Letter of the week:
Plunket service and vaccinations
In response to Susan Grimsdell’s letter (Herald on Sunday, April 16), it is a tragedy that childhood vaccination rates are dropping, however, one reason is an appalling requirement that mothers leave a hospital no later than 24 hours after their child’s birth. In the 1970s and 1980s, mothers were permitted a hospital stay of at least a week; not only an opportunity for recovery, establishing breastfeeding, and advice from nursing staff but, also, a visit by a Plunket Nurse from your community advising of its services, commencing with home visits for six weeks and clinic attendance until school age. Although not compulsory, if accepted by mothers it was the reassurance of a community service devoted to their care and that of their babies. From birth to 5 years, your child’s progress, including recommendations for referral to medical professionals for any issues of concern, advice on vaccinations, and reminding mothers of upcoming due dates were recorded in a booklet. The Plunket Society relies on donations to deliver its services to New Zealanders. However, an issue not relevant in past generations is the fact that in the 21st century, an ever-increasing number of babies and preschoolers reside at child daycare centres as soon as can be arranged after the umbilical cord is cut, until commencing school. Any suggestion that vaccinations could be administered at child daycare centres would be another “deadpan” response from the current Government’s Minister of Health, however, in the meantime, babies and young children will become very ill and, sadly, some will not survive. Leonie Wilkinson
Re-examination of case late, but welcome
The worst injustice must be the imprisonment of an innocent person who was accused of a crime that was actually a tragic accident. So the Criminal Case Review Commission’s re-examination of Kevin Harmer’s murder conviction might be 20 years too late but still welcome. The article (Herald on Sunday, April 16) by Sam Sherwood is a good summary of the sad death of Jill Thomas in a burning farm vehicle although the headline seems unfair to Harmer’s second wife, and I hope the excellent TV documentary by Bryan Bruce will be repeated because his reconstructions provide visualisation of the events. Harmer’s conviction relied on some debatable science from an expert witness but the defence explanation of an accident deserves to be analysed with modern computer modelling. There is a plausible theory which fits all the known facts; a petrol container leaked on the passenger-side floor and vapour was ignited by a spark in the starter, causing an explosion which stunned Thomas in the driver’s seat. Harmer opened the door soon after and hot unburnt vapour meeting fresh air immediately became a fireball making rescue impossible. Many people will be watching the proceedings and hoping the truth will come out. Alan McArdle, Glen Eden
Stopping ram-raiders
What is the point in the Government giving $9 million to retailers to help prevent ram-raiding? They spent a lot of money subsidising bollards which the raiders know can easily be knocked out of the way and if that doesn’t work they just smash the windows and gain entry. Trying to stop ram-raiders breaking into the shops is a bit like putting the ambulance at the bottom of the cliff. We should be concentrating on getting these little thugs at source before they even steal a car. Jock Mac Vicar, Hauraki
What’s in a name?
How much time, energy and money was spent on changing the name of the contentious issue of Three Waters to Affordable Water Reform? The new name actually sounds quite appealing but does it change anything? How many consultants and PR spinners were involved in all this when perhaps a Year 11 English class could have come up with the same idea during one lesson on slogans? This Government is magnificent at making announcements but continues to be short on delivery even after consulting consultants. KiwiBuild, light rail and the cycle lane across the Auckland Harbour Bridge are examples of this. Bernard Walker, Pāpāmoa
Shore loser
Why does Manukau get the Kmart 24/7 superstore when they have two other Kmarts already — Botany and Sylvia Park? It took them more than 20 years for us to get one in Albany and it’s overloaded. Queues on the weekends and no one answers the phone. Tried calling them for three days. Why does the Shore miss out on everything? They should build another Kmart in Albany, around Oteha Valley or the Supa Centa. Birkenhead is a bad choice. Seedy area and no foot traffic. Helen Lowe, Albany
Parking problems
So now it’s official: most roads that were built with taxpayers’ money for driving on are now to be used as free car parks. This is often both sides of the road, making for exciting driving through very narrow chicanes. This can only get worse with continued infill housing and further high-rise development. I feel sorry for truck drivers or fire engines and, of course, now cyclists will be forced into the centre of the road. Surely an efficient public transport system should have been established before the extra housing? Vince West, Milford
Carrot and stick
Having received no interest while incurring heavy losses in the past two years from my KiwiSaver investment, yet aware the fund manager has taken its fees during all that time, I am wondering if we need government tweaking to the KiwiSaver scheme. Fund managers should not be able to extract fees if severe losses are incurred by the KiwiSaver customer i.e. if there is no gain at each quarter. This is a “carrot-and-stick” approach that means fund managers need to be more vigilant with their “valued” customers’ funds. Withdrawing funds from KiwiSaver have clearer action dates and amounts to be expected; currently, it is up to 20 days wait time when volatility can cause fluctuations of many $10,000s in a week. What Kiwis would like to go into a bank and be told they must wait up to 20 days for their current account funds to be handed over, or not know what amount they were receiving? Had my Australian-owned bank really “valued” me they would have suggested withdrawing all funds at the start of Covid and placing them in a term deposit at a fixed rate which would have earned me, by now, a nice new electric car instead of those losses. Rob Buchanan, Kerikeri
Peter Principle
For months past, we have been told that there is a shortage of hospitality workers, not to mention bus and truck drivers. And now, we have reports with regard to management problems in the Auckland Council and Wellington Police. So, have all the “workers” been subject to the Peter Principle and been elevated to now being in charge, nationwide? The Peter Principle, I believe, grew out of Parkinson’s Law, some years ago. Today the word Parkinson has a different connotation and relates to a debilitating disease which gradually inhibits the individual concerned. So, has this just become a collective noun? Sheelah Chalklen, Whaingaroa
Cruel practice
No civilised country should support the cruel practice of shipping live animals overseas. National and Act will lose the vote of New Zealand’s animal lovers if they persist in reinstating this policy. Jennifer Barraclough, Devonport
Consider all stakeholders
The National Party seems locked into the binary mindset of adversarial win/lose democracy. Despite his claims to the contrary, Paul Goldsmith’s “Where Labour’s idea of co-governance leads” opinion piece (Herald, April 20) is an exercise in scaremongering. It is grounded in the notion that Māori and “everyone else” are opposing forces. The point of a 50-50 structure is to foster a win-win consensus — surely a more productive outcome, going forward (in Luxon lingo), than the tyranny of the majority subjugating all other interests. Leading organisations seek synergy by reconciling the needs of all stakeholders. It’s called Design Thinking. Look it up. Michael Smythe, Northcote Point