I wish to compliment Mike King on the tone of his article urging tolerance of diverse groups and beliefs in our society as we speak to each other about the things that divide us.
The discussion about how to address the issues raised around the Treaty of Waitangi is a good test of our tolerance as we consult on how to resolve them in a just way. I am feeling confident that the younger generation will rise to the occasion. However, the problem of anthropogenic climate change is another issue that will not go away by ignoring it and the younger generation is inheriting from us “boomers”.
The move away from mindless consumption and creating a just global society will challenge us all. How we talk and listen to each other will determine how much suffering we will inflict upon ourselves before we achieve it.
Dennis Worley, Birkenhead.
The lure of overseas study
Students study overseas for a variety of reasons. However, two intangibles that are hard for New Zealand institutions to counteract are the power of networking and the experiencing of new cultures.
At undergraduate level, many universities teach to a comparable level. A key differentiator, certainly for the more elite foreign universities, is the opportunity to make connections with students who may later be in positions of considerable influence. That is why in both the United States and Britain, considerable weight is given as to which university one attends.
Another impetus for New Zealand students to study abroad is the chance to experience the wider world and be exposed to different cultures. Of course, the same applies in reverse to foreign students choosing to study here. So in that way, it is simply part of the normalisation of overseas study.
Peter Jansen, Mission Bay.
Government by fiat
The Minister for Workplace Relations and Safety, Brooke van Velden, has already gained a reputation for attacking workers’ entitlements and for refusing to talk to unions. Now she has health and safety legislation in her sights and has just announced a review of the pay equity regime, which will stop current claims in their tracks and make it difficult for new ones to be made.
True to form, there is no consultation, there is no select committee process - the Government is well aware of the backlash that would ensue if there was.
This is government by fiat and against the public interest. Can we now expect that, in the interest of saving costs, the new Cook Strait ferries will have no handrails and be staffed entirely by female crews?
Gavin Kay, Remuera.
Lesson for Jones
I wonder if Shane Jones is going to temper his embrace of Trumpesque bombast following the Australian election result?
The erstwhile successor to Winston Peters has been enthusiastically waging a full “war on woke” to keep in the headlines. He has even been roaring in full Trumpian style with cries like “drill baby drill”.
The landslide against Peter Dutton across the Tasman will probably lend a sobering pause to the more febrile on the hard right for a while.
But I suspect Jones is made of sterner stuff. After all, he only needs to keep NZ First above the 5% threshold to stay relevant after the Dear Leader finally calls it quits.
The trouble is, Trump’s buffoonery is rapidly losing its appeal now that it’s faced with actual reality.
Perhaps Jones should model his populist bombast more on the genial publand white blokeism of Nigel Farage. That seems to be working out better.
Jeff Hayward, Auckland.
Clark’s threat claims
Former Prime Minister Helen Clark claims that New Zealand faces no direct military threat (Weekend Herald, May 3). Clark treats this as a statement of fact, when it’s just a subjective opinion borne out of a pacifist political ideology. How does she exactly know this? Has she been privy to the military plans of foreign governments? It is the historical and contemporary nature of global politics that military threats remain an active reality.
Clark has a history of making fanciful defence statements, such as “we live in benign strategic times” to justify the disbanding of the Air Force strike capacity.
The past few years have shown this up for what it is: disinformation. Just ask citizens of Ukraine, Gaza, Sudan, Eastern DRC, Myanmar ...
It seems to me that people who hold such views believe we are kept safe by the “protection of distance”.
Paul Hamilton, Timaru.
