Once hailed a saviour, it’s created a monster
MMP was hailed as a means of giving a significant voice to minor parties, which had struggled to achieve representation in Parliament. It appeared truly democratic.
But this coalition has created a monster.
We are now governed by one party which received 9% of the vote and another which achieved 6.08%. Both of these have seized disproportionate power by demanding top positions in government.
The Prime Minister, although overshadowed by his coalition partners, does indeed deserve his title. At least a high proportion of voters wanted him in charge.
Between the three of them, passing new and dangerous legislation without proper consultation, we are facing a blatant dictatorship where the country’s societal and environmental health means nothing; where development and profit are the goals. There will be a lot of suffering.
Keep Aurora
The Dunedin City Council is proposing to sell our electric lines company Aurora. Aurora is responsible for bringing electricity into our homes, businesses, farms etc. It builds and owns and maintains all the power lines in our area. Aurora serves the public and must remain in public ownership. It should not be expected to make unrealistic profits beyond its own needs to run the business effectively and to maintain and service its assets.
It must be owned by the public in order that it cannot be used as a cash-producing entity for the benefit of either the DCC or potential private owners and investors. Excessive dividends which Aurora had to pay to the DCC resulted in the company not having sufficient funds to maintain the network properly.
To protect Aurora from such demands I want to see the company wholly owned by a public trust which is directly responsible to the whole community. A number of electric lines companies in New Zealand are owned by such trusts.
A lack of understanding
Once again Metiria Stanton Turei demonstrates in her column a complete lack of understanding regarding local government (ODT 19.4.24).
Councils are designed to administer local body matters and councillors are there to represent the council’s funding base — ratepayers. It is as simple as that.
Governments can ensure that this happens through local government legislation. All of this demonic, woke, virtue-signalling cloud that surrounds the nonsensical belief that one ratepayer’s voice should be heard more than another based on race, should be called out for what it is. Racism works both ways and it is more than time for people like your columnist to accept the fact that most people in New Zealand believe in the basic principles of democracy. Whether it be in the provision of health services, education, justice, or those services provided to ratepayers by local government, there is absolutely no need to differentiate on the colour of one’s skin.
Challenge laid down
I challenge Christopher Luxon and Nicola Willis to spend a week or more at the coalface, on the minimum wage, in a Oranga Tamariki "home".
They are already understaffed, and abused by the very damaged children they try to care for and help. Unfortunately, I don’t think they would have the guts or the stamina to do it. Swanning in for 20 minutes doesn’t cut the mustard.
A bit of up, a bit of out, is what is needed
Increased urban density as of right is the (stupid) idea of the past Labour government. The Dunedin City Council is not to blame.
However, the DCC district plan is a big fail because it restricts future development to "up", i.e. increased density within existing city limits. Up or out with respect to urban planning is a false dilemma (with "out" being sneered at as "sprawl".)
But people need homes and they also need quality of life. In my opinion cities must go both up and out where they can, while respecting the quality of life afforded by homes already built and neighbourhood communities already formed. This can be done effectively only if those affected are part of the decision-making process and locals are not dictated to by central government.
The meaning of words
The Holocaust Centre of New Zealand read with concern the misuse and misrepresentation of the Holocaust in a recent letter to the editor (ODT 15.4.24), incorrectly defining the Holocaust as "destruction" (it is actually a Greek word meaning sacrifice by fire). The letter drew a false parallel between the deliberate and systematic genocide of Europe’s Jews, and the horrific human cost and humanitarian crisis resulting from the ongoing war between Israel and Hamas. While we applaud any warning about indifference before human suffering and share in the hope for a peaceful resolution, we believe that to use the Holocaust in such reckless and decontextualised ways serves the opposite purpose, radicalising positions and disrespecting victims of both conflicts.
Holocaust Centre of New Zealand
Oldest record store still going strong up north
Your online article (ODT, 20.4.24) re Record Store Day credits Slow Boat Records in Wellington as being New Zealand’s oldest independent record store. It was founded in 1985 as we clearly see on the store window in the photograph you published. I suggest that is incorrect and remind you that Marbecks in Auckland’s Queens Arcade in was founded in 1935, still going strong, and is where my family and I bought our first LPs in the early 1950s.
Looming issue
Sea level rise is inevitable, in that humanity seems incapable of reducing green house gases pumping into earth’s atmosphere, raising temperature and sea levels. Jim Mora, on his RNZ programme on April 21, interviewed Koen Olthuis from Water Studio, a Dutch architecture company building floating homes and buildings.
These mostly concrete box floating homes have a 75 to 100-year life. Imagine South Dunedin being a desirable place to live with raised roading, sewer connections, parks etc with housing on flushing canals. Not battling, but harnessing a major looming issue for South Dunedin.
One does not fit all
According to a number of respected economists, Nicola Willis is going to borrow $15 billion for tax cuts for the rich. Just imagine what would happen if a Labour finance minister was about to borrow $15 billion to give to a different, but equally small, section of society— let’s say solo mums with three or more kids, or a labourers’ union. There would be a volcanic stream of invective and outrage from some mainstream media and political commentators. Now what do we have? Zilch. If we don’t somehow reform the biased and destructive way we look at right-wing greed, and in my view, looting, our democracy is lost.
Address Letters to the Editor to: Otago Daily Times, PO Box 517, 52-56 Lower Stuart St, Dunedin. Email: editor@odt.co.nz
