Taieri MP’s rhetoric was disingenuous
I am astounded at Ingrid Leary's hypocrisy and disingenuity in her attack on Dr Shane Reti, over his stance on the provisioning of the new hospital (ODT 17.1.24).
When the last Labour government cut beds, operating theatres, and the country's first publicly owned PET scanner, where was the cosy cabal of Labour MPs to fight off said cuts?
Not a peep of protest to their overlords in Wellington.
And deafening silence to their electors, as they all ducked for cover.
This MP should be ashamed of such an attack, take a good hard look at her own performance, and accept the epithet "dishonesty", when applied to our hospital debacle, belonging to her and her party.
Bridge promises
It is hardly a surprise that National are going to backtrack on an election promise regarding Dunedin Hospital.
Just ask all of the Northlanders who voted them in the last time on the promise of 10 one-way bridges being replaced with two-lane bridges. They got one.
Fat cats beggar belief
Listening to Morning Report on RNZ today re Auckland Airport and delivery of aviation fuel for long-haul flights overseas.
These non-stop 16-hour flights burn huge amounts of carbon due to extra weight of fuel.
New Zealand isn’t counted carbon responsible for these emissions and the companies who own/operate these flights are not taxed on these emissions either.
Beggars belief, the rich fat cats carry on regardless while the planet suffers the consequences.
Which side are you on?
Lee Vandervis’ ancestors were Dutch, and there is an irony in his recent outburst against having to recognise and observe the cultural protocols of tangata whenua. In the 16th century the Netherlands were taken over by Spain, leading to 80 years of armed struggle between the indigenous Dutch and the colonial Spanish. I wonder which side Lee’s ancestors were on? Knowing his confrontational nature, surely it would be the indigenous people whose culture the colonial power refused to respect and tolerate.
Bilingual signage
I am writing in support of the Dunedin Public Art Gallery’s approach to bilingual signage. Cr Lee Vandervis is perfectly entitled to ignore what he regards as "irrelevant Māorified text" but a judgement as to its irrelevance is not his to make; it is for Māori and in particular the communities who have generated those texts and generously increased bicultural dialogue in the spaces that reflect cultural values.
Samoana fondly recalled
I was interested in your article published in the Mix (ODT 13.1.24) regarding the Samoana rugby league team who played in the local competition in the mid-1960s. The Samoana team attracted massive crowds to the Oval on Saturday afternoons for exciting games of league. A large community of Samoan supporters lined one side of the field whilst the opposition supporters lined the other side. Apart from the exciting games, my main memory of these games is the passionate support of the Samoans. . It's a pity that we don't see games like this anymore.
Depressing statistics and personal responsibility
The ODT now has two regular columnists who both work at the University of Otago.
Anaru Eketone’s primary research is involved with contemporary Māori economic and social development and he teaches three papers. Metiria Stanton Turei works in the Faculty of Law, teaches one paper, and researches Māori legal principles, Māori jurisprudence, and indigenous legal theory.
Both have a common regular theme and that seems to be how some people are the victims of institutional racism.
The last contribution by Mr Eketone concerns life expectancy and bemoans the fact that statistically Māori are worse off than others. According to Te Ara, in 1891 Māori life expectancy was 25 for men and 23 for women. In 2013 it was 73 for Māori men and 77 for Māori women.
The striking increase in expectancy figures is generally considered to be due to many Māori moving to cities where health services are more accessible. What Mr Eketone ignores in his column is the effects of longevity by personal choice.
Māori choose to smoke more than non-Māori, Māori choose not to have prescriptions filled at a higher rate than non-Māori. Neither of those facts are conducive to increasing Māori life expectancy. Nowhere does Mr Eketone offer any counter argument to the policy of the provision of any government services such as health, on the basis of need rather than race.
Surely it follows that if Māori "need" more health services, education, prevention of rates of infanticide, and solutions to getting into lives of crime, then those services will, ipso facto, be provided. The solution is not divisive, costly and ineffective duplicate race-based government services and rhetoric about using increased tax on tobacco in order to decrease tax rates. At what point does personal responsibility become the solution?
Blaming and claiming a distraction
I, like a number of people, am concerned about the social unrest that has escalated over the last two decades with respect to ethnic and cultural differences in New Zealand.
Is culture not inherent in one’s soul, and is it realistic to expect one culture to be forced upon others by language, actions and beliefs?
All cultures should respect others and all should be treated equally. Equality is where the problems start.
This has been an issue that has been grappled with throughout the history of human existence. It has been stated that democracy is not ideal but it is better than the alternatives. From reviewing the recent election the outcome presented a reasonable representation of a number of New Zealand’s multicultural societies.
The learned English and Māori authors of the Treaty of Waitangi were visionaries. They foresaw issues of adopting a multi sovereign, multi law, unequal society. Democracy was the governance of choice.
All New Zealanders should have equal rights to prosperity and wellbeing. Instead of weakening our all important democracy by separate governance and exclusive rights should we not resolve why some members of our society don’t have equal access to all services and opportunities and rectify that problem?
There are many in our society that for whatever reasons remove themselves from society. That is a choice, but if participation is denied because of ethnicity, that needs addressing. Nobody should be turned away. Crying racism and revising 200-year-old history is not identifying issues that can be solved.
Claims of historic wrongs and blaming and claiming off others can be a distraction of energy from creating future prosperity both personally and as a nation.
Address Letters to the Editor to: Otago Daily Times, PO Box 517, 52-56 Lower Stuart St, Dunedin. Email: editor@odt.co.nz
