Here’s to a Waitangi Day we can all truly celebrate
YOUR Waitangi Day editorial (ODT,
6.2.19) was excellent. In a nutshell you put it so well — the day should be about the best of us, not about the worst.
I do believe it will happen eventually but we have a lot of growing up to do as a nation before we catch up on the 4th of July or St Patrick’s Day, but we will get there. Interestingly, St Patrick’s Day was celebrated more by Irish migrants than in Ireland itself for many years. Young Kiwis abroad mirror this with Waitangi Day.
Sadly, elsewhere in the paper I read that a call for compulsory teaching of New Zealand’s Maori and colonial history in schools is being met with rejection.
The key to the future is knowing and understanding the past. New Zealanders’ knowledge of their own history is abysmal, and the belief in untruths perpetuated to suit colonial interests is widespread.
History is indeed written by the victors but New Zealand history is very clear to anyone who bothers to look at it with an open mind.
It is a fascinating subject and when we do understand it warts and all we will as a nation be ready to celebrate our national day.
Richard O’Mahony
Northeast Valley
Brash’s visit
DON Brash displayed courage, and conducted himself as a gentleman, at Waitangi, which is more than could be said for the protesters there.
To harangue an invited guest to the point he could no longer deliver the speech he was requested is the height of rudeness in any culture, and a new low even by previous Waitangi Day standards.
Fairminded New Zealanders are also at a loss to understand how wanting equality and one law for all can be interpreted as racism.
Conversely, allocating taxpayerfunded resources based on race rather than need is definitely the epitome of racism.
In spite of the Government spending another $100 million on supporting Maori landowners, protesters said it was still not enough.
Throwing more Government money at the problem is not going to fix it.
Mark Munro Port Chalmers
[Abridged]
Freedom camping
LET’S look at the issue of freedom campers in a more rational way than Leigh Pickford (letters, 8.2.19), who described them as parasites.
First they have to get to New Zealand, then purchase transport with all the additional costs involved. He states they only pay for fuel and food — what else is there apart from accommodation?
The reality is that the cost to come to New Zealand is substantial, and who can blame them not wanting to pay $500 per night in Queenstown?
The real problem for them is the failure to provide suitable facilities, something which luckily is now being addressed by councils throughout the country.
We should be thankful that people are willing to travel vast distances to visit this beautiful country. It is not their fault we have failed to provide for them. I for one welcome them and hope they enjoy their great adventure.
John McCallum
Mornington
Telford
I NOTE the small mercy (ODT, 6.2.19) of Minister Hipkins’ $1.8 million to retain, for the interim, the Telford agricultural campus, although with fewer staff.
How can he square this niggardly response with the $136 million of government funding (the most recent, last December, an extra dollop of
$22 million) donated to the America’s Cup campaign in Auckland?
The one, for the training of young people to be a part of the backbone of the country’s economy; the other, for the entertainment of wealthy yacht owners.
Can he justify his government’s apparent priorities? R. Gardner
Waverley