Letters to the editor: Make returning Kiwis feel welcome

Covid quarantine at the Ibis Hotel in Rotorua. Photo / File

I agree with Ryan Gray (Letters, June 24) that we should be making these returning Kiwis feel welcome in our city.

These are not undesirable aliens, but New Zealanders wanting to get home to this wonderful country. Also, we should be pleased that some of the enormous expenditure of taxpayers' money on hotel quarantine is coming to Rotorua, and not just benefiting the major cities.

We should be glad that these hotels that were otherwise empty are being thrown a lifeline, increasing the chances that they can survive until they can once again become key parts of our tourism market.

We should be welcoming the employment opportunities that will result. We have to trust that all the necessary precautions are taken to protect our local population, and I am sure we will benefit from the lessons learned from the mistakes over the past few weeks.

Keith Garratt
Rotorua

Farewell Jill

I would like to add my voice to the many others who have written to you to express their farewells to Jill Nicholas.

We the readers of your paper will sadly miss the excellent column Our People by Jill. For many years I have looked forward to Saturday's edition. I go straight to this page. It has been wonderful reading about such a variety of interesting people in our district.

Jill captured the essence of a person and managed to make you feel as though you knew them yourself.

What a loss it is going to be without her excellent journalism. I always read her court reports as well. They were clear and precise and told us the full story.

We are going to miss her and I'm sure many people will join me in wishing her well.
(Abridged)

Mary Barton
Glenholme

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