Kiwis need to accept litter duty
Not long ago, in the bush adjacent to where we live, I spotted a red deer stag from our kitchen window.
Over the following days he came close to our fence and once jumped it to drink from a trough. I was amazed how beautiful he was and how he could silently blend into the bush background.
One day he was waving a white supermarket bag tangled in his antlers. It posed no danger to him, other than making him look foolish and very obvious to anyone who might want to shoot him.
It made me think how irresponsible some people are. Our roads are strewn with discarded containers, bottles, fast food wrapping and plastic bags. Some bags have had a second use such as wrapping soiled nappies before being thrown out of moving vehicles but most just blow about in the slipstream.
Plastic bags are only a problem because some people show no responsibility in disposing of them. Banning their use is bringing everyone down to the lowest common responsibility denominator and we should be better than that.
The problem is in educating those who have no respect for their nation, environment, families or themselves.
Punishment is the only way because if we continue to take away the things which we need to be responsible for, no one learns. Some countries have successfully achieved high levels of personal respect and responsibility, so should we.
Richard Kean, Rotorua.
Climate change
Your correspondent Gary Hollis seems not to understand the difference between weather and climate. Weather reflects short-term conditions of the atmosphere — day-to-day events. Climate is the average daily weather for an extended period. Global climate change refers to the average of temperature, rainfall, etc over the planet over a period of years.
Perhaps Mr Hollis thinks the tens of thousands of scientists studying the climate should go home and wait for a call from him as to whether he had to use his duvet last night.
Susan Grimsdell, Auckland Central.
China’s interest in NZ
Ambassador Wu Xi portrays a benign image of China in “Positives for NZ in China’s growth” (January 4). The truth is far more sinister, as has been well-aired in Herald articles reporting the research of the heroic Dr Anne-Marie Brady.
Leaving aside the brutal activities of China in Tibet, Xinjiang and the South China Sea — which I witnessed working in SE Asia over two decades — the insidious nature of deals under China’s Belt and Road initiative (the road to a new empire), with its provisions for debt to equity conversion, as well as China’s incursion into NZ politics and its menacing encroachment into the South Pacific, and to focus on just one of the hooks in her dialogue — collaboration in green energy, the Ambassador notes: “NZ is a leader in clean renewable energy, an area of great interest to China.” Really? Yet China continues to build thermal coal plants like crazy and is unscathed by the Paris Climate Accord.
What she really means is China will sell us wind turbines and PV farms and, if they can swing it, build and operate them.
The hypocritical irony is China also produces much notable scientific research on the role of natural variability in what is actually continuous and ongoing climate change.
A. Climie, Whangarei.
Roads not main reason
The Associate Minister for Transport seems to think the primary cause of New Zealand’s excessive road toll is our substandard roads.
The major causes are incompetent driving, failure of successive governments to implement such things as variable speed limits, failure to legislate deterrent penalties for all offences, in particular cellphone use, tail-gating and speeding.
A very significant factor is the failure of our courts to apply appropriate sentences when the police have done their job. For example when a drunken/ drugged driver can kill a pedestrian and are told they must stay at home for a few months this is scarcely a recipe for reform.
Of the more than 30 countries in which I have driven, New Zealand is by far the worst and I am not alone in this opinion.
The associate minister can blame our roads and, yes, it will take decades to fix them, but there is a great deal which can be done for little cost and have a profound effect.
Money is not the only answer and it will never be enough. A simple willingness to act in the interests of all New Zealanders should be paramount.
Rod Lyons, Muriwai.
Responsible driving
Driving south on State Highways 1 and 27 on Christmas Eve was a challenging experience under sub-optimal weather.
It was heartening that my fellow highwaymen, without exception, drove responsibly and to the conditions. We were complicit in a need for everyone to reach their destination safely.
Without exception, lights were on, distances were maintained, speed limit was not exceeded and there was no overtaking. I, for one, was grateful.
Are we moving toward being a nation of grown-ups? This collective experience suggests we are.
Christine Coleman, Orakei.
Youth suicide shame
They used to call our shameful toll of deaths from drowning “the New Zealand disease”. Then there is the muchpublicised road toll with a staggering 382 lives lost.
But neither of these come anywhere close to our appalling annual suicide rate. At 668 in the last complete year of figures it is almost twice the road toll and more than six times the toll from drowning.
There is much hand-wringing but the rate just seems to keep spiralling upwards, particularly in relation to youth suicide.
Meanwhile, during 2018 we had David Seymour travelling the country promoting the cause of assisted dying under the banner of “my body, my choice”. This relentless promotion of the view that death is a valid answer to suffering must be doing the work of suicide prevention no favours at all.
Supporters of assisted dying like to claim they are two separate issues. They may be so to them but especially to young and mentally distressed Kiwis, the messaging is the same.
Robyn Jackson, Hamilton.
Cricket cheaters
I am appalled Chris Rattue’s opinion “Time to let Smith and Warner back in” should have been printed.
The two senior members of the Australian cricket team were caught and sentenced for cheating, end of story. For someone in Rattue’s position to state “all is forgiven” is unbelievable. Are his morals for hire?
Just because Australia now has a very average cricket team should Smith and Warner be let off? Their, to my mind, very minimal punishment is a risk that all would-be cheaters run when contemplating cheating.
Ross Harvey, Remuera.
Freeloading visitors
Could someone please define what classifies a freedom camper who supposedly brings megabucks to the New Zealand economy? My image of a freedom camper is a long-haired, unkempt person with a dirty backpack who comes to New Zealand on a shoestring budget.
They may even buy a cheap old car of dubious roadworthiness and tour the country sleeping in the vehicle, using free facilities and eating low-budget meals.
They will not stay in hotels or motels, they will not hire campervans or rental cars, they will not spend money eating in restaurants and won’t go to any tourist attractions that cost money.
So where do the megabucks come from to justify putting up all the facilities to cater for what I see as freeloaders?
Jock Mac Vicar, Hauraki.
Minority government
David Mairs incorrectly states MMP cannot produce a minority government. New Zealand currently has one and, by association, a minority Prime Minister.
National’s vote in 2017 was approximately 1.152 million votes (44.45 per cent or 56 seats). The Labour/New Zealand First coalition was approx. 1.143m votes (44.09 per cent or 55 seats). Only a Green Party confidence and supply agreement together with concessions to NZ First allows the Government to survive.
I can live with the arrangements provided New Zealand’s best interest is held above that of the governing parties, but to suggest MMP in its current guise is an ideal political process is bogus.
John Harmsworth, Warkworth.