Working assets not a liability

It would seem that debt engendered by the Government as it is going into or has the assets to repay that debt isn’t the villain that it is painted to be by the Opposition.

New Zealand has $30 billion awaiting recovery in offshore oil, a further $20 billion land-based in mineral deposits. Add in skifields, fishing and agriculture, which basically makes us the food bowl of the South Pacific and — most important asset of all — its people, that is if they are working. It is when they are not working they become a liability.

Economic recovery will require exquisite timing in the coming weeks to minimise unemployment. Dishing out compensation ad infinitum will only worsen the situation for those unemployed, currently estimated at 12 per cent and, if level 2 is allowed to continue for four weeks, could reach much higher.

Economic recovery can begin only when these people are put back to productive work.

Shane Jones’ forest projects will certainly need further amplification, as will agricultural projects, fishing etc.

The fate of the major parties in the upcoming election may well depend on the Coalition minimising unemployment as of right now, and whichever party has the most innovative ways of getting everybody back into productive work.

Gary Hollis, Mellons Bay.

Co-operation gains

In their article ( NZ Herald, May 25) Professors Spoonley and Shaw reminded us how adversarial politics in the 70s had, by 2014, denied New Zealand a $300 billion superannuation nest egg.

Covid-19 now shows us how kindness and co-operation can secure good outcomes for all citizens and these two words should be a mantra for all who work in the Beehive: just as in its namesake.

Juliet Leigh, Pt Chevalier.

Postpone politics

Globally the world is moving into uncharted territory with many deaths through Covid-19, industries decimated, economies at risk of collapse and the possibility of a global depression.

We would suggest that New Zealand postpone the upcoming General Election until September 2021 and put a moratorium on party politics until at least the end of the year. We do not need our politicians travelling around NZ expending their energy on selling their product/party. Rather we need all their strength and energy directed to working through the current crisis in which we find ourselves.

No party has the monopoly on brains or ability. To those in Parliament: forget party politics, forget personalities, put all your ideas on the table, work together, think creatively, debate robustly, listen to each other and show what consensus politics can accomplish in these unprecedented times.

New Zealand has shown itself to be a world leader in fighting Covid-19, can we also be a world leader in defining a new way forward?

Pat Binnie, Torbay.

Hollywood exceptions

So, thousands of hard-working Kiwis had to stay home from their “non-essential jobs”, which would have helped keep the country and their businesses going, but film industry staff were granted exemptions to enter New Zealand ( NZ Herald, May 27).

This sounds more like a rich exemption than an industry exemption.

Films are not essential, so they would not be permitted to travel for work like the rest of us while here and if they are in production surely that could have been done in the comfort of their homes overseas.

Kevin Brady, Patumahoe.

Age-old resentment

Anyone over the age of 65 in New Zealand today is becoming anxious. They are blamed for owning a home, which was tough when interest rates were 15 per cent and has nothing to do with the difficulties created for young people to become homeowners today.

Many are helping their families to overcome those political decisions.

Fifty years ago, there was no living allowance for university students, and parents who could, supported their children. We were not responsible for introducing student loans.

Superannuation has been a political football for years and is now apparently resented by the generation whose parents rely on it.

And predictably, Judy Barfoot ( NZ Herald, May 26) attributes “saving the lives of elderly people” from Covid-19 for the dreadful impact on those who have lost employment and businesses.

This intergenerational divisiveness, which has become the outrage du jour, helps no one. Age is not selective — everyone catches it.

June Kearney, West Harbour.

Export potential

While New Zealand is riding on the crest of a wave over our handling of Covid-19, we have the focus of the world.

Now would be a great time to promote our production and export capabilities to help us be less dependent on what looks more and more like a single market.

Let’s give our resident trade commissioners something to do.

Richard Kean, Ngongotaha¯.

Four-day week

I totally agree with your correspondent Rebecca Glover ( NZ Herald, May 26). It is about time we had a serious look at the five-day working week.

When consulting for a Christchurch family clothing company in the late 80s, I recommended a four-day working week, 9.5 hours a day for the same 40-hour wage. Fridays off every week for the production staff, which was a safety net for overtime and maintenance to maintain on-time deliveries.

Management thought it brilliant. Shopfloor staff thought it brilliant. Why didn’t it go ahead? The union claimed it had fought for an eight-hour working day and demanded overtime for the extra 90 minutes a day, and refused to let the company implement it.

Much of the UK had a 37.5-hour working week more than 35 years ago — and there is no need to dump tea breaks. The rest allowance is built into the piecework rates on all professionally measured systems, even where there is no guaranteed wage, something NZ has never accepted and one of the reasons NZ manufacturing costs have never been competitive. We pay slackers the same as those who work hard.

Ray Green, Birkenhead.

Untreated water

Those promoting taking more river water don’t seem to realise that Waikato River water is “grey” and needs complex cleaning before it is potable.

Watercare is already at the limit of what they can filter and would need to build major new infrastructure before they could process any further volume.

Rhys Morgan, Northcote Pt.

Welcome sight

Seeing the new National Party leader must have given many people a huge lift. We need all the help we can get to raise spirits in these dark days.

Flanked by steely faced women, he looked for all the world like a head prefect in the company of a couple of stern schoolmistresses. Wonderful.

Warren Drake, ra¯kei.

Landfill lunacy

Chinese company Beijing Capital Waste Management is building a huge landfill on our pristine land in order to dump our rubbish — nearly all of which comes from China in the first place.

Why don’t we just stop importing and using this unwanted trash? Are we all fools?

J Leighton, Devonport.

Military spending

While I acknowledge the sentiment of Caroline Mabry in her suggestion that the NZ Military has a misplaced preference in a well-being budget, I think some perspective is due.

NZ Treasury figures show that “wellbeing” expenditure, as a percentage of GDP sits at: Social Security and Welfare — 9.6 per cent; Health — 6.1 per cent; Education — 4.8 per cent.

So, perhaps instead of dipping into the Military’s 1 per cent of GDP funding to add to the 20.5 per cent above, we should praising them, to paraphrase Winston Churchill, for doing so much with so little.

David Hedgley, Mt Wellington.

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