A great start but the young man needs help

I HAVE been following with interest the young man Benjamin Paterson who is campaigning for the return of direct flights between Australia and Dunedin.

He has done an incredible amount of work and what an amazing young man he appears to be.

My question is, where are the Dunedin City Council, Dunedin Airport, and businesses that will benefit if the flights resume? Benjamin keeps the community informed with all updates on his Facebook page and it certainly appears that those main stakeholders have been snoozing as they are all very quiet while he has more than likely been busy juggling school, letter writing, social media, conference calls, and media.

The council and airport may be working behind the scenes but would it hurt for them to show some public support?

The airport stated in a recent letter to the editor that they have been working behind the scenes for several years, yet I know of many people who messaged the airport in 2022 and 2023 to ask about the resumption of international flights, and the response was always the same, that there were no plans for direct services.

It is fantastic that the community has got behind him but maybe now as a collective we need to make contact with him to find out what we can do as a wider community to help this cause as we will all benefit from this. And it is clear that the work needs to be from us all, as it is not being driven from our leaders.

Although not everyone sees the need for direct flights it is great to see positive articles in the media about teenagers such as Benjamin.

William May

Alexandra ...................................

BIBLE READING: There is now no condemnation for those who are in Jesus Christ. — Romans 8.1.