Ethical behaviour makes business sense and dollars

I read with interest the article on investing for social impact (Business, December 2). My view is that all businesses should ensure they operate in alignment with good community values.

This is a necessary and profitable approach supporting sustainability of the business as well as the environment and the community. Reputational risk is very real as many banks and others around the world have learned. It is not a trade-off to operate ethically and try to do the right thing. It is an enhancer of longer-term success.

Frank Olsson, Auckland

Climate urgency

Every day we read articles describing how urgent it is to reduce greenhouse gases.

The problem is too urgent to rely on action by individuals. It is necessary for each country to develop a plan and suspend democracy if necessary while it is carried out. Such a plan exists for the 14 countries with the greatest emissions. This is the Deep Decarbonisation Pathways Project developed for the UN.

During World War II many countries did suspend democracy for the duration and now the problem is just as urgent for the whole world.

Ian Hatton, Nelson

Selective suffering

Dr Sean Davison should not regret his actions.

We do not sanction deliberate suffering caused to other nonhuman creatures, but do so selectively when it comes to human convenience.

All this confusion is partly caused by adherence to ancient religious beliefs, some fading into myth as we further understand the science of our complex creation.

To my way of thinking Davison is a man of great compassion and kindness. The claims of some in palliative care about the efficacy of their treatments fail the terminally ill who experience suffering beyond endurance and who would welcome the release from pain by a chosen death were it a legal option.

P D Lethbridge, Hamilton

Esther Richards (Letters, December 2) excuses Davison’s involvement in four deaths ‘‘because South Africa does not have an assisted dying law’’, implying this is somewhat unusual.

In fact the opposite is true. The majority of such bills are voted down, meaning that assisted dying is legal in only 6 per cent of jurisdictions worldwide.

Out of the total of 15 jurisdictions with legalisation, only a third permit both euthanasia and assisted suicide. So the Seymour bill, were it to pass, would be a member of an exceptionally small club – just 2 per cent of world jurisdictions.

Richards is wrong to claim that those who are suffering ‘‘have no option but to commit suicide or ask for someone to help them’’, assuming that ‘‘help them’’ means ‘‘ask them to kill them’’.

The only safe answer for vulnerable New Zealanders is to continue to press for the continued improvement of our already world-class system of palliative care.

Stephen Francis, Auckland

Poverty action

The Child Poverty Reduction Bill is an important step forward and needs to be underpinned by effective programmes and policies if we are to make a serious impact on the scourge of child poverty.

No, Damien Grant (‘‘Poverty bill will create a merry-go-round of rules and reports’’, Focus, December 2) it hasn’t gone away. We won’t get effective progress while commentators present the nonsense about poverty measurement reflected in Grant’s article.

Measuring poverty on a relative basis does not mean that we will always have 20 per cent of children living in poverty. A basic understanding of poverty measurement would have avoided this nonsense.

New Zealand can get below 20 per cent if the commitment to reducing poverty, which all major parties have signed up to, is supported by policy initiatives which put children at the centre.

Good measurement enables us to see progress (or not). Nonsensical flawed assertions about measurement do not help. Mike O’Brien, School of Counselling, Human Services and Social Work, University of Auckland

As Grant points out, certain principles including children’s intrinsic value and dignity are covered in the Child Poverty Reduction Bill. But this acknowledgement only occurs after they are born.

The three options put forward by the Law Commission, to remove abortion from the Crimes Act and make it a health issue only, will give us virtual abortion on demand up till full term.

It is disingenuous of Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern and Justice Minister Andrew Little to claim women could be prosecuted under current legislation. Section 183 of the