Increasing costs and the cheapest option
In response to Tony Clear (Letters ODT 12.12.24), I would agree that, had the cost of the new Dunedin hospital blown out to $3 billion, then drastic action of the nature he suggests would be warranted.
In fact the cost has increased in the past 5-6 years from $1.4b to about $2.1b, or about 50%. The government has demanded costs be reduced to $1.88b. To justify intervention ministers said the project cost was heading "towards $3b", a figure they know to be wrong.
To reach that figure ministers have deliberately added a bunch of costs that successive cabinets have excluded from the scope of the project. Things like a car park building or community pathology.
Nonetheless a 50% increase from $1.4b to about $2.1b is troublesome enough. How did it happen?
Inflation in the five years to March this year is 23% though the construction price inflation over the same period is about 38%. The rest is due mainly to the cost of redesign, and further redesign.
The inpatients building has long reached the point of no return, which is the point where the cheapest option is to get the thing built.
[ Pete Hodgson is a former chairman of the Southern District Health Board.]
A willing discussion
It was great to read Dave Sharp's take (7.12.24) on my letter to the editor (2.12.24). Mr Sharp makes three main points:
• "Equality for all'' as advocated by Act New Zealand, could potentially attract racists. Regrettably Mr Sharp could well be correct. However, we don’t abandon democracy because it might attract racists, criminals and other undesirables.
• "A recent change in the polls represents public disillusionment with National and Act policies.'' Maybe yes, maybe no. Time will tell.
• Mr Sharp wants equality to include "equality of access in the real world'' and he quotes the benefit of a separate Māori health provider. Obviously we cannot have cost-effective separate health providers for all the races who make up multi-cultural New Zealand. Wouldn't it make more sense to treat people on the basis of need, rather than their ancestry?
What I do find heartening about Dave Sharp's letter is that he is willing to discuss these big questions in a considered way.
This debate does not generally occur at all because it can lead to claims of racism (on both sides), and Kiwis have a proud history of being colour blind in their friendships. For example Mr Sharp does not support the policies of David Seymour, yet Seymour has a proud Māori heritage.
Self-identity
The Rev Ed Masters writing in Faith and Reason (ODT 6.12.24), summarises Genesis 1:26 thus: "All humanity is made in the image of God". Evidently, God said "Let us make man in our own image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth".
Nobody knows the identity of the author or authors of Genesis, but few can deny that it comprises an assemblage of two different creation myths dating back to about the 5th century BC. Much has happened since then. Intensive research has identified that about 100,000 years ago, at least five distinct humans were consuming the fish of the sea and the fowl of the air. There were anatomically modern humans in Africa, Neanderthals in Europe, Denisovans in East Asia and the tiny so-called hobbit on the island of Flores.
All looked very different. Would the Rev Ed Masters care to identify which of these humans God created in his image?
Duck duck goose — let the chase begin
The phenomenon of Broad Bay's persistent goose is by no means rare.
Such strange "adoptions’' include a brood of mallard ducks, always attended by their mother and two drakes, some strange associations between nuscovy ducks and other birds, and one of which I filmed the outcome some years ago at Hawksbury Lagoon, at Waikouaiti, which had all the makings of a fight-to-the-finish, between a male swan, and a persistent and unwanted Canada goose, which I had noted on a previous visit to be something of a loner.
The sad outcome had been that in the melee which followed, a cygnet, one of three, seemed to have had its neck broken, and had not survived.
The altercation had taken place in part of the Post Office Creek channel and unfortunately, part of the action had taken place behind a tree and hence out of sight.
It seems that water-birds are as capable of bizarre associations as are the human species.
The gravy train screaming to a sudden halt
Generally, things must be on the improve if the woke factions within the tertiary sector start screaming.
At long last the Minister of Science, Judith Collins, has called a halt on the gravy train feeding the bizarre wants of those with equally bizarre interests.
As an example of this, I would ask those who are struggling whether they would support an associate professor at Massey University to study the following: "Linking the celestial spheres to end-of-life experiences will involve innovatively mapping death-related experiences on to the annual movement of Matariki over time, we will examine whether linkages exist between the timing and features of such experiences and Kōkōrangi Māori (Māori astronomy), and share our findings via a short documentary. In doing so, we will create opportunities to rekindle the ancient connection to the stars and re-imagine the meaning of death, while also advancing understandings about the practical application of Māori astronomy in contemporary times."
The Marsden Fund, designed to promote science and administered by the Royal Society, saw fit to dish out $861,000 of public money for this bit of nonsense along with dozens of other similar pieces of "research".
More than time for the Royal Society to be restructured so that these precious funds are used for legitimate scientific research.
What is it?
What is a student bar? How does it differ from all the other bars that students drink at?
Does it have to be within a certain distance of the university, or a particular part of the university — the clock tower, say? If several students live in Caversham, some flatting, some with their parents, and drink at a nearby bar, does it become a student bar?
Address Letters to the Editor to: Otago Daily Times, PO Box 517, 52-56 Lower Stuart St, Dunedin. Email: editor@odt.co.nz
