Letters: Time to reassess costs and benefits of climate policy; usual suspects back bootcamps

'Planting millions of pine trees on arable land is a huge mistake that will have multigenerational impacts.' Photo / Duncan Brown

Letters to the Editor

Time to reassess climate policy

I have been a tacit supporter of the green wave in years gone by. I can see that burning fossil fuels is bad for the planet, and while I understand the reality of a world without the convenience of fossil fuels, I was confident that an alternative energy source would be uncovered.

With my green hat on, I have supported New Zealand’s efforts to reduce emissions, often at great cost to the economy and community. We have seen numerous multi-nation meetings where hundreds of representatives have set ambitious targets and made promises to reduce their emissions. Sadly, none of this seems to have made one iota of difference to the major polluters.

In the past six years, New Zealand has been a leader in this green drive. But there is a change in the tide. We in New Zealand are an outlier and understandably running out of patience.

As a nation, we need to take a reality check and realise that being an advance guard in a potentially fruitless cause will take us further away from economic prosperity than those countries taking a more conservative approach.

So what is the alternative? We have learnt a lot from the past 25 or more years in terms of conservation, with reuse, recycling, conserving hot water, switching off lights, smaller cars, and so on. We keep doing this at a grassroots level. It makes good sense.

But macro developments such as the ETS and carbon credits, which compromise our nation’s ability to do what we do best, should be scrapped.

Planting millions of pine trees on arable land is a huge mistake that will have multigenerational impacts. Halting mining was misguided, especially when alternative fuels are being imported to replace those we could be producing ourselves. Farmers should be supported and recognised for producing the best quality and lowest cost food products in the world.

These shifts are urgent and the coalition should get on with it, not wait until October next year.

Nick Rowe, Greenlane.

Bootcamp support

There has been an outpouring of support for “bootcamps” from the usual suspects inhabiting the suburbs of Remuera and St Heliers.

I get it. There’s nothing like a bit of military discipline to turn these lives around. Right? Except it doesn’t. Whatever horrible upbringing these poor kids had is unlikely to be reversed by harsh disciplinary actions. They are immune to that. The key is to eliminate poverty.

Not many of those incarcerated come from Remuera or St Heliers. Sadly, I suspect there will be little support for poverty elimination from those aforementioned suburbs and, even more sadly, they are the ones who get to make all the rules.

Paul Cheshire, Maraetai.

PM’s popularity

Ryan Bridges writes David Seymour and Act’s strategy could be on to something as it takes voters from National in the recent polls (NZ Herald, December 11). Sarah Maguire writes on why the Prime Minister’s message isn’t landing.

Christopher Luxon told Heather du Plessis-Allan on Newstalk ZB on Tuesday that “the Treaty of Waitangi had settled claims one by one over the last 184 years” and indicated this was his policy going forward. No discussion on the Treaty Principles Bill.

For someone who values communication, Luxon’s “smile and carry on” message is losing ground for him and National.

Gary Carter, Gulf Harbour.

Airport chaos

On Sunday afternoon, I had the misfortune to fly out of Auckland Airport.

Hundreds of people were jammed into the departure area, and clearance through Customs and security took me two hours.

Elderly people were forced to queue in cramped chaos, passengers missed flights. It was so bad bottles of water were handed out to distressed passengers.

A large part of an airline ticket covers customs and security clearances, so surely we are entitled to reasonable service.

Also, Auckland Airport charges airlines to use the airport, so surely facilities should be adequate. Not a good advertisement to visitors and locals alike.

Jeff Ford, Australia.

Racing ban

Winston Peters has called a stop to dog racing – why not all racing?

There is no one sitting on the dog whipping it to make it go faster. In horse racing, there is a jockey sitting there with a whip in hand ready to whip the poor horse to make it go faster.

What about trotting? The horse has a cart to pull, plus a driver – and yes, he also has a whip.

If we must have horse racing, ban the whip.

Claudia Parkes, Papakura.

Live exports

It’s really good to hear that greyhound racing has been banned over animal welfare concerns.

Let’s hope too that an even worse example of animal treatment, the live export trade, follows suit and is also banned. It’s simply an abhorrent practice.

Paul Beck, West Harbour.