Face reality – bring back rubbish bins

If we needed further proof of lazy rubbish disposal, we have the multiple bags collected on Petone beach (Nov 6).

It’s time for councils etc to have a reality check and understand that if you take away rubbish bins or have tiny bins and collections, people will put their rubbish elsewhere.

Surely it is more economical to put in bigger bins and have them emptied more regularly and bring back the collections for unwanted household goods etc than to continually pay for cleanups?

Yes, they want the clean green image and the ‘‘only leave footstep’’ but clearly this isn’t working and probably won’t ...

Sometimes you need to give up on the ‘‘ultimate’’ wants and do in reality what needs to be done. That is, provide receptacles and collections for rubbish. Carol Cooper-McCord, Lower Hutt

Transparency paramount

I am concerned to read that the Male Survivors Aotearoa organisation has acted as a lobby group soliciting funds from the Dunedin Catholic Diocese on behalf of survivors of clerical abuse.

Their action is not ultimately in the long-term interests of survivors.

A significant part of the healing for survivors is directly confronting the organisation/church where the abuse occurred, to say what action they need from them. A support group can usefully encourage, support, accompany, but should not take over the process.

In view of Pope Francis’ directive for transparency and openness, it was not appropriate for Male Survivors Aotearoa to request confidentiality from the bishop re the memorandum of understanding they signed. Nor was it appropriate for the bishop to accede to this request.

The only appropriate granting of confidentiality in these negotiations is at the request of an individual survivor to the church. Secrecy between organisations should not be an option.

Transparency is of paramount importance in the interests of all concerned.

Trish McBride, Wellington

Those RWC results

Re Marc Hinton’s article Steve Hansen: A coaching saint or sinner? (Nov 5), he was neither – had he been either, we may have expected a different result.

Hansen was a technically adept coach

with a philosophy that supported running rugby. It doesn’t always equal winning rugby.

Hansen has been accused of not having a simple game plan. He didn’t select or have the players required to make a simple game plan work.

The forwards, especially in the front row, could never have done what SA did to England. Whether the situation was deliberate or dictated by fate we’ll never truly know.

NZ doesn’t have to have the same emphasis on winning or losing as South Africa. We are blessed with a benign land and benign leaders.

No-one I have spoken to regrets the Springboks’ victory; nor do I. South Africa is a fabulous country beset with massive issues, resulting in part from the criminal conspiracy that contrived apartheid.

As when President Mandela wore the No 6 jersey, rugby has again united the South African nation. When two South African rugby players – black, white or coloured – embrace and exchange kisses surely we can believe the past is truly the past.

John Rush, Mamaku

The article by Marc Hinton and, to a slightly lesser extent, that by Paul Cully (Where it went wrong for the All Blacks, Nov 4) were well conceived and accurate. Hindsight is a marvellous thing but the result was also predictable.

On June 2, 2017, I wrote the following letter, published in this paper:

‘‘The decision of Wayne Smith to retire shortly is either an exercise of sound judgment or he has accepted good advice. Steve Hansen should take note and do

likewise. He has been an exceptional coach of the All Blacks and ultimately he will get the knighthood he deserves . . . and if Steve then retired he would do so at the top of his game and the accolades would reflect his stature. Steve has indicated he is likely to retire after the next World Cup.

‘‘The reality . . . is that the All Blacks will not win three in a row . . . Steve’s retirement will come hard on the heels of a loss and his subsequent elevation to Sir Steve will be tarnished and diminished as a result . . .’’

I hate to say I told you so, but I told you so.

Derek Quilliam, Clive

Failing on many fronts

Chris Slater wrote (Letters, Nov 5) : ‘‘It is solely capitalism that can make a success of the commodity cycle, optimising product quality, price and availability.’’ But rewrite that paragraph with reference to housing: ‘‘optimising product quality’’ – leaky homes; ‘‘price’’ – possibly highest in the West; ‘‘availability’’ – chronic shortage.

It is a model that in its present configuration is failing on many fronts. Geoffrey Horne, Roseneath

FPP undemocratic

First Past the Post is hilariously undemocratic. The British Conservatives’ current double-digit polling lead, fed into an FPP election, could plausibly result in anything from a Conservative landslide to a victory for Labour.

It also incentivises politicians to make decisions based on the interests of voters in marginal seats, rather than the country as a whole.

Support for FPP in New Zealand tends to come from the Right, but the Right is hurt by FPP, too. In 2015 the UK Independence Party won 12.6 per cent of the vote, but only one of 650 seats. The centre-Left Scottish National Party, by contrast, won 56 seats with less than 5 per cent of the vote.

The current NZ Government controls a majority of votes and therefore has a democratic mandate to govern, even if you don’t like how it does so; unlike, say, the Muldoon governments of 1978 and 1981.

An argument for FPP is as good as to say: I don’t care about democracy, so long as my team wins.

Callum Townsend, Mt Cook

The discussion about FPP v Mixed Member Proportional misses, in my view, a very important point regarding democracy. New Zealand does not have a House of Representatives but has a House of Parties. A functional democracy requires two houses, one of which is a House of Representatives.

John Bent, Palmerston North

District Plan hypocrisy

Hutt City Council has ratified District Plan Change 43 (DPC43), pushing for a housing intensification well beyond what was originally claimed as targeting the transport hubs.

It was reported that the vote could only have gone the other way on a point of law. Never mind that, only months before, the council had announced a ‘‘Climate Emergency’’ and that representatives of both the HCC and Greater Wellington Regional Council are on record acknowledging that the Hutt River/Melling chokepoint could cause $1 billion-$2b of damage in a severe inundation event.

So putting more people and property in harm’s way is all good by this council and all founded on the delusion that DPC43 will somehow help house the homeless and make housing more affordable.

Just goes to show the chief executive was just virtue signalling and that their latest move is nothing short of duplicity and hypocrisy. Here was me thinking they were looking out for the citizens. Silly me.

Richard Arlidge, Lower Hutt

Bludger list MPs

Simon Bridges is always finding ways of saying that beneficiaries are a burden on hardworking taxpayers and something should be done.

Could I suggest that if he wishes to help us hardworking taxpayers, he should perhaps look at list MPs who are bludging off us. My hardworking money is going into paying list MPs to sit around doing nothing productive.

Trevor Tofts, Island Bay