patchy and, in some cases, useless and unreliable. For example an inoperative link to a NZ regional map of tsunami escape routes. The relevant site continued to display “Not operative” messages. Missing currently is a useful reliable and accessible one-stop website with a real-time update of all “developing risks to public safety” ... and now!
Larry Mitchell, Rothesay Bay.