Neurodivergent kids’ needs have to be met
I very much enjoyed reading Kate Newton’s analysis of school absences (ODT 29.5.24). It was a refreshing, balanced and evidenced examination of one of our most popular pearl-clutcher topics in politics today.
What I didn’t see in this piece was any mention of our disabled and neurodivergent children, who are taking frequent absences because they cannot get the support they need at school. A significant part of improving attendance is going to be making sure that we have adequate funding for these children going forward.
Local schools are reporting big rises in the number of children who require teacher aide support, but families just can’t get the funding that will keep their kids engaged in education.
All kids deserve to grow up in an environment where they are safe, warm, healthy and enabled to learn. Not just the rich, able-bodied and neurotypical kids.
Waiting game
Waiting patiently and at times painfully for a knee replacement I believe I have hacked the health system. I reckon if I go down to the new partly built hospital and register my name again then I have a fair chance of being somewhere near the top of the waiting list when it fully opens, in 2029.
Recognition needed
Israel's genocidal war in Gaza must stop now. Towards that end, while the US continues to obstruct Palestine’s advancement to full member status of the United Nations, New Zealand, along with the rest of the world, must officially recognise the state of Palestine.
Ireland, Spain and Norway are joining the ranks of 143 countries (of the 193 United Nations General Assembly members) that already do. Likely their move will precipitate other abstainers to follow suit, as the horror in Gaza continues to unfold.
How can there ever be a two-state, or any other type of solution, if liberal democracies like us, refuse to even officially recognise the right to self-determination and justice for Palestinians, by putting our money where our mouth is?
Reading material
The telegraphing of military intent and the facilitation of aid to the civilian population of one’s adversaries does not constitute genocide, as claimed by the Students of Aotearoa (ODT 24.5.24).
The Hamas covenant of 1988 and the revised Hamas charter of 2017 contains precise statements of intent of the real definition of genocide of all Israelis. It is a shame, but certainly not a surprise, that our "learned" students have not read the charters of Hamas, instead they belch the propagated rhetoric and movement of hatred towards the people of Israel.
Opposite reaction
I appreciate the comment by Ian Breeze (ODT Letters 29.4.24) regarding tritium. I was merely making the point that any mineral assets we have in New Zealand are likely to stay in the ground because of the difficulty in obtaining permission to mine it. I also point out although tritium is used for nuclear fusion it is so rare on Earth that it will need to be manufactured. The manufacturing process involves the use of a nuclear reactor and, lo and behold, these reactors require uranium.
It is not strange at all to ask owners about sale
Hilary Calvert (ODT 24.5.24) says it is strange to consult customers over the sale of Aurora.
I am sure Dunedin ratepayers are the owners of Aurora.
They have more right to have a say than short-term councillors who see it as a cash cow to fix problems of their own making.
If councillors over the years had the slightest idea how to run a business Dunedin wouldn’t be considering selling an asset like Aurora.
The construction of the stadium put Dunedin in this mess in the first place. It is still costing hundreds of thousands to maintain.
This was never going to make any money to make life easier for ratepayers.
Aurora is definitely an asset worth keeping.
Reversing a trend
Regarding the outburst in Parliament by Te Pāti Māori MP Mariameno Kapa-Kingi (Opinion, Metiria Stanton Turei, ODT 17.4.24) insinuating that this coalition government is on a mission to exterminate Māori. For many years this was being done by Māori themselves.
The 1818-1840 Musket Wars fought inter-tribally by Māori, resulted in the loss of life of at least 20,000 people. Some historians think a lot more. The British supplied muskets usually in exchange for flax.
After the 1840 signing of the Treaty of Waitangi, the decline in the Māori population still continued, resulting from the Land Wars, no resistance to imported diseases, substandard housing, poor sanitation, high infant mortality rate, alcohol abuse, etc.
From this low point it took prominent Māori such as Maui Pomare, Peter Buck, Apirana Ngata to reverse this trend.
Cost overruns and delays are bemusing
It appears from your article (ODT 21.5.24) that the Dunedin Hospital rebuild problems are far from over and that the hospital is unlikely to ever be completed to the full specifications as originally approved by Cabinet. And who knows what the final cost will be?
I understand that Cabinet approved the rebuild on September 14, 2020, that the Minister of Health lodged a resource consent application for project Whakatuputupu on August 13, 2021. An expert panel was appointed on September 23, 2021, to oversee the resource consent process. Over 40 days to appoint a panel, and if my dates are correct it took almost a year to lodge a resource consent after Cabinet had approved the rebuild.
Building commenced on June 3, 2022. How long will it take to build?
At the height of the Covid epidemic the Chinese commenced building a new 1000-bed, 60,000sq m hospital on January 24, 2020, which was completed in 10 days. Only 10 days to complete a total build.
It is obvious that the Chinese did not need to appoint a panel and I bet the hospital was also built with no cost overruns. And I am also very sure their processes were not bogged down and loaded with the cost and endless time wasting of overstaffed bureaucratic departments.
What I cannot understand is this: 1 ) The specifications including a build time would have been put out to tender; 2 ) I would expect tenderers would be expected to tender a price based on the expected build time which should have included their allowances for possible increased costs over the period.
Why then have we got cost overruns?
Guessing game
Shane Jones is the original Mad Hatter. And then there’s Alice in Wonderland, down the rabbit hole. And Tweedledum and Tweedledee, the thumb twiddlers.
Guess who the Cheshire Cat is.
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