Rotorua MP Todd McClay said he was furious the government had not alerted the community first. Video / Andrew Warner
Is it not time to call a halt to all those people returning to New Zealand and giving them two weeks' free vacation? The taxpayer base is shrinking, the economy in huge debt, so all the freebies must stop.
If anybody wants to return they must pay for themselves. Gail Hill,Mission Bay
Advantage lost
As Heather du Plessis-Allan puts it ("Labour squanders trump card", June 17), Prime Minister Ardern has lost her trump card for her handling of Covid-19. This was paraded worldwide as a victory for the faraway paradise of New Zealand.
On top of that just as the Armed Response Teams (ARTs) have been disbanded policeman Mathew Hunt has been killed in the line of duty. The gun buyback did not disarm criminals who didn't hand their guns in anyway.
These events have brought into question the competency of the Government. This is a hard thing to retrieve once it is gone. Perception is everything. Pauline Alexander, Waiatarua
Beer or froth?
Heather du Plessis-Allan is angry again and so pleased to have something to attack in the Government's Covid performance. She tries hard to be a neutral, responsible journalist and sometimes minimises her tirades but her language, her choices of derogatory words betray her. Banning all future compassionate exemptions and Commodore Digby Webb's appointment to oversee all border operations were "attempts to show things were being done". The PM should have sacked someone "whether they deserved it or not".
Woodhouse is now a "solid performer" despite his well-timed delay in reporting his information and Jacinda's "frothy" popularity has been dented. There is good beer underneath Jacinda's "froth", unlike Heather's brew. John O'Neill, Dargaville
Quarantine at a hotel. Photo / Supplied
Wrong on dope
Chris Elias (Letters, June 17), states cigarettes are legal and display graphic health warnings and "why can't cannabis also be labelled likewise". Well yes, cannabis could be, but are we not trying to become tobacco free? So why replace one problem with another?
He states: "I don't like gangs getting rich while Pharmac is underfunded". What makes him think that illegal growing of cannabis will cease? It's easier to control tobacco because it's hard to grow.
Cannabis can easily be grown in paddocks, garages and in the ceilings of houses. Many buyers of cannabis would buy cheaper (no tax paid), stronger (no quality control) cannabis. Policing of cannabis will still be required to police underage smoking and to prevent smoking in a public place as well as preventing illegal growing. Please vote no. Bruce Turner, Cambridge
Calm debate needed
Elias says "I dislike the hypocrisy involved in saying 'you can drink alcohol, but you can't enjoy a joint'." Not every distinction is illegitimate: Perhaps the risk profiles of alcohol and cannabis are different; or perhaps introducing more danger is not a good idea. Even a rubbish distinction doesn't necessarily involve hypocrisy.
We should be reluctant to throw around morally loaded allegations like "hypocrisy", "hate-speech", "racism", "whatever-phobia" etc. This just makes discussion more heated and less productive. Gavan O'Farrell, Lower Hutt
Pay for workers
During the lockdown it was revealed who the country's essential workers are and how poorly paid many of them are, often on minimum wage. There were many calls to see these important roles better paid yet in post-lockdown this seems to have been forgotten. Supermarkets in particular were gifted the biggest increase in profits they have likely ever had with an exclusive monopoly on trading for a month during the lockdown period, yet many continue to only pay their staff minimum wage.
Full credit should be given to Countdown for committing to pay the Living Wage from September this year. It would be good and only right that Foodstuffs should also follow suit. R Anderson, Pukekohe
