Letters to the editor: Our welfare state has got it all wrong

Prime Minister Christopher Luxon's Government faces tough choices on welfare dependency, a reader writes. Photo / Mark Mitchell

OPINION

Some years ago a businessman told me of an incident in Singapore on a hot humid afternoon.

He was closeted in an airconditioned car in a traffic jam when a tap on the window alerted him to a man on a bicycle wanting to sell him an overpriced ice block.

He bought it, was refreshed and then noted this entrepreneur had gone back to the store to replenish his supplies.

He realised that because Singapore had little in the way of a social security system, people got ahead by innovation.

Perhaps our welfare state has got it all wrong in that we certainly appear to support idleness.

So, how do we wean people from the public breast?

I guess after several generations of dependency this won’t be easy and Luxon’s lot are faced with some tough choices.

I wonder if bravery will mark the report card of this regime.

John Williams,

Ngongotahā

Dangerous section of walk

I have been concerned for some time regarding the dangerous section of the Blue Lake walkway along Tarawera Rd.

As an elected member of the Lakes Community Board a few years ago, I tried to have this section of the walkway either relocated along the lake edge or have a steel rail safety barrier installed.

The speed limit is 80km/h and there is no separation between the walkway and the narrow winding road, not even a kerb.

There is a serious safety risk to users since the use of this section of the walkway during the recent Tarawera Ultramarathon required the speed limit to be reduced to 30km/h, double road cones set along the walkway at 20m intervals, and runners made to wear high-vis vests.

Please Rotorua Lakes Council, do something before someone is killed on, arguably, Rotorua’s most popular walk.

Fred Stevens

Lake Tarawera

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