Our tradie troubles started in the 1980s
I read a report recently that said we needed several thousand tradesmen of all types to end the problem of our inability to construct new homes at a rate to keep up with demand. Many small firms have stated that they need help with costs of training apprentices in their first year of training. The report did not try and explain why we have this shortage of skilled tradesmen.
I believe that this is the ‘‘Rogernomics’’ chickens coming home to roost. Before we went down the neo-liberal route we took pride in the fact that we were self-sufficient in nearly everything. We had the Ministry of Works, who not only built and maintained our schools, state houses and roading infrastructure but trained all types of tradesmen very thoroughly. They also trained architects, civil and structural engineers as well as being a world leader in earthquake design. We had the railways, who built most of our railway engines and rolling stock but who also had architects and civil and structural engineers in-house as well as builders, plumbers and electricians. The post office also trained many of our electronics engineers.
When the ‘‘Rogernomes’’ had finished all these institutions had either been scrapped or privatised and many of the tradesmen and engineers found themselves unemployed and left the country. The private sector was not interested in training as they saw it as a cost not an investment, as well as taking the view that we could always import the tradesmen we needed! The government also saw education as a cost and introduced the iniquitous student loan.
That disposing of theMOW and selling off the Railways and phone company did not immediately show up as the disaster it was is purely because these results take time to become apparent.
The Labour Party’s promise that everyone will receive three years of post-secondary school education or training both for university and for trade training is a very welcome step in the right direction. But I believe we need to reintroduce a Ministry of Works to take over the building and maintenance of government properties from offices to state houses, as well as training the tradesmen we so desperately need. The other thing everyone forgets is that theMOWalso had vehicles and equipment that could be brought into action after natural disasters like earthquakes, floods or slips.
Neo-liberal economics don’t work, even The World Bank says so. Let us return to the economics and ethics that made this country so great.
Robert Bryan
Wallaceville
RESCUER OR RENEGADE
I was disappointed by the article on ‘‘secret rescuers of a national pest’’. Possums are undoubtedly damaging to our fragile and naturally predator-free native bush. However, Sally sounds more like a heroic renegade than someone who is acting illegally and unhelpfully, blinded by ‘‘cuteness’’. Upper Hutt enjoys beautiful surroundings - our native bush and birds are its backbone. As DOC, Forest and Bird, and any fellow Kiwi will say, we do support killing pests to save our stunning bird life.
R Braun
Trentham
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