Letters: The rights and needs of a New Zealand child should come first

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I read the article "Mummy, when can we go home" (HoS, June 7) and realised — again — that the law is an ass.

Carolina Zalazar's daughter Martina was born in New Zealand and is thus a New Zealand citizen and, being only 10 years of age, is covered by the law which states that all New Zealand children are to go to school, to be educated. As far as I know, there are no exceptions to that rule.

I suspect there are quite a few penalties that can be applied to a government department that obstructs the education of a New Zealand child — but not being a lawyer, I can't say what they would be.

This appears to be a case where the rights and needs of the child are paramount, and the New Zealand Government is willfully obstructing those rights and needs.
Wesley Parish, Tauranga

Think local

Tom Dillane's article in the Herald on Sunday ("Locals lose $300m job", June 7) astounded me the that a KiwiRail contract could be awarded to foreign companies when the Government espouses "Buy Local" and are the owners of KiwiRail.

I find the hypocrisy of it outrageous. Do New Zealand jobs really matter to them?

In a time when we most need jobs and iconic NZ companies such as Fletcher Construction and The Warehouse are adding to the problem and using the lockdown as cover, I would expect our Government to maximise employment and profit benefits for New Zealand.
Chris Humphries, Mt Roskill

Wood for the trees

Glenn Forsyth's letter last week ("NZ Rail should listen", June 7) made sense except New Zealand does not have the capacity to process the millions of tonnes of logs exported annually.

Where I live a train of several thousand tonnes of logs goes daily to the port for export.
A J Petersen, Kawerau

Women's world

Looking at the world's response to the Covid-19 pandemic, and the countries (mainly of the OECD) who have coped well, and also looking at which leaders who managed this crisis better, and which didn't, I am left with the strong impression that the world's democracies fared way better than some others who have less respect for the rule of law, and the same old leaders (some who are outright autocrats and some others, leaning that way,) who have made a real hash of it, and insist on blaming everyone else but themselves for the mess they are in. (The words "pale, stale and male" come to mind.)

Finland, Denmark, Taiwan, Iceland, New Zealand, Germany and some others are coming through this well, while Brazil, the US, Britain, France, Turkey, Israel, Russia and China, are struggling.

What did the first six countries I've mentioned have, that the others haven't? Well, intelligent women in charge for a start.

I'm sure I'm not the only one who has picked up on that. There is a lesson to be learned here, I'm sure.
John Watkins, Remuera

Let's make the first move

The PM has repeatedly said it is up to the Australian Government to lift the border restrictions between our two countries. This is absolute nonsense.

The New Zealand Government can lift restrictions and form a bubble without consultation with anyone in the same way the restrictions were imposed.

We are an independent sovereign state, we can open and close borders at will without the need to consult anyone.

Why our PM thinks we must wait for the game of political football defies logic.

Is this issue, like the move to level 1, being delayed because of infighting within the coalition Government I wonder?

Let's stop the political correctness. Covid-19 has been eliminated from the majority of Australian states and territories. Let's open up at our end to them and start thinking like the independent state we are.
Jon Philip Smith, Mangateretere

Good stuff

Excellent article, Mr Lewis ("We can be proud of sportspeople who take a knee", HoS, June 7). Thank you!
Tony Forster, Mt Eden