Labour pulled NZ out of the last Great Depression

In response to Rod Rattenbury’s column on May 26. Yes Labour could potentially govern alone and this voter really hopes it does so.

National loudly proclaims superior skills in managing the economy of NZ but the record of the past fails abysmally to match that claim. It was Labour that pulled NZ out of the hole after the depression in the 1930s.

It was Muldoon’s National Government that drove NZ very close to bankruptcy in the 1970s and Lange’s Labour Government that pulled us out of it. The National Government that followed promised to remove the Superannuation surtax imposed by Lange’s Government. When elected they increased it. That, in the end led to the MMP style of government we currently have and thank the deities for that!

After the demise of Helen Clark’s Government we had John Key. We had tax cuts and sold assets to pay for them. The very power companies created by the deregulation, driven by

Max Bradford.

How is that for political expediency? We had Environment Canterbury sacked and politically appointed Commissioners instead.

They consented to the boom in irrigation, followed by industrial dairying, dry riverbeds, polluted waterways and toxic levels of nitrates in aquifers. Many lowland towns and cities are looking at toxic artesian water, if no now then soon. Who pays for that when it happens, the polluters who made money or the taxpayers?

Our new Leader of the Opposition puts huge emphasis on his “business background” and that of his fellow party members. That background is hugely relevant if you are in charge of running a business. A NZ government is not a business. I think it is about building a just and fair society for all.

A society that values inclusiveness and a reduction in inequality. (Abridged)

S. J. Nichols

Frimley

Move to level 1

When is Jacinda going to bring us down to level 1? Why is she waiting, with Winston and the majority of Kiwis putting the pressure on her to do so. With what happened in New Zealand yesterday we are likely to go back up to level 4, idiots. I can understand their frustration but they have to leave it to the Justice Department not take the law into their own hands.

Gary Stewart

Foxton Beach