View from afar
I am a Kiwi and a registered nurse who has lived and worked in many countries, and am currently residing in the US. I am proud of the intelligent way Jacinda Ardern has
dealt with border control during Covid-19.
Here in the US, the death toll has reached nearly a million. We have been on self-imposed lockdown for nearly two years. We mostly stay at home, ordering our groceries online for pickup outside the store.
I have read that Jacinda is receiving much condemnation for her Covid-19 policies. New Zealanders should be grateful to her for her integrity, honesty, and foresight.
New Zealanders have never had to live under Trumpism, Hitlerism, PolPotism, or other despotic regimes. Please be worthy of the soldiers, such as the Anzacs, who fought to keep the world safe for democracy. Did they die in vain?
Please give Jacinda Ardern the respect she deserves.
Patricia A. Kraybill, Mansfield, Pennsylvania, formerly of Auckland.
Big noters
The article on another drug bust (NZ Herald, February 8) carried the customary photograph of the large amount of cash seized.
The drug pandemic delivers more death and human misery than any Covid pandemic.
The NZ Police do a fantastic job in arresting the drug manufacturers and dealers, but they need more support than they currently receive.
One measure that will help is the withdrawal of $100 and $50 notes from circulation.
These large notes are used primarily by people involved in the drug trade and other illegal activities like tax avoidance.
Surely this is a no-brainer for our politicians to bring into force.
Chris Parker, Campbells Bay.
Grate divide
Re "Companies dodge $400 million tax by passing $9.4 billion in dividends to shareholders" (NZ Herald, January 31). Apparently at a rate equal to 291 per cent of normal annual dividends.
These would be the same companies that had their hands out to grab the wage subsidy from taxpayers instead of utilising surplus past profits to pay wages first.
No doubt these same companies will again demand further wage subsidies to help boost their profits now that Omicron Covid 19 is exploding countrywide.
This will just increase the massive divide in New Zealand's have/have-not society, adding to Labours' transfer of wealth to the already asset rich by their failure to institute a capital gains tax, plus creating artificially low interest rates which have pushed home prices up astronomically.
D F Little, Whangārei.
Rent asunder
The Government has ruled out rent control. However, they have a completely wrong notion of what rent control is. They think it refers to selecting certain housing units to have a fixed rent. This creates huge problems.
Rent control as practised in most countries refers to a legal limit placed on the amount rents are permitted to increase, and it applies across the board to all rental units. In Germany the increase is tied to inflation. In B.C. Canada it is determined by the increase in the Consumer Price Index. New York, Vienna, Madrid, Barcelona, Amsterdam and many other places also set limits.
In New Zealand, rent increases are determined by the economic law of supply and demand. That law has nothing to do with the human need for shelter.
By walking away from this terrible problem our Government is walking away from the desperate need of hundreds of thousands of New Zealanders who are and always will be, renters.
Susan Grimsdell, Auckland Central.
Appalling wage bill
I was an elected member of the Mt Eden Borough Council from 1986 to 1989.
These were the years that the Labour Government of the time told all the Auckland councils that they had to come up with a plan to amalgamate with another council or councils with the idea of amalgamating costs to get better deals for the ratepayers.
Considerable time, money and discussion was put into this idea but every proposal was turned down by the Government.
Councillors were paid by the number of meetings that they attended (from memory about $10 per meeting), definitely nowhere near what they are paid today. The wage bill now is appalling and the council is running at a loss and obviously not doing their job properly, especially when we have just learned that they are sitting on a few million dollars worth of money from the Auckland tax on petrol and should have been spent on roading.
I think that Aucklanders need to remember this when they come to vote at the next elections.
Noel Jackson, Royal Oak.
Rates revision
With the huge theoretical increase in the value of homes in our poorer suburbs leading to a large percentage increase in rates, it is time to revisit how rates are assessed.
There is no correlation between the value of property and the services provided by council.
We pay for other services as we use them. Developers could pay the true cost of any new build council costs, a uniform household rate for actual services provided for every home. Maybe when the increased value of a property is gained during a sale, the council could acquire a share? That way when the seller actually has the realised gain, council could then take a share. Kind of a council capital gains tax since the government has considered this too hot to handle?
Surely all those highly paid council executives could come up with a fairer rates system. Time to move with the times and come up with a more equitable solution that is fair to all.
James Archibald, Birkenhead.
Double take
For regular Sandringham Rd commuters to the CBD who can walk to the new train stations, the $1000 per annum train tax amounts to a surcharge of more than $2 per trip on a trip that costs $4 now.
This is hardly worth it given that the existing bus and train service is quite good.
For those who don't take the train, and that's most residents, it supposedly reflects an increase in the value of the property. But with a $1000 in-perpetuity tax property values will likely decrease.
That's a double whammy. A new tax plus a decrease in property values.
Tony Cooper, Mt Albert.
Rising anger
I can hardly believe that 12 of our elected councillors saw fit to give an extra $30,000 to the city CEO. Already on $600k the rise will not make a scrap of difference to his lifestyle. As many of our poorest and most hardworking people juggle two jobs even being able to earn just the $30k in a secure job would mean food on the table every day - $600k alone for just one year is beyond the stuff of dreams.
Much work has been given over to CCOs (each with their own well-paid hierarchy) so I would have thought these organisations lightened his load.
I walk around my local area and see broken footpaths and council-owned berms unmown; I read of polluted beaches and the inability of Watercare to plan for dry seasons. I wonder if the CEO even knows what is going on beyond the confines of the city centre.
To add insult to injury our rates increased significantly and some services curtailed. As many struggle to pay or see their rents go up, be comforted that our CEO can now restock his wine cellar or perhaps buy a Gucci handbag for his wife.
I can only feel angry.
P. Belsham, Mt Albert.
Protest spreads
Epidemiological modellers keep predicting thousands of infections in the coming weeks and months.
They say the reason it hasn't happened so far is because of the high number of vaccinated Kiwis as well as other infection control measures, such as; border control, face masks, distancing and gathering numbers restricted to 100.
So it's tragic that protestors against "mandates" will be doing a super, magnificent job of spreading the virus, making their mates and families ill, even killing a few.
Is that fair?
Most of us are willing to stay the course, take care of ourselves and our loved ones. Yet we are being usurped by some would say, ignorant, grumpy blockheads.
Maureen Dunn, Levin.
Golden vision
A debt of gratitude should be paid to merino sheep farmer John Lee who had the vision to develop the skifields on his farm in the Cardrona Valley.
He first developed the Cardona Field on the west side of the valley for "downhill" skiing.
He then had the vision to establish the "Nordic ski" area on the eastside of the valley where the homestead was, along with the car tyre testing area.
This was followed by the creation of the "snow farm" which included the "half-pipe".
The success of John's vision is shown by the "Golden Girl of Wānaka" Zoi Sadowski-Synnott and, it is hoped, by many others to come.
Graham Alison, Remuera.
Short & sweet
On tests
RATs are not sufficiently sensitive to be used as a frontline tool. A test that picks up "cases" only after they have been infectious for two days cannot work to stop spread. Andrew Montgomery, Remuera.
On leaders
Simon Wilson asks "Why so much Luxon love when he hasn't done anything yet?" I ask "Why so much Ardern love considering what she has done?" Greg Moir, Kerikeri.
On Thiel
American entrepreneur Peter Thiel has firmly hitched himself to Donald Trump's political wagon. Surely that is grounds for having his NZ citizenship revoked on grounds of poor character. Chris Pettit, Mt Albert.
On flies
The annual fly invasion has started again but I have learned not to rush out and buy cans of fly spray. None kill house flies, despite the advertising on the can stating otherwise. Alister Wright, Mangawhai.
On fatigue
To Covid fatigue, add "expert" and "modeller" fatigue. Mike Wagg, Freemans Bay.
On protesters
Hey, all you anti-mandate protesters, a vaccine jab doesn't hurt. Honest. I have some tiny red ants in my garden, and a little bite from one of them, that can hurt. Arch Thomson, Mt Wellington.
Around the country at the moment, there must be a lot of villages bereft of idiots. John Capener, Kawerau.
The Premium Debate
Test results are slow because they are obviously flat out and rushed off their feet.
More whining from the well-off who would rather complain than lift a finger and help. Stay local and go help the farmers pick fruit. Labour's fault they didn't plan. Really? Name one country that planned for the pandemic. Lucy G.
I am in MIQ. My instructions state that, "you are required to stay in our isolation facility for a minimum period of 10 days and then self-isolate at home until your day 9Covid test result has come back negative ..." Why is Hamilton different? I have come to the understanding that each facility makes up their own rules - as they go. I cannot take water on my walk in this Auckland heat - at the next facility they can take their water. The rules for MIQ should be set and imposed on a consistent basis. Diane M.
While I sympathise with their plight, I do question why they think they have priority over everyone else also waiting for their results. Kevin J.
Because they have stayed the required time and the test results must be available to them so they can be released from MIQ. They should get priority because of their imminent release. Other tests can wait. It is called prioritising - something the Government could learn from as well. Tony M.
I suspect the silent majority have no problems with how upsetting this all is for the more internationally inclined of us. James T.
MIQ is fundamentally wrong. Fundamentally flawed. Fundamentally broken. It also makes no sense. It is also unbelievably cruel. Covid is here in the country. Many are vaccinated. Move on. Mark C.