Landlords’ rights threatened Tone deaf uni

Eight industry groups representing commercial tenants across the country have called on the Government to ride roughshod over existing lease agreements by mandating new terms that will have the effect of taking away the right of commercial landlords to reclaim their properties should the core obligation of the tenant not be met: paying their rent on time.

If these groups get their way, the fundamental basis upon which business is conducted in this country will have changed from voluntary contractual arrangements based on property rights and common law, to political pull and bullying by proxy, with the Government as the agent of force.

Instead of voluntary free market forces efficiently weeding out no longer viable businesses to make way for enterprises that can make better use of available capital, businesses that are no longer viable under the circumstances will be propped up at somebody else’s expense without their consent, consuming precious capital in the process.

We should ask ourselves, what type of person is going prosper in business if political pull starts trumping mutual agreement and property rights, and, what will that mean for this country’s prospects longer term? I shudder to think.

Terry Verhoeven, principal, Rights Institute

Past sacrifices

My great-grandfather the Rev James McCaw was minister of Knox Presbyterian Church in Lower Hutt from 1909-32.

James and his wife Agnes had eight children. In November 1918, during the Spanish flu epidemic, the church hall was turned into an emergency hospital. James, Agnes and all three daughters helped administer to the sick. All four women caught the illness. Sadly Nan (aged 19) died and Marion (13) suffered permanent nerve damage. Son Bert (20), who helped with the sick while based at Featherston Military Training Camp, also succumbed.

During the crisis my great-grandfather took an average of 10 funerals a day, including Bert and Nan on successive days.

Earlier in 1918, my great-grandparents had learnt of the loss of son Peter (22) while fighting overseas, resting now in France. Peter joined six of his first cousins among the dead.

Lest we forget both the lessons to be learned from the past, as well as the sacrifices.

Tim Thorpe, Upper Hutt

Comfort clothes

Joe Bennett has been praised for sharing his lockdown cuisine. I would like to praise Jane Bowron and Rosemary McLeod for sharing their lockdown couture. When you are confined to home, your old ragtag comfort clothes and no bra are definitely the way to go for the mature woman.

Carole Naylor, Papakowhai

Homes on the coast

One can sympathise with Eugene Doyle’s dilemma (Council’s big wave response plan slammed, April 24) when seeking Wellington City Council support to protect his and other coastal properties (for which, admittedly at a much earlier stage, it gave permission to be built on and for which it has since been collecting rates)

from further damage by wave action.

However, Doyle and others owning properties threatened by violent sea incursions may need to take a longer-term view of the viability of these coastal properties, when faced with the inevitability of sea level rise in the medium-term future.

Protection, for example, by building seawalls might be considered by the council to be a waste of money that could be better spent by assisting the residents of these endangered properties to relocate into safer houses.

One wonders if the council would respond any differently to such a proposal.

Ray Richards, Trentham

Victoria University of Wellington’s handling of the Karori campus, its branding changes and now its plan to charge students hostel ‘‘place holder’’ fees (April 27) indicate that its senior leadership is tone deaf to the community it serves.

Many students have been dispersed across the country to live in their home bubbles. Most have lost their part-time jobs in the hospitality sector and beyond. They are struggling to pay for food and rent, especially as many of their parents lose work and the ability to provide family assistance.

Perhaps VUW, along with Wellington City Council, needs a commissioner to guide it back into the real world.

Steve Farrow, Wilton

Think outside the box

If The Warehouse is serious about its staff welfare, as well as its businesses’ bottom line, then it should consider asking staff to lend The Warehouse 10-20 per cent of their pay instead of reducing pay, potentially permanently.

This would be equally beneficial to staff and The Warehouse. Pay reduction benefits only the business. Pay reduction has a negative impact on the staff’s financial future as this money is never recovered. Loans are designed to be repaid and are a liability that businesses take seriously.

As the reduced pay lent to The Warehouse would eventually be repaid, staff would have an additional incentive to make The Warehouse profitable and the impact on staff’s financial future impact would be reduced as the money will be recovered.

Looking forward to The Warehouse thinking outside the Big Red box (not holding my breath).

Bryan Fisk, Wainuiomata

Support the new mayor

Again the Dominion Post highlights a dysfunctional city council (April 25). Concerned citizens rely on such informed reporting, on media insights and our discussions with others desperate to see the council constructively address past failures and the city’s needs. The picture is not good. Where does the problem lie?

There is an apparent marshalled opposition to the priorities of the citywide elected mayor for whom there is significant citizen and experienced councillors’ support. It presents as a narrowly focused ideological campaign running counter to the betterment of Wellington.

How is this opposition being led on the council? Presumably by one or several reelected councillors representing only their wards intent on challenging the mayor’s leadership rather than tackling the city’s issues. To such a councillor, perhaps with previous leadership responsibilities or ambitions, we say your agenda is untenable, your contribution counter-productive and your positioning out of time and place.

Dysfunctionality is of necessity a virus to be eliminated. Proposed facilitation needs to focus on ‘‘educating’’ councillors to put aside personal and bloc stances and work together.

Furthermore, success will require acceptance that the former mayor’s agendas are no more. There is a new mayor who, with other experienced councillors, is thankfully tasked with moving the city forward differently. We demand they not be stifled on every issue at every opportunity.

Murray Jaspers, Wellington [abridged]

Try a justice model

Social Credit returns from the grave. But does its full page ad (April 25) miss the point? It calls for New Zealand to ‘‘use our own bank’’ instead of borrowing ‘‘from banks and wealthy investors’’. But isn’t that precisely what we are doing right now?

Old Social Creditors will be laughing in their graves. Their political lives were spent fighting for the use of Social Credit. In the 1960s and ’70s the political establishment and the entire economics profession mocked it as ‘‘funny money’’. And here it is – called ‘‘quantitative easing’’ and embraced by all.

NZ Inc is printing vast sums to be thrown around in the hope of reigniting the economy. Instead of following along like a bunch of sheep, economists should be thinking, ‘‘Where to from here’’?

The existing mindset that now advocates quantitative easing is predicated on the notion of everlasting growth in wealth and consumption – well, for the rich anyway. What about a model that is based around justice for all and the preservation of the planet?

Geoff Prickett, Waikanae

Hardly early

‘‘We went hard and we went early.’’ It’s been said often enough by the prime minister, the inference being that NZ’s strategy was superior to that of other countries.

True we went hard – some would say too hard and harder than we needed to, given Australia’s experience. But early? Really? Evidence suggests that this is simply not true. The BBC’s ‘‘the world in lockdown in maps and charts’’ shows that most European countries were days, even weeks, ahead of us. Many Asian countries too were faster to act than New Zealand.

The criticism of the Government, in the week before lockdown, over its failure to effectively close the border, appeared not to have moved the PM to act as much as a phone call from an overseas friend before Cabinet made the lockdown decision. Even after the initial border ‘‘closure’’ the strategy of self-isolation clearly failed. Arguably if NZ had adopted a quarantine strategy earlier we would not have had to shut down the entire economy.

Ian B Anderson, Te Aro

NZ Rugby’s choices

It was rather refreshing to see the invisible Brent Impey, the chair of NZ Rugby, emerge from his bunker to defend NZR’s position against Mark Reason’s proposition that NZR got it wrong in nominating the Australian rugby league guru, Bart Campbell, for a place on the board of World Rugby (Letters, April 25).

I am sure it wouldn’t be difficult to find a New Zealander with the right credentials to fill the role, and someone with more connection to the NZ rugby landscape than the conflicted Australian.

However, NZR sees merit in its out-ofleft-field nomination so let us see how he performs should he succeed in his bid for a place around the World Rugby table.

The part of the letter that really got my interest though was the assertion that NZR is doing its utmost for grassroots rugby in NZ.

I don’t believe this for a moment as NZR has ignored the community game for years. What’s more, I am advised that there are a number of Wellington clubs on the brink of folding, as a consequence of Covid-19.

The solution apparently will be a community-based fundraising exercise conducted by WRFU. A community solution rather than an NZR-assisted solution. I rest my case.

Rhys Barlow, former chairman, WRFU

Debt to workers

As we move to level three we are indebted to the supermarkets and dairies, which remained open to keep us fed. And are heartened by those major stores which paid their staff extra for their service during a difficult four weeks.

It is sad to know that the extra pay will be removed today. As we honour those who put themselves at risk to keep us supplied, could we ask Countdown and Pak’n Save and their subsidiaries to maintain these higher wages, while we ourselves accept paying a slightly higher cost for what we buy from them.

At a very small cost to our own weekly budgets, those on minimum wages will know they are truly appreciated by us all. And the country will work together more happily, a win-win situation.

Peter Wood, Lower Hutt

Brutal inequity

Big fast-food company KFC is asking staff to cut their hours or face redundancy. Restaurant Brands states the reason is due to the necessity of social distancing.

It is understandable this could mean fewer people in the premises for safety.

It is noted Restaurant Brands Group chief executive Russel Creedy earned $806,000 last year.

The company earned $30 million profit. Added to that, the company received the wage subsidy scheme

This is exactly the kind of brutal, partisan inequity we must eradicate from businesses and places of employment while the economic climate is in a state of adjustment.

Best chance we have of abolishing the crippling, poverty-inducing capitalism we have had to endure for far too long. Maureen Dunn, Levin