Paying more tax and pitching for votes
It is wonderful that a group of prominent New Zealanders have stood up and said that rich people ought to be paying more tax.
Getting the eminent rich to do this has been like pulling wisdom teeth with marshmallow pliers, and they should be commended.
One person who will not be commending them is Christopher Luxon.
In my view, his tired old pitch for the election is: unworkable boot camps for young offenders, punitive measures for "bottom feeders" (Luxon's description), throttling the Māori Renaissance and the outstanding contribution to Aotearoa from the tangata whenua, and finally, huge tax cuts for the wealthy.
If any of these prominent Kiwis had dreams of playing a role in National's current ranks, that dream just vanished.
Good job.
Teaching standards
Well can you believe it? The Minister of Finance has just found $4 billion in savings. Part of that was probably the rest of our hospital.
At the moment teachers are striking not only for increased wages but for what they see as additional assistance required in the teaching profession.
Now, all workers should be able to enjoy wages that will provide them with a reasonable standard of living, but they should be producing results commensurate with their wages.
I find it strange that over the years although the government (Ministry of Education) has been coerced into meeting previous teacher requests to increase wages, provide for reduced class sizes and additional teacher aids these demands do not appear to have resulted in an increase in the percentage number of students achieving national standards.
Perhaps the decline in students reaching reasonable passing levels is an indication of a decline in education policies and the standard of teaching.
If the ministry bureaucrats and the teachers it employs were part of the private sector, they would probably be required to achieve results and be rewarded with wages commensurate with their achievements.
In my opinion it is not only teachers’ remuneration that requires attention.
It is the quality of both the teachers and the policies of the bureaucrats in the Ministry of Education we should be reviewing.
Hospital food fine
Re Graham Scott’s letter (ODT 13.5.23). You were in hospital last year, but have left it till now to complain?
Firstly you were so lucky to get a bed. Be thankful. Secondly, this is a hospital not a five-star hotel. You inferred that the 18kg you lost was due to the poor food, even though you had family to bring in food, so I find that hard to believe.
I have recently spent nearly a week in ward 7. I had no complaints regarding the food, and I am a good cook. We had a choice for lunch and dinner, food was always hot ,vegetables varied. I was so thankful to be there I would quite happily have been given soup and sandwiches.
Let’s all stop slagging off the hospital and be thankful for what we have.
Donations likely made on a quid pro quo basis
So, the National and Act New Zealand parties together have already exceeded $7 million in “donations” to fund their bid to win this year’s election. Let’s not mince words. When the backers of a political party give money with the expectation of a financial return, that’s an investment not a donation. If one has the kind of wealth that many of National-Act’s “donors” have, the return from the promised tax cuts alone will pay a very handsome dividend.
When policy can be bought for money, that looks an awful lot like the oligarchy that we get so self-righteous about in failed East European states. The disparity between the funding available to parties like National/Act and the others is not new, but it is now so large that it has the potential to threaten our democracy.
Yes, the appearance of democracy will still be maintained if National-Act wins this election, but that kind of disparity in resources makes drowning out the voices of others so much easier in subtle (and not so subtle) ways.
Cuts noted offshore
Language teacher David Moir (ODT 12.5.23) in his article observes that the University of Otago language cuts have been noted beyond our shores.
If that is correct then it would be reasonable to also assume that beyond our shores it will have been noted that the university is also proposing to change its logo.
This will possibly signal to beyond our shores further cuts or downgrades, and undermine continued confidence in our university.
The change should be totally and clearly dumped for good.
The waste of $700,000 should also be investigated publicly.
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