Letters: Government needs to show its real concern is for our nation

Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern and Finance Minister Grant Robertson in Rotorua on Thursday. Photo / Stephen Parker

There are two things that strike me about the current situation in this country.

The first is that Government needs to grab hold of this opportunity to show that its real concern is for our nation and our people and to enlist the help and suggestions of experts across the political spectrum.

This is not a time for cheap political shots from either main party or for anyone else as we face a crisis unprecedented within the past three generations.

We have a large slice of usually productive farmland under severe drought conditions as well as a health crisis in the form of Covid-19.

Britain came up with a "War Cabinet" under a strong, committed leader, Winston Churchill, in 1939 and laid aside all political allegiances to focus on the common enemy and enlisted the help and expertise of all sectors including the church whose prayer response was crucial.

Secondly, these crises show the foolishness of a society that lives way beyond its means in that we all live on credit and have almost nothing for the "rainy day" that our forefathers wisely saved.

Many businesses will collapse and the repercussions will be felt for years to come.

(Abridged)

John Williams
Ngongotahā

Banging the drums

It would appear to me from your report (News, March 20) that certain councillors regard this virus as little more than a platform on which to bang their tired old drums.

In my opinion, the introduction of a pandemic into our lives is no excuse to complain about the council's financial policy.

The rates we pay are the price of the prosperity we enjoy and this virus emergency would be a lot worse in the hands of those who seem to know the price of everything but the value of nothing.

Mike Byrne
Springfield

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