Standing up for rights of young people
CHRIS Trotter ridicules New Zealand’s past and proposes young New Zealanders are uninterested in our Government (ODT, 2.6.17). Methinks it is the somewhere/ anywhere mindset which has made democracy an abstract phenomenon for ‘‘anywheres’’.
The ‘‘somewheres’ ’’ identification with local contexts gives them a vested interest in trying to influence their Parliament by voting in general elections. ‘‘Anywheres’’ tend to identify with all individuals of a liberal persuasion wherever they are, so the political has become the personal, and national sovereignty is meaningless.
Secondary schools are probably the only opportunity to provide forums for young people to discuss what could take the place of democratic nations. (Perhaps history should be as compulsory as English on the curriculum). Lowering the voting age would make the issue more immediate.
It is imperative, on the other hand, that young people should be able to leave school for work much younger, if they choose to. A society in which leaving school means going deeply into debt in order to qualify (perhaps) for a job, is something those who had apprenticeships straight after school, or an almostfree university education, should decide is outrageous youth farming and disenfranchisement from the proper rights a young person should be entitled to. Vicky Carthew
Dunedin
Property ‘tax’
THE Otago Motel Association’s spokeswoman, Sue Rhodes, asking for a ‘‘level playing field’’ (ODT, 31.5.17) and suggesting the DCC look at further taxing property owners in Dunedin is breathtaking in its arrogance.
For almost a decade ‘‘Ma and Pa’’ ratepayer have subsidised every single event at the new stadium through compulsory land tax we know as rates. It is truly astonishing such a group would have the audacity to ask for more. Due to inept DCC governance we now have eyewatering debt funded by the longsuffering ratepayer who has zero opportunity to profit from city events. It does, however, raise the question of why hospitality, specifically accommodation, food and beverage retailers have not had to pay a fair share to date? The problem has historically been that it is all too easy to fund expensive nonperforming projects from the bottomless pit of ratepayers’ coffers. Surely, the success of three bookedout Ed Sheeran concerts should be enough to focus on who actually benefits from such events.
If the DCC spin of $50 million for the Sheeran concerts is true, target the rates and be fair. Jeff Dickie
Woodhaugh [Otago Motel Association president Sue Rhodes replies: ‘‘Mr Dickie has missed the point. The Otago Motel Association has absolutely no interest in further taxation of the ordinary domestic ratepayer who does not profit from tourism or city events. The issue is with the owners of large residential properties that have been subdivided into multiple letting units — one, twoand threebedroom studios with kitchens — being rented out on a shortterm basis for a nightly tariff.
‘‘Essentially these properties are now motels under the guise of a single domestic residence. In some cases change of use has not been sought. These people are profiteering from the tourists and city events without any regulation or compliance and are not contributing in any way other than domestic rates. All 51 members of the OMA pay staggeringly high commercial rates. One example is a member will be paying over $18,000 in 2018 while a very similar sized property will be paying $5000.
‘‘We have asked the DCC to set up a register and any additional commercial rates collected should be targeted towards increasing the underfunded budget available for marketing Dunedin as a tourist and business destination.’’]
Israel
HANS Rosloot (ODT letters, 6.6.17) conveniently ignores the fact that the Jews took the land by force from the Canaanites and Philistines in the first place, committing genocide on the Midianites along the way.
Wynston Cooper
Invercargill