Reality check

As a nod to the boaties from Mapua I suggest that the Council (given the commercial imperative of the Mapua Wharf) arrange for a (chargeable of course) immersive 3D virtual reality show that demonstrates how folk in the ‘good’ old days used to launch their boats near the wharf.

Then the boaties can put away their setlines, sell their boats and buy their fish and chips from the wharf and watch the show. Commission held a mammoth such inquiry in 2015 - with zero result (apart from a couple of minor innovations).

I checked on the commissioners : each of them was an ‘‘expert’’, having worked for years within health and disability.

One simply cannot expect an unbiased, objective report from a body of people asked to criticise the very framework of a system within which they have worked compassionately all their lives.

Jonathan Coleman, our previous health minister, would not go along with yet another such inquiry. He was right.

Only a properly constituted Royal Commission can do the job. Rights, the realisation of the freedoms we, as people, have as our birthright to live fairly, equally and speak with freedom.

In this light, it is amazing to me that I received a ‘no- choice’ letter from my power company stating their intention to install a smart meter.

I rang them to decline this, and was read a blurb that in the future I would have ‘no choice.’

Is this democracy? Is this an overriding of my freedoms as a person entitled to say ‘no thank you, I don’t want the service.’

It is always highly suspicious when there is a ‘no choice’ or mandatory ruling by any council, govt or company.

Why the dictatorial attitude? What are they trying to accomplish? Who are they working for? And what hidden ‘costs’ might be involved in such an action?