With rich-listers forking out millions for expensive homes, I think it's about time to reintroduce stamp duty for homes purchased at and above a certain price, say $5 million for now, to be reviewed on a regular basis. A fair way for the well-heeled to contributeto the community.
Peter Brooks, Mairangi Bay
Three Waters good
Hayden Munro's summations (HoS, June 19) that people seem to be opposing the water reforms just for the sake of opposing, seems an accurate account of what is happening. Why is there a groundswell for this dislike at having clean drinking water, clean rivers, clean seas handed to us by a government-controlled agency shared with Māori? The alternative is to pay higher rates to local councils to fix poorly maintained systems. Councils have missed opportunities, or seen no need to spend on keeping our waterways clean, leaving it always to the future.
An anti Three Waters banner nailed to a fence in suburban Napier. Photo / Neil Reid
Three Waters bad
Hayden Munro says repairs are more important than who sits on oversight boards with regards to NZ's water supply. He is wrong. The Government's plan to consolidate drinking water, wastewater and stormwater assets is based in deeply flawed ideology. The lack of democratic accountability in the proposed model should be of concerning to all. It is not clear how communities would have a voice in, let alone have influence over, decisions in the proposed system, as there is no guarantee of representation in the new entity. This lack of accountability to local communities is greatly exacerbated by the lack of fairness of the 50-50 partnership model. Fifty per cent representation would be accountable to the ratepayers or users — the people who have contributed 100 per cent. The other 50 per cent would not be accountable to this group. Instead they're going to be accountable under a kaupapa Māori model, thereby giving 16 per cent of the population a grossly disproportionate influence over our national water assets. As the proposal deprives local authorities of all the rights of ownership, this "ownership" is a fiction.
Munro asks for a suggestion better than Three Waters; here's one, don't hand control of 50 per cent of our water assets to 16 per cent of the population and tell Labour to keep their hands off ratepayers' assets.
