Restorative justice is all about respect

In response to your story ‘‘Restorative justice stalls cases in the Gore District Court’’ (April 14) – restorative justice meetings occur in many contexts and times.

Pre-sentencing is one such – and with any one referral may come multiple charges at different stages of progress through court, changes of lawyer, altered dates and venues for court appearances, and occasionally referrals with sentencing dates the next day.

We work hard at maintaining respectful relationships and boundaries alongside these constraints. Restorative justice meetings recognise and include the importance of people and time and place, of harms done and experienced, of relationships, wha¯ nau, and support from other trusted organisations.

Central to restorative justice are respect, self-determination, accountability. Restorative justice values are intrinsic to Ma¯ ori culture. Meetings at their best are transformative.

Jen Cato

Seriously, though

The cartoon of the frying pan with planet Earth frying like an egg (April 17) was not supposed to be funny, I’m sure. Some images reveal truths too awful for words.

I wonder if the cartoonist will do one about the giant OMV oil rig that’s coming to our southern waters to further turn up the heat on the planet. That won’t be funny either, but it will be true.

Robert Guyton

Two sides to a rest

The Queenstown Lakes District Council issued freedom camping infringement notices to two people sleeping in their cars (April 12). There are two sides to this.

The ‘‘freedom camping’’ issue needs to be regulated. No longer are we sparsely populated. We cannot set up camp where and when we like. Others must be considered.

Therefore we have regulations, and entities to enforce these.

There are instances when a driver decides to sleep in his or her vehicle before proceeding to his or her destination, to avoid an accident. We are advised not to drive when fatigued. But the QLDC does not allow drivers to sleep in their vehicle, even for a few hours.

This oppressive blanket ruling needs to be modified.

A remedy is: The QLDC must examine its bylaws, and make allowance for drivers sleeping in vehicles for a short time.

When a freedom camping infringement notice is issued, the document should include an 0800 telephone number. The recipient of the notice is then able to contact the issuing officer promptly to state that he has been resting before driving, and is now leaving.

It appears issuing officers are about and on duty in the early hours. Your reporter cited a case of a driver going to his car at about 3am, for a sleep. He set his alarm for 8am and found the infringement notice, which was issued at 4:45am. Heather Lynes

An Easter wish

On behalf of us sinners I would like to wish Israel Folau a reflective Easter. The anger of the God in his mirror is concerning. Christians, your man needs your attention. Sinners – look out for each other and God help our planet.

Daniel Phillips

Avoiding hell

Israel Folau’s comments that have attracted attention are a biblical quote from First Corinthians chapter 6, verses 9 and 10.

A television interview from 2016 shown on recent news showed Folau retelling how he had a drinking problem and that his life is now completely changed due to believing in Jesus Christ.

This is his personal story of what is written in verse 11.

Naturally people are uncomfortable at the thought of going to hell or someone else telling them they will. His statement of turning to Jesus to avoid this fate is summed up in the biblical story of Easter.

F Meyer

What I’d ask Israel

On Israel Folau’s outspokenness against certain behaviours, I have some questions. Where does Jesus teach going to an eternal punishment in hellfire?

Or what was the ‘‘Teaching of that Life’’ that the disciples of Jesus were forbidden by the Jewish authorities of the time to preach? And, when this ‘‘way’’ continued by them, how it changed the course of history by christianising the Roman empire and became so compromised and pervasive that it created the Holy Roman Empire some 350 years before the Notre Dame cathedral was even built.

Barry Mailman

One of my favourite books is The Lord of the Flies. Its author, Sir William Golding once said: ‘‘My yesterdays walk with me. They keep step, they are grey faces that peer over my shoulder.’’

We are all influenced by our past to one degree or another, and I make no secret that my 10 months on what was then the Domestic Purposes Benefit with a 2-year-old and a 1-year-old followed by eight years as a working solo parent, have influenced me very strongly in what I think are the most important things for a balanced society.

That is undoubtedly why I continue to hold up the cost of housing in parts of Central Otago as being the biggest single issue of importance to our district, and particularly those towns affected.

Politically, if you fly on your Left wing, you want to see everyone have a chance to get ahead in life.

If you are centre-left you may caveat that general belief with a requirement to work hard and not be silly with your money.

If you fly on your Right wing, you know an economy won’t survive without a good supply of workers to fill the jobs a successful economy has.

Either way, if people can’t afford the cost of a roof over their head, the whole of the society is hugely negatively affected.

There are many factors that lead to a housing crisis.

Supply and demand is always the overwhelming law in economics, and certainly in parts of Central, the current demand is incredible.

‘‘Cromwell’’ had 45,000 searches on the Trade Me Property website in March alone.

We have been discovered and people are coming in droves.

Infometrics figures show Cromwell had a 6.5 per cent growth in population and a 10.2 per cent growth in employment in the year to March 2018, and I have seen nothing to suggest a slowdown since then.

Current estimates have Cromwell set to have more than 10,000 residents within 20 years, basically doubling its current size.

It is not just the number of people wanting to come to Central to live or have a holiday home that is the only issue.

The lack of supply of the right type of properties is also a significant issue.

Big houses on bigger sections are not affordable to many seeking to live in Central and as yet, the market has mostly failed to provide other options.

This has led to a situation where the market is not meeting the demand, resulting in soaring costs not just for purchasing a home but renting one as well.

Let’s start with the purchasing side of things. As of February 2019, the mean house sale price in Cromwell was $627,000. That is an awful lot of money in what is primarily a low-wage economy.

The rental situation is no better and possibly a lot worse, as a bigger worry than affordability for many I have talked to is security of tenure, with a hot market leading to high turnover.

This leads to current landlords giving notice or new landlords raising the rent to cover the high purchase cost. I have been told of several families moving three times in the last year.

Currently there are 15 homes for rent on realestate.co.nz in Cromwell, with an average weekly rental of $512 a week, with only one property (a one-bedroom unit) being available for under $400.

For context, a single person on the new minimum wage working a 40-hour week takes home just over $600 for their efforts.

Last month, to my council I put a report containing 25 vignettes provided by various social service agencies that told the real-life consequence of the current situation.

These were stories of people leaving their jobs and the district, or of people staying but living in garages, tents and even cars, with night temperatures already below freezing.

So what is to be done, what is being done and what is the council’s role? I was very pleased to see the council place its approach to housing as one of four projects being advanced as immediate priorities for the new strategy and policy team’s work programme.

A dedicated Affordable Housing Trust has been set up and is beginning to provide ideas and solutions to the council and relevant community boards, and the Southern District Health Board is doing a major study on housing issues after hearing of the seriousness of the issue from social service agencies.

The Cromwell Eye To The Future Masterplan has also recognised community concern about the housing shortage.

The first step in addressing any problem is recognising there is one, and, as the election approaches, it is my intention to keep this problem in the public gaze.