Wage subsidy not for businesses that did well
I WAS astounded to read that Australian retailer Harvey Norman applied for $12.7 million in wage subsidy then announced a halfbilliondollar profit after having a bumper sales period during lockdown (ODT, 2.9.20).
While there is no doubt that lockdown was required and the wage subsidy for many businesses was necessary, it has become obvious that there have been many wage subsidies deposited into business accounts, days after applying, with very few checks and balances by the Government with regards to businesses meeting the criteria.
This is seen as a taxpayerfunded gift to the many businesses such as Harvey Norman who were either not affected or were affected in a positive way by the lockdown.
Likewise, businesses that were marginal due to poor management or Covid19 unrelated factors prior to the lockdown, thereby delaying the inevitable.
It is unfortunate this abuse of the wage subsidy and the printing of money by the Government to fund this reckless spending will affect the welfare of New Zealanders for generations to come.
Nazi links
B. Bishop
Roslyn
WHETHER Willi Huber (ODT, 3.9.20) was guilty or not should be confirmed by a just process and surely not a lynch mob. Isn't it innocent until proven guilty?
Huber and any German citizen at the time, or in hindsight with some regret, might just as legitimately have said Hitler ‘‘offered us a way out’’ and he was ‘‘very clever’’. I could easily say the same about Rob Muldoon or Donald Trump or any tyrant, but it doesn't mean I respect or agree with them.
As to Huber declaring he had no knowledge of the horrific crimes carried out during the war, it's at least feasible. It would depend on where you were, what you were doing and who you talked to during the war.
People in such situations answered to a civilised court process and not a lynching.
Bernard Jennings
Wellington
WITH regard to the upcoming referendum votes, after some thought I have decided that I will be dead against the euthanasia referendum and I would have to be dopey to vote for the cannabis referendum.
Ted Corry
Cromwell
SHAME on New Zealand for being too timid to investigate suspected Nazi war criminals here after the war when the rest of the world was doing their best to bring them to justice. It is now time to rescind the Huber ‘‘legacy’’, and wrap our arms around the survivors and families of the Holocaust, with all our love. Judith Rivers
North Otago
TO all the pedants ‘‘shaken from their nests’’ (Letters, 29.8.20) by M. Prendergast’s earlier letter (ODT, 20.8.20) I can but offer three words of consolation: ‘‘There, their, they’re.’’
Max Reid Mornington
I STARED at the photo on the front page of the ODT (2.9.20) for ages trying to work out what I was looking at. It was only when I checked ‘‘below the fold’’ that I discovered that it was another work of art (almost abstract) by the master Stephen Jaquiery. I am continually amazed and totally impressed by Stephen’s work and delighted that we have someone of his skill to embellish your publication. Congratulations. Barry Salter
Invercargill
JEANETTE Saxby writes that no harmful effects of cannabis are passed on to babies (Letters, 1.9.20). The evidence is indeterminate and it would be useful to hear a clinical view. Cannabis has harmful effects if smoked around children, and heavy consequences for those responsible for care.
A. Beck
Dunedin