Visitors horrified by water discharge plan
We are visitors based mostly in Tuakau, very near the mighty Waikato River which suffers water quality loss due to ignorance and abuse. We know this as we are involved in a community group trying to mitigate this legacy.
We have thoroughly enjoyed our time in the South Island, as we always do and try to visit annually. We do this because the exquisite landscapes are beyond breathtaking, the waters so clean, the atmosphere fresh and this past week, so still. There are very few places on the planet like this now.
We are just aghast that the local council have even considered putting Te Wai Pounamu at extreme ecological, environmental and spiritual risk by releasing waste water into the Shotover River, even if it is "treated". We hope leaders will come to their senses and not pursue this truly awful idea. Why not use the water to irrigate?
Sticker shock
The problem of freedom campers and their habits rears its head again. This disturbs those of us who are responsible and practise pure habits.
But something we witnessed on the timber trail in Queenstown plain out infuriated us. We walked into town from the Copthorne and as we walked along the trail we counted over 20 very small vans who had clearly stayed the night there, some people were still lying in their bunks.
Many of them had not only the blue self-containment stickers, but also the new green stickers. I thought the green stickers required fully plumbed-in toilets: I am certain they could not get them in.
So the thing we find so infuriating is the bleating from council and the residents of the Queenstown area when there they are in plain sight so close to the town centre. Instead of trying to ruin it for all of us why do you just not come down hard on the real offenders?
Is prayer essential?
Why is a prayer to Māori gods, both mythical and naturist, deemed to be essential to a secular, local authority council meeting which should be debating and discussing city issues, not considering them after praying to gods which are not those of the majority as well as in a language that is not understood by the majority?
Should the council have to follow the customs of a marae in its secular meetings?
If a karakia is to be considered essential, then so should the Lord’s Prayer which is the common prayer known to most Christians (including those who are Māori), followed by a prayer for Hindus, Muslims, Jews and any other religion one can think of so as not to offend anyone by omitting them.
Let the karakia and waiata stay in the marae or in meetings which are Māori-led if they wish to have them since Māori seem to consider them customary but not everyone does. Leave city council meetings to the citizens without reference to religion or race.
The muppets
As a fellow employee of the University of Otago — Ōtākou Whakaihu Waka, I feel sorry for Dr Hamlin’s apparent inability to sit quietly for 30 seconds of karakia at the start of a meeting.
The importance of small steps towards equity and redress, such as the introduction of tikaka me kā kawa Māori, is certainly within the grasp of someone as learned as the professor. As a resolute atheist, I do not join or lead karakia that mention deities out of respect to those who believe in them.
It’s easy, if you choose, to not be a muppet.
Anonymous
[Name withheld for employment reasons — Editor.]
Med School plan costly, won’t solve anything
The proposal to build a new medical school in Hamilton is going to cost millions. It is not going to address the shortage of doctors.
Do they not realise that not all places are taken up for medical training at Auckland and Otago universities?
A new school is unnecessary and an absolute waste of money. What are they thinking?
History lesson
If we must mute our concerns about Donald Trump because he won the election then what say we about the democratically-elected German leader Adolf Hitler?
Actually Phil Goff was wrong to question Trump’s understanding of history, Mr Trump knows precisely how Herr Hitler became Fuhrer: lie furiously and replace good people with bad.
Interestingly, while Hitler was an Austrian and decorated in World War 1, Trump’s grandfather was a German and draft-dodger. He fled to the Yukon where he made a fortune with a restaurant/brothel; returned to Germany when his wife was unhappy in the US — only to be banished by royal decree.
History repeats itself, first as tragedy then as a farce — Karl Marx.
Add it up
I read in the ODT (25.3.25) the draft DCC allocation for every $100 of operational costs, of Treaty Partnership at $0.20. This looks a small amount but could be a considerable sum. What does this cover and how is the money divided up? Will this cover functions put on by others who could be classed as partners by paying rates?
Opposite views re article on NZ and Russia
It seems the bar for the quality and depth of argument in your published opinions is extremely low, if "Uncle Joe, Uncle Vlad and our complex relationship with Russia" (Opinion ODT 28.3.25) is anything to go by. Calling the Maidan Revolution "a coup" is ridiculous. I won’t waste my time tackling the other laughably shallow assertions, straw men, false dichotomies and outright drivel in that opinion piece.
But I will leave you with this: if the ODT is going to display such an embarrassing lack of rigour in choosing to publish such (at best, uneducated) rubbish again, I will cancel my subscription that same day and never renew it.
On the other hand
Glen Morgan is to be commended for his opinion piece advocating a degree of mutual understanding between New Zealand and Russia: this is so much better than the knee-jerk warmongering we’ve become accustomed to.
It was sad, therefore, so see a horrible article on the previous page about a mercenary (Jordan O’Brien), who brags about using drones to kill Russians.
It was stated that he’s been active in Russia itself, and he mentions having seen the inside of a Russian school. Given the stories circulating about atrocities against civilians in Kursk, one shudders at the thought.
Dunedin protests
Now that Hamas has brutally tortured and killed anti-Hamas protesters, as reported by The Telegraph and The Australian — will we see anti-Hamas protests in Dunedin?
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