Aquafarming consents good, now for irrigation
Well done New Zealand First for championing the extension of aquaculture consents: entrepreneurs need certainty to create jobs.
What about extending irrigation scheme and farm irrigation consents? Lots of farmers have borrowed and invested millions of dollars buying irrigation shares. Borrowed to plough into their farm land hundreds of thousands of dollars for electricity, power poles and reticulation, water pumps and pump sheds.
They have buried expensive pipes, invested in expensive high maintenance centre pivots or K-Lines. Yet suddenly they or their scheme could be refused renewal of their irrigation consent by a regional council like ECan or ORC, throwing all of their investment and borrowing down the drain.
These farmers will still be left to pay the high interest to their bank while now having no returns.
We need farm and irrigation scheme consent extended also.
Look up
Watching Simeon Brown on Q+A (23.8.24), he didn’t seem to have any real solution to bring the cost of power down.
The best solution is for government to help fund putting solar panels on the roofs of everyone’s house as is done in many other countries. New Zealand has ample amounts of sunshine, even over winter. If we are not drawing power from the grid a lot of the time means we are not depleting water from our lakes. Wind farms should be in and around Auckland, not in Southland, when most of the power is lost getting it to the people consuming it.
Bleeding and leading
Mindful of your editorial autonomy, I cannot help but indicate surprise and some disappointment at the prominence given to the catalogue of offences attributed to a motorist on the front page of the ODT (24.8.24).
The apocryphal ‘if it bleeds it leads’, long attributed to William Randolph Hearst, may be argued to highlight the publicity which such offenders enjoy.
While the live-streaming of the prolonged incident may have supplied much publicity, I cannot help but feel that providing hard copy might appear to sanctify this wrongdoing, encouraging others of similar bent to repeat the performance.
Up the Wahs indeed
I reply to David Fortune (Letters ODT 24.8.24) and his thinly disguised piece of rugby league bashing. Your readers can see through this dribble: this type of league bashing has been going on for more than 100 years.
As one generation of critics dies, another comes to the fore, all to protect their beloved rugby union.
The "Wahs" (Warriors) are the only professional rugby league team in New Zealand and its members are well known to the public. Rugby league is a spectacle that appeals to a growing segment of the public and (rugby union players and fans as well) and the media caters for their interest. Grow up David, 100 years is long enough.
Act NZ leader Seymour needs a history lesson
David Seymour needs to learn more of our history. The Waitangi Tribunal was established in 1975 by an elected Parliament in response to growing protest over the current and historical treatment of Māori. It was not set up by "unelected bureaucrats and judges promoting a ‘partnership’ interpretation of our founding document," as Mr Seymour said in his State of the Nation address.
Mr Seymour also argues that the idea of two peoples in partnership tangata whenua (land people) and tangata tiriti (Treaty people) "…is incompatible with the fundamental democratic value that all citizens are equal under the law."
Mr Seymour needs to explain how the idea of partnership is incompatible with democracy when the coalition he is a member of is a partnership with two other political parties
Sadly, Mr Seymour and the current government also seem to want to obliterate the rich history and culture of tangata whenua. Dave Tackney (Letters ODT 22.8.24) thinks the British Empire was benevolent. History proves otherwise.
Valuing Te Ao Māori, Tikanga and te reo enriches our society and takes nothing from anyone.
Transfer offer
If the Dunedin City Council cannot accept councillors voicing an opinion, send Cr Vandervis to Central Otago: his original thoughts would be very welcome here.
Address Letters to the Editor to: Otago Daily Times, PO Box 517, 52-56 Lower Stuart St, Dunedin. Email: editor@odt.co.nz
