A quick trip down to the local car dealers
I hear Christopher Luxon decided last week he needed a new car. The one he has is rather old and hasn’t been well maintained.
He reckoned his family deserved something special, and he saw the marketing of the Mercedes AMG GLS 63, which is described as a "brutal luxury SUV". He told himself that meant it was big and strong.
Off he went to the Mercedes showroom. The expert motor salesman showed him the car. "The price is $300,000," he said. "Same price as in Australia."
"Oh," replied Luxon, "but my friend Nicola says I have only got $188,000 to spend. What can you do?"
"I’m sorry, sir," said the expert. "But that’s what a car like this costs."
He grinned. "I suppose we could knock off one of the wheels, take out two of the seats and remove the brakes and lights!" "Perfect!" said Luxon. "I’ll take it."
"Er . . ." said the salesman. "You do realise it won’t do what it’s needed to do, don’t you? It won’t actually work as a car." "That doesn’t matter," said Luxon triumphantly. "It’s in budget. Nicola will be delighted."
Of course this can’t be true. Christopher Luxon would never do anything as silly as this.
Seeds of destruction
While we quite correctly are bemoaning the fate of our beloved hospital, I think we should look at some of the financial considerations and perhaps the reasons why.
Compared to Australia we have a woeful tax collection revenue, particularly when considering the lack of capital gains tax. The only person in the last quarter of a century that could have made a significant difference to taxation revenue was the penultimate previous Labour prime minister, Dame Jacinda Ardern. She had an absolute majority, and even though when sharing the previous term with Winston Peters denying she would bring in a capital gains tax, had the ability to change the taxation system in New Zealand to be far more equitable when she had an absolute majority.
Contrary to Australia everyone in New Zealand gets the pension regardless of wealth. That alone is economic stupidity.
Sadly, although it is so much easier to abuse the present government, the seeds of financial destruction were planted under a Labour government.
[Abridged — length. Editor]
Getting real
I would suggest listening to Christopher Luxon: we are not getting the hospital design promised and will be getting something scaled down.
While I admire the efforts by the community and council around protesting and petitions, I think the time has come to look at making the best out of the worst.
The first thing we need to win is constructing the inpatients building rather than saving the old hospital. The second is making sure we get the number of floors the foundation works has been engineered for, even if some floors remain empty to save money for now.
It is obvious to me that we are not getting what was promised, so let’s get what we can for now and finish the promise the next time Labour governs.
I do think the suggestion of the government selling and leasing back arrangement is worth consideration: I don’t care who owns it.
Imagine a scenario where ACC buys into this suggestion — what a great fit — or our own pension fund.
We need to become strategic rather than moaning. Imagine signing a promise to give your party vote to the government that delivers — you can still vote for your local MP.
However we need to get out of the habit of giving our party vote away for no return.
One law for all does not mean one law for all
One law to the homeless family sleeping in their car or on the street.
One law what are the landlord with 3 to 50 houses and no capital gains tax; one law for the person waiting up to three years for a hip replacement because they can’t afford health insurance or a private hospital.
One law for the single mother who hasn’t learned to navigate the Ministry of Social Development’s benefit maze; one law for the man going to court without adequate defence because he can’t afford a lawyer and legal aid has been cut.
One law for the elderly lady who is afraid to turn the heater on because she can’t afford to pay for electricity; one law for electricity generation stockholders who make huge dividends from not building power resilience and see their dividends double when there’s a power shortage.
One law for low income people’s minimal gain from tax cuts; one law for the 1% who are the ones who really gained the most from tax cuts.
One law for for those who really paid for the tax cuts power dividends: the recently unemployed.
One law to the youth who ends up in care; one law for corporate interests like the tobacco industry wealthy enough to lobby successfully for government policy.
I’m astounded at the audacity of Act New Zealand, the Association of Consumers and Taxpayers, for claiming to support one law for all.
Snail mail
I thought I would show our granddaughter how the postal system works, so when she was visiting we made a card for her mother and posted it in the local post-box.
It took 18 days to get from Outram to Pine Hill; I would like to know where it went during that time.
We’re far away and very lucky that we are so
For three months, I had the opportunity to study politics on exchange from Otago University to the University of Helsinki in Finland. A Nordic country with a population similar to New Zealand’s and roughly the size of the South Island.
While I felt fortunate to live and study there, one significant difference overshadowed my stay: Russia.
Unlike New Zealand, surrounded by vast oceans, Finland shares borders with Sweden and Russia. Russia’s invasion of Ukraine ending over 80 years of relative peace in Europe.
As New Zealanders, we rallied behind Ukraine, offering support and condemning Russia. However, our geographic isolation shields us from the immediacy of such threats.
Finland, on the other hand, shares a 1343km border with Russia, and Helsinki is just a five-hour drive from St Petersburg.
Surprisingly, the Finns I met showed little anxiety about this threat.
When I asked a fellow student about it, they replied, "I don’t really think about it too much" — a very Finnish response.
This lack of visible fear didn’t mean Finland was unprepared. During my time here, I observed widespread military presence and updated government crisis guidelines in case of invasion, which was very confronting.
This experience made me reflect on how fortunate New Zealand and Dunedin is to enjoy its isolation.
Finland and Helsinki cannot afford such complacency; it has taken proactive measures to safeguard its sovereignty. The threat is real.
I write this letter to say it’s not just Ukraine at stake. Finland, the Baltic states, and Eastern Europe are defending their nationhood, too.
We mustn’t lose sight of this. Even though we are far away, we have to continue the fight and voice our opposition and be the ally to Ukraine, Finland and others in need.
Address Letters to the Editor to: Otago Daily Times, PO Box 517, 52-56 Lower Stuart St, Dunedin. Email: editor@odt.co.nz
