Letters: Political interference in commodity prices is never a good look

The price of butter has been on the minds of everyday Kiwis recently.

Letters to the Editor

Price of butter

Political interference in commodity prices is never a good look and that’s precisely why we have a free economic market that will eventually sort things out based on “supply and demand” economics 101.

Acknowledging that the NZ Reserve Bank – which is independent of Government – is tasked with controlling interest rates and money supply, even with its expertise and resources the bank struggles to get it right, as was the case during the Covid period. This resulted in unsustainable house price increases, particularly in the Auckland region.

Consumers have numerous options available.

Pay the current price of butter and enjoy their discretionary purchase. Pay the current price and consume, say, 20% less, which will be beneficial to their health and effectively a 20% price reduction. Alternatively, vote with their feet and ditch butter for alternative products such as margarine and olive oil.

Trump-like economic interventions such as tariffs will eventually end badly for domestic consumers.

Bruce Eliott, St Heliers.

NCEA concerns

The recent Government briefing highlighting significant concerns about the credibility of NCEA is yet another damning indictment of our education system. However, just as disturbing is Erica Stanford’s comment about the confusion among parents about how NCEA works and that “parents struggle to guide their children on the right pathways”.

Taking a quick look at some of the subjects’ explanatory notes on the NCEA website, one is confronted with what amounts to a word salad that would confound a lawyer. No wonder parents are confused. This should not be the case.

Students and parents should be able to understand what is going on with their children’s education. This would ensure parents have consistent lines of communication with teachers and are aware of their child’s progress, challenges and needs. Parents and teachers need to work together to achieve this. A strong partnership between both parties benefits everyone but this will not be achieved if parents don’t know what is going on.

Bernard Walker, Mt Maunganui.

Auckland’s troubles

Your correspondent Gary Hollis (letters, July 24) sees a glimmer of hope from Chris Luxon and Simeon Brown as Auckland MPs, regarding the preservation of what’s left of Auckland’s once-pristine suburbs.

Unfortunately, the destruction of these suburbs is being driven by their colleague Chris Bishop (from Lower Hutt), and Luxon and Brown, together with the Government’s other Auckland MPs, have been noticeably silent about it.

Perhaps it is time they stood up for Auckland and restrained him?

John Burns, Mt Eden.

Transgender sport

How very sensible that the Government has told Sport NZ to abandon its transgender guidelines even for community sport. Where males identifying as females competed in female sports, this not only compromised fair competition, but was at times very dangerous. Fair and equal competition in New Zealand must always be the accepted benchmark.

Dr Hylton Le Grice, Remuera.