Two pictures worth a thousand words
The two photos in the front page of the ODT today (24.1.24), in my opinion, speak volumes. The large photo shows a man with deep generosity in his heart for the city of Dunedin and good fortunes that have come his way.
The small photo is one of a man who had stolen a bread van and burgled several properties while serving a home detention for unrelated matters.
This reminds me of the Desiderata: "With all its sham, drudgery and broken dreams it is still a beautiful world." There is and always will be hope, love and generosity in a fractured world.
Clarity sought
Act New Zealand had a policy on having a debate on the Treaty of Waitangi. New Zealand First had a policy on having government departments and agencies reverting to having an English name first. Both parties are now in Parliament with increased majorities.
There is nothing wrong with having a debate about anything and the Treaty of Waitangi is no exception. We, with no Māori heritage, have taken the English version of the Treaty of Waitangi as it was first written. We have no idea of the small differences in the translation of the English version into Māori and any breaches that have followed because of differences in wording.
Act leader David Seymour has said Act’s goal is to restore the mana of the Treaty by clarifying its principles.
The coalition agreement would see a debate on the Treaty taken to a select committee. Hopefully some clarification will follow.
Leak disturbs
I find it disturbing to read that there has been a leaked memo from the Ministry of Justice relating to the present government’s intention to support a Bill on Treaty principles, to first reading. I suspect this memo could have only been obtained by media because some bureaucratic employee within the ministry made it available to them.
The government has been elected to have authority to undertake the actions it electioneered on: employees of all government departments should have a fiducial responsibility to undertake work on its behalf without personal bias, and exercise due care and attention to ensure political documents are not made available until officially released. Whoever leaked the memo is guilty of a serious misdemeanour.
For shame
Why are Mr Luxon and our Parliament calmly supporting a request by the USA for New Zealand troops to be part of the strikes against Houthis? Shame on them, war will never bring peace, only hunger, death and displacement.
Moral revolution
Gareth Jones article (ODT 22.1.24) was very timely and coincidentally on the same page as an opinion piece by Dr David Jenkins.
Among other points he makes, Jones states that the "role of universities being critic and conscience of society should be jealously guarded in a democratic society." Dr Jenkins implies the opposite view in his anti Israel article. His final paragraph said "the moral revolution that is going to be needed to end the ‘Palestinian oppression' is not going to come from within Israel."
The inhabitants of Gaza need to look to their governing terrorist Hamas leaders, and their supporting autocratic mullahs in Iran who fund their existence. To use Dr Jenkins words, what is needed is a "moral revolution" within Palestinian society, that can bring peace and end conflict.
St John ready to help in emergency situations
Regarding the article "St John response wait time ‘worrying’," (ODT 6.1.24), Hato Hone St John takes patient welfare very seriously and it is always our objective to respond as soon as possible, with immediately life-threatening calls given the highest priority.
We are sorry we did not meet the caller’s expectations on this occasion, and we have endeavoured to make contact with the patient. We encourage them to be in direct contact with us so we can adequately address their concerns.
As with other rural communities around New Zealand, our ambulance operating out of Lawrence relies on the availability of volunteers. It forms part of a wider network, supported by emergency ambulances from surrounding areas, as well as Fire and Emergency New Zealand, rescue helicopters, and Primary Response in Medical Emergencies (PRIME) doctors and nurses from the area.
On a typical night, the ambulance service has about six or seven ambulances with capability to respond to Lawrence, as well as rapid response units and operational managers.
We would like to take this opportunity to remind everyone that Hato Hone St John continues to be there for all New Zealanders in an emergency. If someone is feeling generally unwell and needs health advice, they should call their regular health provider or Healthline in the first instance, and also consider alternative methods of transport to medical facilities for non-urgent conditions.
If it is a life-threatening emergency, people should continue to dial 111 for an ambulance.
Address Letters to the Editor to: Otago Daily Times, PO Box 517, 52-56 Lower Stuart St, Dunedin. Email: editor@odt.co.nz
