Former firefighter backs volunteer colleagues
I note the debate on ACC not supporting volunteer firemen, and it makes me seethe a little.
I was a permanent fireman for many years. A call out of town often meant the vollies got there first and often by the time we arrived they may have bested the fire or secured an accident and were dealing with injured people, some horribly damaged. Believe me, the trauma from that doesn’t go away overnight. Vollies were and still are highly regarded and are a necessity.
I know there is a need to maintain a healthy balance at ACC in lieu of it needing to be used but at $47 billion, that is far beyond just healthy. I note that visitors to New Zealand are covered by ACC, yet New Zealand citizens, putting life and limb on the line aren’t. Go figure.
C’mon ACC, you aren’t suddenly going to have swathes of vollies beating at your door. All claims made are on a case by case basis and I’m sure you will have some wiggle room there if you feel you need it.
Plane pain
It isn’t only the increasing costs which are lowering our faith in Air New Zealand’s service to the South.
There are now no direct flights from Invercargill to Wellington, so a trip to Wellington takes up most of the day as the (comparatively) cheaper flights seem always to result in a long wait at Christchurch. Not good for business people and not good for people like me who have loved grandchildren to visit.
Direct flights from Invercargill to Wellington that I have been on have always been full, so I don’t think it is the money. Maybe we are just more easy to ignore down here.
Look over there
Unlike my colleague Gerard O'Brien (Opinion ODT 28.4.25), I avoid driving through the present dangerous intersection of Pine Hill Rd and Great King St. However, I agree with Mr O'Brien that NZTA Waka Kotahi is ignoring a potential simple solution.
The absolute gold standard for safety would be a flyover or bridge to separate the traffic flows. Well, here's one we prepared earlier: the George St overpass, just one block away. NZTA could simply close the present intersection and divert North East Valley and Opoho traffic via George St. It may seem harsh to make these people drive an extra 200m or so on their daily commutes, but they have just driven along a paired, separated one-way system designed to make traffic go an extra block to improve traffic flow and safety.
Collapsing chimneys
While you correctly point out that in the September 2010 Christchurch earthquake the vast majority of chimney collapses ended up as a pile of bricks next to the house (Editorial ODT 17.4.25), Dunedin residents should regard this as cold comfort. The reason they did not punch through the roofs was simple; most of those homes had corrugated iron roofs which only buckled under the impact of bricks. Tile and slate roofs do not offer much resistance: damage can be devastating, right through to the ground floor. One hardly needs to the state the obvious as one looks across Dunedin rooftops.
Protest, that’s fine, but we need an alternative
I am not against the anti cruise ship protesters: protesting is their democratic right. What I am against is what is their alternative solution in creating the income, jobs and wages that the cruise season creates.
As per the NZ Cruise Association, the 2023-24 season was worth $1.37 billion to the New Zealand economy and created 9720 jobs, which amounted to $4.2 million in wages. In addition, crew members spent $23.5m.
This was created in the approximately six-month season, plus there is all the other indirect income created through support and chain supply organisation.
The protesters need to come up with some realistic solution if they are going to stop the cruise ships coming to New Zealand. Solutions that will create and meet all the above mentioned facts and not just some empty words or pie in the sky ideas. Until they have some realistic ideas, solutions, their protests are just attention seeking and nothing else. The cruise ship seasons in New Zealand have a proven track record of helping our economy, so I say keep the cruise ships coming
Address Letters to the Editor to: Otago Daily Times, PO Box 517, 52-56 Lower Stuart St, Dunedin. Email: editor@odt.co.nz
