Wealth distribution
The Government's planned income insurance scheme (NZ Herald, February 3) is not the solution to support laid-off workers. State responsibility is essential, not an easily privatised "insurance scheme" that will miss out the many casual, under the table and usually low-paid workers and may conceal and undermine state provision.
Unemployment
benefits and conditions need to be raised to give a living wage to all those out of work. According to Bernard Hickey, since the onset of Covid back in December, 2019, owners of homes and businesses have become $952b richer whilst the poorest are now $400m more in debt.
The solution now is for the Government to quickly and significantly reduce inequity and to reverse the current distribution of wealth. Immediate action is needed to significantly increase the living wage, provide employee status for pseudo contractors, to give generous state unemployment benefits and deliver a massive provision of state houses and easily affordable state home loans to stop the current growing inequity and hardship.
Anna Lee, Pt Chevalier.
Regional parklands
A proposal to break up the unique regional park network and place parts within a proposed new Hauraki Gulf Marine Park and possibly under co-governance bodies comes at a critical time. It is hidden within very general policies in the complex 500-page review of the Draft Regional Park Management Plan. Submissions close on March 4.
No logical reasons have been provided as to how the parks or the gulf will benefit, but it could be exceedingly detrimental to regional parks and to Auckland residents. No data has been provided to show parks damaging the gulf that would necessitate such a change. In fact, we can only think of reasons the parks are contributing to the health of the gulf.
A commitment is needed from Auckland Council not to break up the regional park system and have clearer policies to keep the regional park network in its entirety. Any reference to moving regional parks to the Hauraki Gulf Marine Park must be deleted from the Draft Management Plan. All future changes to or significant works in regional parks need to be specified and discussed openly through the formal management plan change process before being implemented.
Arnold R Turner, ARA Parks chair, 1963-68. Bill Burrill, past chair ARC Parks, vice chairman HGF, patron FOR Parks. Bronwen Turner, chair Friends of Regional Parks. Kit Howden, deputy chair, Friends of Regional Parks.
Cruel to be kind
I have read quite a few headlines recently referring to "cruel" MIQ but the only MIQ I know of is the "kind" MIQ.
New Zealand's kind MIQ has saved well over 5000 lives. Ireland, a country with the same population as NZ has had over 6000 deaths from Covid. Sweden, with twice our population, has had almost 16,000 Covid deaths.
How can our MIQ which is an important part of our pandemic defence, be called unkind? My son-in-law who went to visit his sick father, is trapped in the UK and can't come home because there is no spot for him in MIQ. He took a risk. That doesn't mean that MIQ is unkind. It's is Covid-19 that is unkind. Unkind would be if you or someone you cared for was part of the over 5000 NZ lives that would have been lost without MIQ and the other "cruel" measures that have been taken to save lives.
John Caldwell, Howick.
Out gunned
The Government seems to have met its match with Ms Bellis.
As a war correspondent for a leading news agency, she would not walk away from a fight; that's not what they do.
So "coming home" as soon as possible, as Winston Peters urged last year, is not part of her makeup or her job. More power to her arm.
Alan Milton, Cambridge.
It is life
Although we sympathise with Georgina Campbell (NZ Herald, February 2) and her friends, they need to be reminded that life has been very hard in previous generations. We cared for each other then and we care for your situation now.
In the two world wars especially, life was hard. Men left their countries to fight in awful conditions. Some never returned or were badly injured, mentally and physically. So there was a labour shortage and women had to fill the gaps - not too much dancing for many. And no husbands or children for many women.
We needed ration coupons to buy food and goods - if they were available as the supply chain was much worse than now. And in WWI there was the terrible flu epidemic without the medical help of this century. It is hard, but it is life.
R. Edgar, Mt Albert.
