Oriini Kaipara is the new MP for the Auckland Māori seat of Tāmaki Makaurau. Photo / Julia Gabel
What are we doing for our own health?
In the endless discussions about what the Government should do and the Opposition would do, the elephant in the room is ignored: us.
If the health system is so dismal, why are people doing everything they can to get into it? They don’t use seatbelts, they phone and text while driving, fill themselves to the gills with junk food, and run at each other at full speed — and that’s just rugby.
Perhaps our award-winning opinionists could sum all this up and tell us how much “elective” surgery could be done instead.
K H Peter Kammler, Warkworth.
Focus on NZ Super
Winston Peters blindly advocates three bad ideas for KiwiSaver all in one speech: making it compulsory; upping those forced contributions to 10%; and making them tax-deductible.
He seems not to see the obvious: many people cannot afford to contribute to KiwiSaver because they spend every dollar they earn to keep themselves and their families alive. KiwiSaver is a nice-to-have for those lucky enough to have 40 years working for an employer, but of limited or no value to the many who don’t.
We already have NZ Superannuation. And it is for everyone.
Governments should focus on reinvigorating NZ Superannuation to keep it fit for purpose. The net rate for a couple needs to be restored to 80% of the after-tax average wage, with other rates raised in proportion. To keep superannuation affordable, recipients should be paying a surtax on all other income, to ensure that an adequate superannuation is paid in full to all who need it, rather than as a bonus to those who don’t.
And instead of tax-deductible compulsory contributions to private KiwiSaver funds, increase income-earners’ tax, and what’s left of it after paying for today’s hospitals and schools should be going into the NZ Superannuation Fund to pay for the next generation’s old-age pensions.
John Trezise, Birkenhead.
Ageing population
National superannuation is paid out of the Government’s annual receipts, i.e., taxation, and currently costs more than $16 billion each year.
As the population ages, this sum will rise, becoming an increasing burden on those in work, another instance of intergenerational injustice.
Robert Muldoon introduced National Superannuation in 1977 and coined the name “National Superannuation”, implying that it came from contributed funds. It is, in fact, a benefit or pension. Benefits are supposed to help the needy.
Harry Allen, Maraetai Beach.
Retiring politicians
The retirement age should stay at 65 and the pension should be paid to the retirees only when they have stopped working completely. Then the Government would save money. The retirees would not have to struggle with the secondary tax system.
The Government could also save money by not providing extra services to ex-politicians. They should not be entitled to annuity and travel payments for the rest of their lives. They should be treated like any other retired person.
Warren New, Blockhouse Bay.
Chance for NZ
The 80th session of the UN General Assembly opens today and this is an opportunity for New Zealand to step up, lay its feather on the scales of justice and recognise the State of Palestine.
The New Zealand Government’s present position, that recognition of the State of Palestine should be withheld until the Palestinians have completed a peace process and fulfilled certain conditions, signifies alignment with the opponents of the two-state solution.
Recognition by New Zealand of the State of Palestine will bring immediate benefits. New Zealand will be seen to have made a concrete contribution to the prospects for a successful settlement of the Palestine question. Recognition expresses the standpoint that for the peace process to be equitable and durable, both parties to the conflict, the state of Israel and the state of Palestine, need to be negotiating from positions of equal legal status.
New Zealand will also have aligned our nation’s approach to a settlement of the Palestine question with the 146 other countries (including our Western allies Ireland, Norway, Poland, Spain and Sweden) who have already granted recognition.
Philip Khouri, Auckland.
Strong voices
Congratulations to Oriini Kaipara on her achievements so far, the latest winning the Tāmaki Makaurau byelection.
She reached out strongly and articulately in her belief to better her world and, along with Māori Queen Te Arikinui Kuini Nga wai hono i te po, will stand tall and proud, both representing their people with strong, convincing voices.
They are young women with long lives ahead of them. May they reign with the sense and aroha they have shown.
It is an exciting time ahead for Māori, and for Pākehā, too, as we open our hearts and minds to what we can achieve together.
Emma Mackintosh, Birkenhead.