Ministry for Parents?
I completely endorse Alwyn Poole’s call for a Crown entity for parenting (NZ Herald, July 9). The wonder is that we do not have one already, given the critical role that skilled caregiving plays in promoting competent child outcomes.
The costs can be great for children when caregiving falters and is unsupported. The facts are that pretty much all of the problem behaviours of childhood and adolescence are mediated (and moderated) in the context of the parent-child relationship.
What may be less readily acknowledged are the ways that having children can affect parents’ mental health. When it goes well, parenting is probably unparalleled in its satisfactions. But when it goes persistently wrong, it might come to represent a life sentence of angst and anguish.
I would say that there is a strong case for an empirically based Crown entity for parenting, as this is a central activity in the lives of all of our children and their caregivers.
Dr Peter Stanley, Tauranga.
Remote inspection risk
So Building and Construction Minister Chris Penk has announced on-site building inspectors are to be replaced by video conferencing (NZ Herald, July 9). This will save time and costs for developers and speed up new builds, he maintains.
As someone who has been through the hell of a leaky building, it is also reckless and cruel. No one will be on-site checking on what is really happening. Unscrupulous property developers will be able to run roughshod over construction oversight.
The end result is a lot of shoddy buildings are going to be built and a lot of trusting buyers are going to be fleeced.
Jeff Hayward, Auckland Central.
Rich v poor
In Monday’s NZ Herald, we learned that those who are too poor to pay their power bills are penalised with a $300 fee when they rejoin the national grid.
In Tuesday’s Herald, we learned that a first-term MP has been suspended on full pay for longer than she worked while under investigation by her own party, which she has now left.
On Wednesday, we learn that a former film executive has collected more than $500,000 in leave and severance payments after just nine months in the job.
How appropriate, then, Wednesday’s Text of the Day (Matt 25:29): “For the man who has will always be given more... and the man who has not will forfeit even what he has.”
Richard Porteous, Balmoral.
Greens’ hands tied
More than 330,000 people voted for Darleen Tana in the 2023 general election. They may not have wanted to, but they did – because under MMP, to vote for the party is to vote for the party’s list.
A flaw of MMP is that we, the electors, cannot reorder the names on party lists.
The Greens were right to oppose the waka-jumping law: it is a violation of democracy. It is astonishing that Chlöe Swarbrick is willing to countenance using the rule that they have denounced as anti-democratic and constitutionally outrageous; previous party co-leaders have ruled out ever invoking the law. To do it now would be unprincipled.
John Trezise, Birkenhead.
Tana must go
How can Darleen Tana even contemplate sitting as an independent MP when she entered Parliament via the list?
There needs to be a change in the law whereby if you are expelled from your party or resign and entered via the list, you are ousted from Parliament. Why should taxpayers pay her a six-figure salary to sit and do nothing for the next two-and-a-half years?
Mark Young, Ōrewa.
Ferry frustrations
As it is fairly obvious that the autopilot on the Aratere had a hiccup, causing the hard turn to starboard and subsequent grounding, so why on earth don’t they fix the thing and send the boat back to sea?
We have been told that the Maritime New Zealand investigation is expected to take months. What do they do all day – sit around and drink coffee? Do other countries tie their ships up for months in similar circumstances? I bet not.
Brian Cuthbert, Army Bay.
