Fit to be tied
I feel shocked and, frankly, angry that - in 2021, and at a time when we are facing so many issues - there was so little support for Rawiri Waititi and his wearing of a tiki instead of a tie in Parliament (NZ Herald, February 10).
He was
respectfully and well dressed, and given that women MPs have utter flexibility in their dress code, the ruling was even more ludicrous and pathetic.
I felt embarrassed as a Pakeha that such an issue was even raised but the manner in which the Speaker handled it was insulting.
Today's "olive branch" in suggesting it be referred to another committee adds insult to injury.
As a country when there are so many issues facing us socially and economically, how appalling that time is being wasted on this in Parliament.
An apology should be issued to immediately to Rawiri Waititi by all of us, and certainly by the Speaker.
Dame Rosanne Meo, Remuera.
Dress accordingly
Presumably when someone stands for Parliament he or she understands that there is a dress code. It is not unlike when a young person enrols at school and must follow the school's uniform policy.
What I find difficult is the wearing of a hat inside - I was taught to remove my hat when I entered a building. That was part of my tikanga.
Greg Cave, Sunnyvale.
Culpable clique
The Reserve Bank, the Treasury (who informed Finance Minister Grant Robertson) and all the banks knew QE (quantitative easing) would increase house prices and cannot act innocently - a clique of culpability.
Tightening the LVR to 40 per cent (NZ Herald, February 10) should have occurred six months ago. The message to investors is: continue on spending before QE is reduced and interest rates begin to rise in 2022.
The housing bubble is inflating faster through QE (printing money and giving it to the banks at 0.3 per cent) than LVRs can deflate it.
It's the political explosion from young fear-of-missing-out homeowners that politicians should be really scared of, because the poorer ones (without parental deposits) will miss out.
What happens when the RBNZ stops QE? The end of money for house investors at cheap rates. Rising interest rates will make housing even more unaffordable and equilibrium is finally reached.
Politicians don't seriously expect a disinherited generation to be that gullible or do they? Yep.
Steve Russell, Hillcrest.
Discourage lending
New Zealand has the highest level of second home-ownership in the world. The reason people buy second homes is totally return-focused, i.e. to make a profit. It has outperformed other investments for a long time. This is not a social good and quite unreasonable as it pushes prices up and makes homes less accessible for first home buyers.
Not only does it push house prices up, it also drives up rents. Therefore we must support measures to reduce the unreasonably favourable climate for building property portfolios for profit.
Suggested loan-to-value ideas should be welcomed. Other ideas would be to disallow interest deductions on homes bought for profit rather than for residence. Mortgage lending only requires 50 per cent capital allocation by banks; this could be restricted to residential properties only, to disincentivise excessive bank lending, fuelling multiple home buying.
Higher capital coverage for investment properties would require higher pricing for financing these investments, making investing less attractive.
Frank Olsson, Freemans Bay.
Essential workers
So council-owned entities such as Watercare end up competing with other council entities, such as the Auckland CRL, for workers and. as a result, are offering huge pay rises to existing council staff. Similarly, Ports of Auckland is causing huge import delays due to an inability to get trained staff.
Clearly the Government's broken promise to free up 10 per cent of MIQ facilities for essential workers is causing huge extra costs for Auckland Council and all Auckland businesses and ratepayers.
Sadly, Ministers Hipkins and Faafoi continue to live in an alternative reality and Aucklanders pay the price. Come on Ministers - open up MIQ for essential workers now.
Lucas Bonne, Unsworth Heights.
