It does concern me, though, that this latest initiative seems to be based more on anecdote than evidence and analysis, and I detect an underlying theme of centralising control rather than localising it; is local government to be nothing more than an instrument of central government? <\/p>\n
In one respect it will be easier for councils to say no to communities wanting to have their council provide improved facilities and services, and they will have someone to blame.<\/p>\n
One thing the Government could do (apart from paying rates on all Crown land) would be to promise in the proposed legislation not to add responsibilities to local government without providing the funds to implement them. This would address an existing problem.<\/p>\n
Mark Vincent, (former Kaipara councillor), Maungaturoto.<\/p>\n
Rates cap<\/p>\n
Phil Goff laid it out very clearly.<\/p>\n
We don\u2019t need a rates cap any more than we needed tax cuts. Our infrastructure is so far in arrears we need all the money we can get, while observing fiscal responsibility. <\/p>\n
He reminds us that there are ways the Government could contribute to the pool (GST on rates, rates on Government-owned property and bed tax). Wayne Brown was comfortably re-elected so has a mandate to continue to \u2018fix Auckland\u2019. The Government should let him.<\/p>\n
Robyn Snelgar, Clover Park.<\/p>\n
Emissions targets<\/p>\n
We read in yesterday\u2019s Herald (December 5) that our Government has rejected emission reduction targets proposed by the Climate Change Commission. <\/p>\n
Why? Because the result would be lower GDP figures in 2035 and 2050.<\/p>\n
Does the Government not grasp what life will be like on our planet in 2050 if emissions cannot be reduced? Currently Iran is facing a dire water shortage while South East Asia is dealing with devastating flooding. These problems are but a taste of what is to come. <\/p>\n
The world must move away from fossil fuels. New Zealand can and should do much, much more.<\/p>\n
Linda McGrogan, Taup\u014d.<\/p>\n
Kicking the can<\/p>\n
The Government says; \u201ca detailed framework for post-2050 reductions and removals is best developed closer to 2050\u201d. <\/p>\n
The Climate Change Commission report says; \u201cthe impacts of global warming are greater in both severity and scale than was understood in 2019\u201d. <\/p>\n
Any battle to mitigate effects which are now painfully obvious across the Pacific and a swathe of nations from central Africa, through India and the far east, will be economically debilitating for everybody in the short, medium and long term. <\/p>\n
Here\u2019s the rub. There is no medium or long term in politics in New Zealand. Only a three-year term and a focus on the next election. Politics, the art of compromise, is no longer fit for purpose where compromise is no longer an option. <\/p>\n
Nigel Meek, Raglan.<\/p>\n
Climate recommendations<\/p>\n
Our Government has rejected all of the Climate Change Commission\u2019s recommendations to strengthen our emissions targets. How do we as a country – that\u2019s just been awash with unexpected downpours, mudslides and sodden land from flooding – feel about that? It\u2019s December and already alerts are out in some areas for increasing temperatures, those above 30 degrees, those that create the fires, the droughts that misplace people, cause huge damage to our wild life, to ourselves and to the economy. But still our Government cannot see ahead. <\/p>\n
Summing up in yesterday\u2019s editorial (December 5) the Herald, suggests this Government\u2019s re-election next year will be determined on how we are feeling about the economy in nine months. Should that not read \u2018how we feel about our rapidly changing climate and our future wellbeing?\u2019 It\u2019s a massive gamble to leave necessary changes closer to 2050. What a life sentence to hand to our young. <\/p>\n
Emma Mackintosh, Birkenhead.<\/p>\n
Extreme weather<\/p>\n
It is ironic that while over the past year we have seen repeated extreme weather events around the world that have been at least partly the result of climate change, our Government has just rejected all of the recommendations of our Climate Change Commission.<\/p>\n
While taking action now to reduce our greenhouse gas emissions will have financial costs, the future financial, societal and environmental costs will be much higher if we don\u2019t act. Our agricultural and horticultural industry, the backbone of our economy, will face major challenges if we don\u2019t. While New Zealand\u2019s contribution to emissions is small in global terms our per capita emissions are among the highest in the world.<\/p>\n
We pride ourselves in being world leaders in some areas \u2013 let\u2019s see some real cross-party leadership and agreement on climate change.<\/p>\n
Karla Rix-Trott, Raglan.<\/p>\n
School lunch saga<\/p>\n
Thank goodness the holidays are nearly here so we can have a break from the school lunch saga. <\/p>\n
But with the weeks off school, and children at home, new questions arise. Will the children actually get a lunch? If they don\u2019t, what happens? If they do, will they complain about it? Is it healthy enough? <\/p>\n
Then, after all that angst, school will start again and a new chapter in the school lunch saga will begin. Added to that, we\u2019ll have to endure political parties point-scoring over the issue. <\/p>\n
Lorraine Kidd, Warkworth.<\/p>\n
Just not cricket <\/p>\n
I am so pleased that the headmaster of Christ\u2019s College has complained to the Broadcasting Standards Authority with regard to the derogatory remark Scotty Stevenson made against Christ\u2019s College pupils during the commentary of the cricket test from Christchurch.<\/p>\n
I personally have had enough of Stevenson\u2019s innuendos during his time on air and consider them to be cover ups for his lack of knowledge of the finer points of the game of cricket.<\/p>\n
Rob Kinsey, Matamata.<\/p>\n
Surcharges<\/p>\n
If I ran a takeaway I would advertise hamburgers at 50c each. Then at the checkout I would add a $3 surcharge for ingredients, $4 for labour, and $3 for overheads.<\/p>\n
Further, I would add a $1 surcharge for eftpos because swiping three times then entering a pin is a massive waste of my time.<\/p>\n
Therefore a 50 cent discount for contactless payments.<\/p>\n
Obviously, I would have to name my store \u201cScamburgers.\u201d<\/p>\n
Tony Cooper, Mt Albert.<\/p>\n
Mobile phones while driving<\/p>\n
Mobile phone use when driving causes a lot of car accidents. Our fine in NZ is $150. Let\u2019s follow Australia and make it a $1000 instant fine and demerit points.<\/p>\n
We are a country which is lenient on crime. Home detention instead of prison is the normal punishment now. Make prison a place criminals don\u2019t want to go to. Name suppression and deductions for hard upbringing is now normal. People know right from wrong from an early age.<\/p>\n
Miles Hayward, Beachlands.<\/p>\n
2026 Election<\/p>\n
Although the 2026 election is almost a year away, with all the political brouhaha and never-ending polling which dominates the media, only two questions need to be asked:<\/p>\n
Is your average voter feeling better or worse than when the political left was last in government?Can Chris Hipkins, Chloe Swarbrick, Debbie Ngarewa-Packer and Rawiri Waititi be more popular than the incumbents – Christopher Luxon, Winston Peters and David Seymour?<\/p>\n
Next year\u2019s election will be won or lost based on these two questions. Everything else is white noise.<\/p>\n
Ray Calver, Westmere.<\/p>\n
Retirement village legislation<\/p>\n
I note the RV Residents\u2019 Association has welcomed the Government\u2019s announcement of stronger protection for its residents and has outlined the criteria and timeframe for exiting residents to be reimbursed.<\/p>\n
However, what has not been revealed by TV1 news on Thursday night is that this will only apply when legislated, to incoming residents. Existing residents will be left in limbo, having \u201cpaved the way\u201d. So the protection they have fought for will not apply to them.<\/p>\n
The Government is advocating for a 12-month period on exit before having to settle an estate or resident. No village has to wait 12 months for payment on entry. Elderly existing residents need legislation in their favour too.<\/p>\n
Joan Scott, Rotorua.<\/p>\n
A quick word<\/p>\n
The true cost of all-day free parking in inner city streets is borne by ratepayers and customers of local businesses. Paid parking ensures shared use of limited spaces. Shop and cafe operators might argue that paid parking keeps customers away. For every free-all-day space, dozens of people are denied access. Isn\u2019t that also true?<\/p>\n
Barbara Callaghan, Kohimarama.<\/p>\n
Luxon boasts the Ikea store has created 500 new jobs. Equally Ikea\u2019s competitors having customers taken from them will lose 500 jobs on the basis there are only so many customers to go round and the same applies to the Michelin restaurants. It\u2019s simple arithmetic – too simple, it would seem, for Luxon to understand.<\/p>\n
Gary Hollis, Mellons Bay.<\/p>\n
Rates increases are required to meet increasing local demands. Perhaps we need to look to our past. Reading a brief history of Onehunga, when official money was short for public works in the 1850s, an appeal was made to the local citizens, and those who could not afford a cash donation contributed their labour free.<\/p>\n
Alan Johnson, Papatoetoe.<\/p>\n
As a once very proud public servant for 46 years one must ask the obvious question, why have so many of the current crop let the side down so appallingly and landed us all in the gutter?<\/p>\n
Bruce Tubb, Ngataringa Bay Heights.<\/p>\n
Anyone who ate any of the mouldy lunches shown on TV deserves to get sick. They looked revolting – how did they manage to force them down? One could suspect political posturing and point scoring again – after all, it\u2019s been a while since school lunches were in the news.<\/p>\n
David Pickford, Whitianga.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"It does concern me, though, that this latest initiative seems to be based more on anecdote than evidence…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":170126,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[7800,138,4464,307,219,6540,29546,424,440,5971,111,139,69,22213,7676,5763,61,3270,6923,4741],"class_list":["post-170125","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-economy","tag-body","tag-business","tag-cap","tag-dont","tag-economy","tag-hand","tag-letters","tag-life","tag-local","tag-need","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-our","tag-rates","tag-sentence","tag-to","tag-we","tag-what","tag-young"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/170125","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=170125"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/170125\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/170126"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=170125"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=170125"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=170125"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}