Should he kill the bill now or endure six months of divisive discussion? Either option is problematic and takes away the energy needed to solve the country’s problems that he campaigned to do.
His hopes of attracting overseas investors and high-class immigrants to a small country riven by racial problems are also jeopardised.
Phyl Belsham, Mt Albert.
What voters want
Instead of Parliament focusing on what we voters want – reducing the cost of living, more beds and medical staff in hospitals, more GPs, better schools and improved education, improved elderly care, fixing up our damaged roading, improving our rail network and investing to improve and future-proof New Zealand’s infrastructure including Cook Strait ferries, we see our Parliament wasting its time and our money on the Treaty Principles Bill.
“If it ain’t broke don’t fix it” was a lesson I learned years ago. So why is Parliament messing with the Treaty? Blame Act.
At the last election, out of the three million (2,851,211) of us who cast votes, Act attracted less than a quarter of a million people (246,473) to cast votes its favour, just over 8% of the vote.
Out of 122 seats available in Parliament, Act won only two electorates (and nine list seats). This tiny Act minority is the latest example of the tail wagging the dog by forcing its nugatory nonsensical bill on our Parliament.
I support the Treaty and the huge, peaceful hīkoi. Come on MPs, time to throw out this baseless bill and concentrate on what we voters want.
Andrew Rose, Nelson.
User-pays health
The Government is really digging its heels in over Dunedin Hospital, revealing, I believe, its determination to achieve a low tax/low spend, more user-pays society – which suits its voter constituency.
The health sector is a good place to further signal this direction, with the exception of Pharmac where even the relatively well-off cannot personally afford the high-end drug treatments.
But more private hospitals are being opened, they are well-staffed and equipped, and make good additional profit by selling services to the public system.
I am learning from personal experience that I can no longer count on treatment in public clinics and have to find the money to go private. But many simply cannot do this.
New Zealand wants a superior police force, we apparently want good roads and motorways to everywhere, but if we want a comprehensive health system that trains our own doctors, we’re going to have to fight hard for it.
Dunedin knows this.
Barbara Darragh, Auckland Central.
Improving productivity
The Employers and Manufacturers Association’s opinion piece on improving productivity makes a valid point about the need for incentives for business to invest in new technology and equipment to boost productivity (NZ Herald, Nov 19).
But it fails to see the obvious connection to why New Zealand is languishing way down the productivity index. It points out one of the ills that plague our economy is the failure of enterprise to invest more heavily in upskilling its workforce.
While it says there was a brief upwards blip in our productivity after the introduction of the Employment Contracts Act, it fails to recognise the connection between that episode and New Zealand sinking into being a lower-wage economy compared to other OECD economies.
The Employers and Manufacturers Association is advocating an upskilling of the international workforce that has been created as a result of the exodus of skilled workers to Australia for higher wage rates. Our relatively low wage rates mean we are now reliant on bringing in workers from lower-wage economies.
Somehow upskilling those workers to give them decent wages to drive productivity increases seems far from the minds of the opinion writers. It also seems far from the minds of the coalition, which seems to have no desire to put more money into supporting improving our skills base and improving wage rates.
Neil Anderson, Algies Bay.
