Time to debate the real issues — forget trivia

I AM fed up to the teeth with mainstream media’s fixation on trivia.

The nightly TV news from the main channels have over the past couple of weeks taken minutes headlining the Iain LeesGalloway immigration issue.

And we have political commentators assuming they talk for us, the ordinary Kiwi voter. In my humble view, the whole Iain LeesGalloway fiasco is a media beat up.

It’s a storm in the teacup, something the ruling party will clear up when all facts are known.

Now, I label myself as an average floating voter (AFV). Personally, I don’t give a tinker’s damn on the shenanigans of the LeesGalloway saga. Or the hypedup fight for exclusives by television channels.

As an AFV, my main concerns are the directions this country is heading into.

Apart from the normal health and education concerns, I cast my vote to the party which looks to the future health of our nation. By attacking the burgeoning inequality under existing economic parameters favouring the corporate world against the individual.

That lets a toothless OIO to allow the sale of cheap marginal Gisborne hill country land to an Asian billionaire to plant trees. Then proceeds to rip off top value logs leaving the bulk of perfectly good low value timber on the cut over.

Then, thanks to climate change, successive storms proceed to wash the debris into waterways (aka Tolaga Bay). And who is having to clean the mess up, costing millions of dollars. Go Google and read the current ForestX report.

I vote for the party which makes a big effort to put some teeth back into the OIO and stop this nonsense. I also vote for the party which will do something about climate change. So our offspring have something to look forward to.

And to halt exploding populations and overwhelming tourism in places like Auckland and Queenstown.

Also to get things up and running in our regions. To clean up pollution and target quality of life over standard of living.

At least the ODT sets a reasonable standard of reportage and layout of what is important. Jim Childerstone

Hampden