A seawater pool and wetland areas feature in new proposals for the Auckland waterfront being promoted by Mayor Wayne Brown. Image / Nick McKay, Eke Panuku
Forget salt pools, keep port going
Wayne Brown, with respect, your idea (NZ Herald, August 3) of an “open-air seawater swimming pool” is just plain wacky. The water quality in that area will never be clean enough for people to want to swim there. With Auckland having 80 beaches, people don’t need another place to swim. If they live in the inner city and want to swim in a pool, then either the Tepid Baths or the Parnell pools will suffice. In my opinion, we need to urgently upgrade the cruise ship terminals to accommodate the ever-increasing number of vessels arriving each year. After all, this is their first image of Auckland and we want it to really wow them. Also Wayne, please scrap your wacky ideas of moving the port from Auckland to Whangarei. Los Angeles, Shanghai, Singapore, Hong Kong, Rotterdam, Hamburg and Barcelona are all major port cities. All are prosperous and none of them have ideas to relocate anytime soon. New Zealand’s economy is 100 per cent reliant on imports and exports. The Ports of Auckland and Tauranga are our connection with the rest of the world. Who cares if there are a few unsightly cranes on the skyline? Get over it. Our economy is much more important than making things look pretty.
Glen Stanton, Mairangi Bay
Stellar waterfront plan
Auckland can become a stellar international city if the mayor’s inspired waterfront plan is put in place. Our Queen City can join a group of spectacular cities such as San Francisco, Sydney and Rio de Janeiro where people have replaced commercial shipping operations. Walking activities can reclaim giant car import parking areas and public access will take precedence over imposing steel fences and gateways. Aucklanders can become proud of their magnificent harbour while paying tribute to and enjoying our Pacific island marine heritage.
Larry Mitchell, Rothesay Bay
Save the tug
If Auckland Council has enough money to build a waterpark in the CBD, why can’t they do anything to save Auckland’s last steam tug, William C. Daldy? This tug may be the last of her class steaming in the world and with a grand story of saving Auckland’s Harbour Bridge attached to it. If it must be retired due to current operational difficulties, why can’t it at least be incorporated as a static display on our waterfront plans? It would certainly be a more iconic fixture than that state house sculpture. Seems like an absolute tragedy that the tug could be sunk. Another part of Auckland’s heritage to be lost forever due to poor planning and vision by the council.
Darshani Jayasinghe, Hillsborough
Property tax
Property investors selling up and leaving New Zealand for Australia will appreciate the benefits of the local tax laws compared to those across the ditch. Assuming rich lister Ben Cook was still a New Zealand taxpayer at the time he made his $100 million property sell-off prior to departing for Australia, his tax bill, as we know, would have been $0. If he had become an Australian taxpayer and citizen at the time of the sales, selling Australian property, the picture would be significantly different. After making some conservative estimates of capital gains over the last few years, Cook would be remitting at least $12m in Capital Gains Tax to the Australian Tax Office, even after a 50 per cent discount as an Australian citizen. Considering how much interest he must have claimed as a deduction over the time he held the properties, it seems only reasonable that he should return a proportion of the profits. Interestingly, when reinvesting those proceeds into properties in New South Wales as he plans to do, he will be up for about $6m in stamp duties, which of course he would not be paying for similar investments here.
Eric Skilling, Milford
Costly calculations
In the item on the secondary teachers’ contract negotiations (NZ Herald, August 3), the pay rise was described as being fully in place by December 2024, meaning expenditure is incurred over two financial years. National seems to believe that spreading the cost in this manner is “poor economic management”, despite happily spreading costs for their own policies over multiple years in the same manner. Then there’s National’s roads policy, which claims the Mill Rd project would cost $1.3 billion, despite publicly-available information stating it would cost $3.5b, an apparently unfunded gap of $2.2b. For three elections, we’ve had examples of economic mismanagement from the National Party: 2017′s mythical $11b hole, 2020′s inability to do basic sums to the tune of $4b, and now this set of examples. National tries to paint itself as “fiscally responsible”, despite examples to the contrary. The worst finance ministers in our history have all been National’s, and the most expensive policy flops have been theirs (Think Big, cancelling Norman Kirk’s superannuation scheme, and cancelling contributions to the Cullen Fund). Overall, history proves National are a party we cannot afford to have in government.
Jonathan Godfrey, Mangere
Eden Park
Hey Aucklanders, I have great news. I travelled to Eden Park from out of town to watch a Fifa Women’s World Cup match and had a fantastic experience. I drove to Albany and caught the bus (free), assisted by very helpful AT people, taking me to Eden Park and a five-minute walk to my seat. Eden Park was three-quarters full with 30,000-plus people and the atmosphere was terrific with everyone, including the losing team’s supporters, having a good time. So Auckland can do public transport to a stadium that does a great job on facilities and atmosphere. Ignore politicians that want a grandiose, expensive legacy stadium with their name on it.
Stewart Halliwell, Tawharanui
Accident probes
We are continually being told that incident and accident investigations will take 12 or 18 months to be publicly released. The latest example is the Kaikōura charter boat accident involving the tragic loss of five souls. These lengthy delays are unacceptable and often involve hardship for people such as the relatives of the victims seeking prompt answers and explanations.
Larry Mitchell, Rothesay Bay
Egg shortage
We once again find ourselves facing egg shortages and increased pricing, a situation begun in 2012 when animal welfare concerns drove the transition away from caged egg production to free-range farming. The perception was that caged production was a cruel and stressful imposition on animal welfare. Emotive images were displayed by animal rights proponents as commonplace across the industry, convincing political regulators action was required. In any branch of farming, a high standard of animal husbandry is vital to achieve the best production of top-quality products. Profitability hinges on well-fed, well-cared-for, healthy animals. Public acceptance that poor standards were the norm resulted in the present situation where egg prices have more than doubled and reliable supply is no longer assured, as a result of removing the most efficient and cost-effective means of production. Now we have families battling inflation and affordability at the supermarket, but some rising costs are from following the views of self-appointed experts with scant knowledge of industry best practice, but determined to portray that industry in the worst possible light.
George Williams, Whangamata
Covid lockdown
As a Christian for countless years, I find the Free Church Movement’s views on being restricted unduly during Covid-19 illogical and disturbing. The argument put forward that Covid-19 gathering restrictions breached human rights is simply untrue. We live in a technological age, and so while unable to worship in person, we could still worship online. In fact, many churches put their services online during those times. While not the same, it was still better than nothing at all. The Government mandates saved lives, and churches had no more right than any other organisation to meet in person. Had churches met when Covid was rife, many more people would have died, including Christians. It is a well-known fact that a lot of leaders in this movement do not believe (or choose not to believe) in science or medical evidence, and like to skew the facts to suit their own agendas. It is also a very sad reflection on the Free Church Movement that it would rather spend thousands of dollars fighting what I believe will (rightly) be a losing battle in the court system when that money could be spent on furthering the cause of Christianity. If Jesus was still in his grave, he would no doubt be rolling in it.
Kevan Leadbeater, Totara Vale
Short & sweet
On kiwi
How many kiwi died to give their feathers to make the cloak?
Jock Mac Vicar, Hauraki
On the Silver Ferns
Why is it our goal shoots don’t appear to be able, or want, to take a shot at goal from the outer edge of the circle? This means many more passes with a high chance the opposition will take possession. Surely if our goal shoots were any good they would be able to shoot from anywhere in the circle.
Janet Boyle, Orewa
On Epsom
Perhaps it is time National stopped playing games with the electoral system and stood a quality National candidate in the Epsom electorate instead of giving Act a free ride. Doing so has seen many past, far right-leaning National voters throughout the country, transferring their vote to Act.
David Little, Whangārei
On guns
The number of gun incidents has increased dramatically since the gun buyback scheme. So after that failure, what is the Government’s plan now to deal with this problem?
Wendy Tighe-Umbers, Parnell
The woman was shaken by the incident.