Letters: Vital infrastructure, poverty, a reset, hospitality staff, and Hollywood studios

Are our hospitals crumbling and failing to cope? Photo / Sylvie Whinray, File

Opinion

Backwater blues
Political parties are trying to score pre-election points but none really deal with the elephant in the room – that the country's infrastructure and broad administration are in crisis.
An article dealing with the nations' firefighters (NZ Herald, July 5) epitomised this slow downfall. Christchurch doesn't have a serviceable high-ladder fire engine that can reach 32m, so the crew is using a converted cement mixer.
We are clearly on a fast track to Third World standards. Our crumbling hospitals with patients dying in ED, and other horror stories, reinforces this impression.
Successive Labour and National governments consistently follow their ideological preferences, at the cost of billions of dollars, leaving vital infrastructure and the sound administration of local and national government departments in a perpetual backwater, grossly understaffed and groping for vanishing funds.
Is it too much to ask of the political parties to put their vastly expensive pet projects on hold (Three Waters and cycleways come to mind) and, rather, put New Zealand first for once and jointly return us to a properly functioning First World country?
Johan Slabbert, Warkworth.

Better times
I think that we are at the beginning of a quantum shift in the way people work. This is because we have no choice.
I am categorically not a romantic or sentimentalist. It is healthier to be an optimist I have decided.
So - there will be a recession - and, out the other side, I think we will see a stronger and more self-reliant population.
It will be better in almost every single way.
Andrew Montgomery, Remuera.

Poverty and violence
Of all OECD countries, New Zealand is ranked the worst for family violence.
To make matters worse, only 33 per cent of family violence is reported.
Poverty is cited as the prime cause.
With one third of New Zealanders barely able to afford to put food on the table, surely it's time for the Government to act.
For all his faults, Vladimir Putin instigated a flat tax of 13 per cent in 2021 and, in so doing, lifted tens of thousands out of poverty. Maybe there's a lesson in that.
Gary Hollis, Mellons Bay.

Check, please
So, after hospitality struggling to survive for two years, they now moan about needing imported labour to ensure they have enough staff.
Have they not learned they cannot rely on foreign working backpackers and others from overseas as the next time a pandemic hits which is likely, they will have the same issue? What has this industry done in the last two years to entice more Kiwis into working in hospitality businesses?
Obviously not enough.
Paul Carpenter, Rotorua.

Making a scene
Act Party deputy leader Brooke Van Velden (NZ Herald, July 5) is clearly confused in her opposition to film production rebates.
A rebate is not a handout. It is returning some of the money the overseas studio is spending here as an incentive to come all this way to shoot their film.
In other words, if a Hollywood studio spends $100 million making an Avatar sequel in New Zealand then the Screen Production Grant scheme gives them back up to 20 per cent. Through direct and indirect taxes on the thousands of highly-paid, skilled jobs and services provided by making the film here, the government still recoups much more than the rebate paid back. Everyone wins. That's why countries all over the world are offering film production rebates.
Five Avatar films have poured about $740 million into the NZ economy for about $140 million in rebates. Isn't that a gain? How does that constitute "taxpayer cash" being given away?
Van Velden's claim "every dollar that's spent on a subsidy for the Hollywood elite is a dollar not spent somewhere else in our economy" shows she has no idea how this works.
Talk about throwing the baby out with the bathwater.
Jeff Hayward, Auckland Central.

Oh, my word
A disappointed traveller who was denied medical cover believed the wording of his travel insurance policy was misleading because he thought that "Australasia" meant Asia and therefore included India. The perils of a poor education and growing illiteracy laid bare.
The consequences of misreading medicinal instructions, road signs and approved methods for handling dangerous goods are examples of the potentially fatal perils of incomprehension.
Declining standards of literacy of our younger people must be reversed... by our schools
Larry Mitchell, Rothesay Bay.

Fuel to fire
The G7 group is intent on forcing a price cap on Russian crude oil for export. Russia is the second-largest exporter of crude oil after Saudi Arabia.
I have seen reports and comments that Russian crude refines very well into diesel fuel. According to J.P. Morgan Chase, Russia can withstand a 5 million-barrel-per-day loss of export, which would cause the remaining market crude oil to rise to some $380 per barrel, more than triple the price at present.
If Russia reduces by only 3mpd, then the expected price is only $195 per barrel.
UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson has stated openly that collapsing the economy is quite acceptable if it brings down Russia.
Get ready people. We could be in for a rough ride.
G. N. Kendall, Rothesay Bay.

Other rights
It's clear to all that abortion is nothing less than taking of children's lives. How then, do I hear little or nothing about the children's rights?
Why, I wonder, is the usual position of the media and the masses, that it's not a moral issue, but a women's rights issue - a women's health issue etc, all weak arguments.
A health concern? What about the mental health issue many woman suffer from after an abortion?
How is there a curious silence about the child's rights? And why is there such a desperation by women to legitimise the destruction of their unborn children?? How is that not a moral issue?
Why is it all about the empowering of women and the disempowerment of their unborn children? There are certainly exceptions to the rule, but they mustn't be used to justify the taking of thousands of innocent lives for the sake of convenience. I'm sick of hearing about women's rights. I want to start hearing about children's rights.
Kevin Tidmarsh, Paeroa.

Fundamental right
I live in the inner city in an apartment but I am very relieved the council has voted as it has regarding special character areas. It proposes protections for the character suburbs of Auckland. But even that may still be overturned, so the war is not won.
Simon Wilson has become a spokesman for this disgraceful piece of legislation (NZ Herald, July 5) when in November last year his viewpoint was headlined "What's up with Labour and National's 'slum enabling act'?"
Labour and National have taken a fundamental right away from every New Zealander who owns a house in an urban setting.
Until this law was passed, you knew what you were buying into when you bought your house by simply looking at the zoning of your property. You knew what could and couldn't be built around you and next to you. That security has been removed at a stroke.
The new law allows up to three houses of up to three storeys, closer to boundaries than now, without resource consent. As a neighbour, you have no say in that. Your privacy and sunlight could be gone.
Do most property-owning New Zealanders realise this, and is that okay with them?
Alan Kemp, Herne Bay.

Our inheritance
I usually agree with Simon Wilson but profoundly disagree with his piece "10 misunderstandings of the villa wars" and his claim that "character" is not "heritage".
Heritage is not just what the law determines, but our inheritance of the past.
The uniqueness of our wooden suburbs developed because the city had on its doorstep the forested Waitākere Ranges, containing one of the finest timber trees in the world – the kauri. From early days the hills were ruthlessly exploited for their timber wealth and brought to steam-powered mills in Freemans Bay, considered to be amongst the most up-to-date in the world.
That's one of the reasons Auckland's population doubled between 1895 and 1911.
It would be a tragedy if the kind of monstrosities appearing in outer suburbs like Glen Eden, New Lynn and Henderson started popping up amongst our wooden inner suburbs, their greater height and bulk and destroying the coherence of streetscapes.
Aucklanders are quite right to fight these proposed Government imperatives and the councillors who did so need congratulating. Whether these draconian instructions can be turned back remains to be seen; if not, current and future generations of Aucklanders will be the losers.
Sandra Coney, Piha.

Just not cricket
Sports equality is when players of either sex create the same amount of money from their respective sponsors, TV rights, advertising, fans.
Billie Jean King and Martina Navratilova did it for tennis, but there is no way in this universe do women do it for cricket. They are subsidised by men for being women.
This is just ridiculous. Sports people get paid by how much money they can generate, not their gender. Equality this is not.
Terry Johnson, Tauranga.

Broadcast views
Giving the job of Minister of Broadcasting to Willie Jackson, whose historic "go-to" position on any topic is attack mode, may satisfy the Government's Māori Caucus. But his opinion piece (NZ Herald, July 5) does not sit well with anyone I know, and many of them are also on the Māori voting roll.
It's difficult to be positive about someone who made serious degrading remarks about rape victims and Willie's assertion he has "grown-up" look unconvincing.
Comments like "shock jock" define the man and suggest a certain desire on the part of this Government to effect social change no matter what damage is done. His opinion piece did nothing to dispel that view.
Brent Marshall, Whangaparāoa

Short & sweet

On climate
Before Scott Morrison was kicked out, his government made it an imprisonable crime to disrupt economic activity - a measure aimed at climate protesters. With New South Wales under water, the police have issued arrest warrants for the rain gods. Mark Nixon, Remuera.

If major cuts to carbon emissions are not urgently made, it will make the loss of a view for the residents of "solar city", seem a mere triviality. Allison Kelly, Mt Eden.

On health
The insanity of restructuring the health system in the middle of an epidemic could be likened to combining the armed forces in the middle of a war. I hope I haven't inadvertently just given the brains trust in Cabinet another project to embark on. Bruce Renwick, Mellons Bay.

On books
I learn via media that the delightful children's book Hairy MacLary is deemed not politically correct in some quarters. As the girl in the feathered headdress on the TV ad says: "Don't be ridiculous." A N Christie, Rotorua.

On shootings
Men who get shot by the police are not selected by the police. They select themselves. C C McDowall, Rotorua.

On astrology
Michael Hurst (NZH, July 5): Hard-working, perfectionist, often successful in the arts through sheer determination, and doesn't believe in astrology. I guessed you were a Virgo, Michael. Samantha Cunningham, Henderson.

The Premium Debate

Prebble: What NZ can learn from America's labour shortage

Richard Prebble comments, "I had never travelled to a country where the first question was would I like to work for the government". If he travels to the UK today, he might be asked if he would like to form a government? Boris Johnson clearly can't, and the success of the England cricket team under two Kiwis has not gone unnoticed. Simon L.

Love them or loathe them, the fact is America is the leader of the free world and without their constant support of democracies around the world we would not be living the reasonably free life we do. I know there will be those that disagree but look back at history of the last 100-150 years. Think where would we all be or what would life be like without America continually standing up against the autocratic bullies of the world order. Kevin B.

Certainly not much we can learn from the current American government. Unless you want to learn about corruption, biased Congress inquiries, and breaking down law and order. Ian U.

The stark difference between the USA, Australia, many other countries, and New Zealand is that overseas labour and immigrants willing to work are welcome. NZ Labour tries to disguise its anti-immigration policy by calling it a reset. The truth is this Government is isolationist and protectionist. The proof is in resisting efforts to bring in seasonal workers for horticulture and agriculture. Yesterday, Sealord reported it is 300 staff short and losing millions. Where are the thousands of overseas students? We should be flooded with backpackers and queues of people wanting to settle here. Just open the borders, get the economy moving. Walter H.

This article fails to actually say what New Zealand can learn from America regarding labour shortages. I find it to be just a bunch of unlinked facts. If anything, it verifies that the issues we are facing currently are worldwide, and not wholly caused by the current Government. Garry T.