Immigration law must be enforced by govt
It was distressing to see on the national news recently yet another example of exploitation of Indian workers in Auckland.
These men came to New Zealand under the Recognised Seasonal Employment scheme. Since their arrival they have had no work, have received no pay and are living all together in the most appalling conditions in a single unsuitable house.
The RSE rules are quite clear and are well understood by responsible employers across a number of sectors. These men, by law, are to be paid for a minimum of 30 hours per week at no less than the minimum wage from the time they arrive in the country. If an employer breaches these rules sanctions previously have tended to be swift and rightly so.
In this case the Immigration Department seem to have lost the plot yet again and as a result have brought national embarassment to our country by their inability to recognise what is going on. These men need to be properly housed and provided with money so they can live. Their employer(s) need to be prosecuted together with the agents both here in New Zealand and back in India.
Willow tree
Interesting to note in this morning’s ODT (14.8.23) the plan to eradicate or eliminate the willows from around Lake Hayes.
Absolute congratulations but then on reading further it becomes "commiserations" because a decision has been made to replace some of the plantings with native (which is fine) but also indicated cabbage trees would be part of the replanting. Surely not.
As we all know the problem cabbage tree leaves cause in terms of mess and damage to any machinery deployed to reduce grass height, and if you tell me in your next breath no cutting will be undertaken to keep the lake looking pristine, then again very shortsighted planning. Ask any owner who has cabbage trees in areas that need any form of upkeep and they will confirm machinery and cabbage trees do not mix.
Boarding houses
My sincere admiration for publishing the articles about Dunedin’s other side — poverty. These articles appeared in the daily newspaper (ODT 12.8.23) and the Weekend Mix and were much appreciated by this reader. My thanks too for the reporter’s work and photos.
Ban the ban
Banning the use of mobile phones in schools is a great idea and some schools already have done.
We don't need any political party sticking their noses in and making it into law. Individual principals and boards have sufficient power to do this.
Political parties should keep their noses out as it smacks of dictatorship in my opinion. I thought we were a democracy.
Forbury Park
This land needs to be purchased by the local government: it is far too important to use simply for private housing. The playing fields by the beach need to be relocated before the ocean erodes the old landfill in the future winter storms. Further stormwater infastructure can be installed under Forbury Park, new playing fields constructed, the old landfill removed and a more natural dune system created as per the DCC long-term coastal plan for the beach.
A picture of men who contributed worthy words
That was no ordinary drinking group at the Broadway Hotel in Maclaggan St, Dunedin, that Jim Sullivan mentioned with photograph in the ODT (15.8.23).
The Otago Daily Times men assembled in 1951 there were journalists gathered to bid farewell to the paper's cartoonist Keith Waite, who left Dunedin the next day to become a cartoonist in Britain.
Those present were (from left) Jack Shepherd, photographer, Clarke Isaacs, cadet reporter and later ODT chief of staff, Glenn Hunter, young Dunedin businessman, Bill Morrison, senior reporter and city council roundsman, who died of cancer aged 38, Keith Eunson, reporter and later editor of the ODT, John Spedding, chief reporter and drama critic, John Moffett, editor of the ODT, Gordon Buchanan, associate editor of the ODT, cartoonist Keith Waite, Bryan Meek, ODT general reporter, Bill Campbell, ODT reporter Noel Miller, ODT reporter, Eric Papps, ODT reporter and later sub-editor, Clarrie Buchols, ODT reader and later sub-editor.
Waite left for Britain the next day. He worked in Fleet St as cartoonist for the Mirror, Sun and the Times. Aged 91, I am the only survivor from that group.
Waiting in vain for any sign of contrition
Your Wednesday (ODT, 16.8.23) editorial quoted Professor Michael Baker as saying that Covid was responsible for the deaths of about 10 New Zealanders a week, when in fact the front-page report in your Tuesday paper gave the figure as 20.
Be that as it may, the point remains that the government has finally taken the decision that we must now get used to living (and dying) with Covid.
But wait. Isn't that precisely the position that people in the "Freedom'’ movement were advocating when they were waving their signs and congregating at Parliament?
Those New Zealanders who protested against mandates and lockdowns were roundly condemned by your editorials and by the letters to the editor which you chose to publish.
Nonetheless, I expect that we will wait in vain for any sign of contrition from members of the government, your paper, or those earlier letter writers for their virulent abuse of the New Zelanders who made up the Freedom movement.
Another happy customer
The recent editorial "Is Labour on the skids?" (ODT, 4.8.23) was remarkable for one major omission. The writer listed several reasons why Labour's record is woeful but failed to mention the major issue which has affected every person in the country i.e. the disastrously-flawed Covid response.
What we have lived through has been a nightmare of government over-reach and the liberal application of sophisticated fear propaganda, in order to coerce almost everyone to receive multiple injections of a risky experimental gene therapy.
No government has the right or mandate to do this to the people.
Address Letters to the Editor to: Otago Daily Times, PO Box 517, 52-56 Lower Stuart St, Dunedin. Email: editor@odt.co.nz
