Holier than thou policies

What’s with the Greater Wellington Regional Council in recent years?

Its working with the community, and farming in particular, in formulating policy that is workable, seems to have gone out the back door.

Proposals are often put out there, meetings, conversations had, and submissions made. Then management at the end of the day pays lip service and largely make its own policy. With that goes the never-ending regulation, compliance, little men in white trucks, and all the associated effort, costs and fees.

My own GWRC files for our small farming business have quadrupled in the past 10 years.

Reclassification of many water takes without any accurate proof and fencing off proposals of sheep from waterways are two examples of arrogant policy-making.

This has caused much stress for many in the community. This then creates disrespect and lesser co-operation, negating a lot of the great work the council has done or is doing.

The individuals and responsible businesses are the main drivers for our communities and environment. The council can guide, assist, and regulate for extremes. But this holier than thou policy is not how we move forward to get the right outcomes.

GWRC has to get itself sorted.

John Coveney, Pirinoa

Confidence in result

If the chief returning officer of electionz.com, Warwick Lampp, has identified serious problems with the delivery and return of voting papers, then the outcome of our local body elections is now called into question.

It’s fascinating to observe how those who have a vested interest in the status quo are shouting the loudest about how much a recount will cost. Putting a price on democracy isn’t a good look.

What about the value of having a result that the people of Wellington have confidence in? At a time when more and more key decisions are made in meetings behind closed doors, free of public scrutiny, it is essential that our voice is heard at the only time it really counts, unencumbered.

Only then can we move forward. Gillian Tompsett, Seatoun

Corporate greed on show

I’m a member of Air NZ’s Airpoints and a Koru member. The sad face of corporate greed is rapidly eroding the consumer

goodwill built up over the Rob Fyfe years.

First, Air NZ stopped supplying newspapers in the lounges on the pretext of ‘‘sustainability’’ despite the recycling bins everywhere.

Then the nasty fees for seat allocation (that used to be free for Koru) and then last night a whopping 10 per cent charge for using my very hard-won Airpoints dollars for a flight to Nelson. That’s eyewatering profit-gouging.

Time to get new leadership at this iconic Kiwi company? I hope so.

Andrew Gunn, Strathmore Park

Let cars into bus tunnel

I am a supporter of light rail if it goes via the hospital and perhaps the zoo and over Constable St to the airport.

I was thinking that, rather than have a second Mt Victoria tunnel, is it possible to widen the bus tunnel to include cars?

We could have a one-way system through the current tunnel to the airport via Hataitai and then the traffic returning via the current bus tunnel. Worth a thought.

Pam Stainton, Crofton Downs

Just doing their job

Your reprinting of the UK Sun editorial (People must have say after MPs fail again, Oct 22) again invokes the notion of ‘‘the will of the British people’’ from the 2016 referendum outcome to leave the EU.

There has in fact been a more recent ‘‘will of the British people’’, expressed in the 2017 UK general election; the people’s choice in 2017 was for the set of MPs now said to be the problem.

These current MPs are surely just doing their job to carry out the 2017 ‘‘will of the British people’’, which was clearly different from the ‘‘will’’ of 2016. Parliament – the house of representatives – represents the diversity of the UK, not the monolithic ‘‘will of the British people’’.

Alan Smith, Woburn

Referendum a copout

I was most annoyed to hear the euthanasia bill has been passed for a referendum. I thought that when we voted people into Parliament they had more nous than us laymen and could pass laws and make decisions on our behalf. That’s why we pay them the big bucks.

To me, having a referendum means they are unable to make up their minds and pass on the chore to us to make a decision for them. A copout.

I bet the UK Parliament wishes it had made a stand, instead of leaving it to the public to vote on leaving the EU. What a mess Brexit is, just because they couldn’t do the job themselves.

Phil Muncaster, Cambridge

So a number of MPs voted against a referendum by the people on an important moral issue – legalised euthanasia.

Already, disgracefully, the people of this country have had no say in other issues of huge moral importance; ie. legalised homosexual marriage and the right of same-sex parents to raise a child (a being who can have no say in this) Disciplining of their own children. Transgender choice. Abortion, et al.

Let’s put it another way then: just 0.000025 per cent of the population can decide for all of us our country’s moral direction.

I, like many after a long life, have little respect for politics, nor for many politicians, quite a few of whom, in the real workforce, could hardly command any position of skilled or professional importance.

How dare they.

Terry Harris, Mangawhai

Spare capacity

The closure of the Tiwai aluminium smelter in Bluff would not be all bad news if New Zealand replaced its petroleum vehicle fleet with a fleet of electric vehicles.

Currently, the conversion of the fleet from petroleum to electric would result in a 10 per cent deficit in the country’s electricity supply.

As the Tiwai aluminium smelter consumes 13 per cent of this supply, its closure would mean we have enough spare capacity for the electric fleet.

We would save billions of dollars required to acquire the additional 10 per cent, the New Zealand Government can use any ‘‘incentives’’’ it offers the smelter to accelerate the adoption of electric vehicles and we should have cheaper power as there will be a slight oversupply.

Bryan Fisk, Wainuiomata

Expansion opportunities

The city and regional councils must demand that two features are included in Wellington Airport’s $1 billion expansion plans:

■ For public transport, space for a station must be provided to allow light rail vehicles to call at the airport en route between Miramar and central Wellington. Light rail should run through a new subway immediately to the south of the current pedestrian subway, to a station/ stop connected to the airport by travelators in a glazed passageway, then via Hobart St to Miramar suburban centre. Airport passengers are more timesensitive than other public transport users – to ensure light rail replaces as many car, taxi and rideshare trips as possible, it must call at the airport en route between Miramar and the CBD instead of starting at the airport and running via Miramar.

■ For resilience and local convenience, Stewart Duff Drive must be extended to run outside of and behind the expanded airport apron, to link Broadway/Calabar Rd with Moa Point Rd.

Additionally, a sizeable contribution to light rail should be sought.

I encourage the city and region’s councils, businesses and residents to engage fully in the airport expansion debate and secure as many opportunities and concessions as possible for Wellington.

Chris Calvi-Freeman, Hataitai