The new normal can be better

The article by John Hawkes ( NZ Herald, July 20) is timely and compellingly relevant.

Hawkes stresses that it is imperative for a government of national unity to effectively deal with the challenges imposed by the Covid-19 pandemic and adds further weight to the recent analytical, facts-based reporting by Simon Wilson on New Zealand’s developmental problems and opportunities.

The Covid-19 environment presents not only unprecedented challenges but also strategic opportunities, for us in New Zealand and indeed also for the global community. In addressing the challenges to create the new “normal”, it is imperative we move away from the current dominant materialistic, acquisitive, wantsbased, greed-oriented model, which has resulted in making the rich much richer and the poor and disadvantaged much poorer and more vulnerable.

We now need, through a government of national unity for at least the next decade, to focus on sustainable, needsbased growth and development with utmost priority given to having happier families and communities. A challenge for us is how to make this happen. The answer should not be left only to the politicians.

John Samy, Mellons Bay.

Speaks for itself

Russ Rimmington, chairman of the Waikato Regional Council ( NZ Herald, July 21) throws further light on the complexities in Auckland obtaining rights to take additional water from the Waikato River.

There have already been significant delays with more forecast. The one point that shines through however is the lack of planning and carrying out of essential works by Watercare. This, coupled with the apparent lack of effective oversight by Auckland Council and Mayor, is further evidence of the incompetence of our elected representatives and overpaid bureaucrats. And on top of all this, and at this time of economic stress, the council decides that it is appropriate to increase rates by 3.5 per cent. Res ipsa loquitur.

Peter Clapshaw, Remuera.

Extreme measures

I notice the naysayers are still bleating about Auckland’s water take from the Waikato River. One and a half million litres per day. Horror of horrors. Sounds a lot doesn’t it? Well it does if the naysayers are trying to win an argument.

Water usage isn’t measured by the litre, it is measured by the cubic metre.

The extra volume to be taken is 150,000 cubic metres per day. That is not nearly so dramatic is it? Look at your last home water invoice. The volume of water billed is measured in cubic metres. The extra volume Auckland needs is still minuscule compared with the 30 million cubic metres per day flowing to the sea. Or was that 30 trillion litres per day?

Roger J Douglas, Cambridge.

Envy tax

I fully agree with the views that Troy Bowker expressed in his article (NZ Herald, July 21) on the so-called wealth tax planned by the Greens.

Ardern agrees with this policy but will make it look like she was forced into it to keep Labour in power.

Given that NZ citizens on a 445 (temporary visa) in Australia only need to declare and pay tax on local income, I see a massive number of “wealthy” individuals just putting their assets offshore and moving to Australia.

Like France, the exit of capital will be huge and the tax will fail.

Alan Papert, Queenstown.

Put to flight

Our daughter booked my husband and I return tickets to Napier ($412) last May to look after our grandchildren. Then Covid happened. She got credits, then phoned and phoned, until yesterday. Today, the cost is $925 return. Amazing.

So, we are going by car and hope the Napier-Taupo road is open, to be at one of our granddaughters’ birthday.

J. McLean, Half Moon Bay.

Flaming waste

What is a WOFTAM? The polite definition is Waste Of Flaming Time And Money. Replacing the word — flaming — by another word which has the same first and last letters results in a not so polite version.

Ken Graham ( NZ Herald, July 20) has justifiably criticised the latest Auckland Council WOFTAM, namely spending a lot of money asking ratepayers whether they preferred a 3.5 per cent rates rise with some reductions in council services, or a 2.5 per cent rise with a severe reduction in services. Ratepayers, by a convincing margin, opted for 2.5 per cent rise, only for the council to ignore them and vote for 3.5 per cent.

The whole “consultation” exercise has turned out to be the latest WOFTAM. I predict it will be by no means the last.

Frugality is another “f” word , but one the council seems unaware of.

H. E. H. Perkins, Botany Downs.

Flood plains

My sympathies to the people of Moerewa and surrounds who have suffered unthinkable damage and discomfort from the recent flooding.

In my early days of travelling throughout the North in the early 1960s, any heavy rain would inevitably bring flooding in and between Moerewa and Kawakawa.

It seems nothing has changed in the past 60 years and I wonder why people continue to build houses and live there.

Dennis Ross, Glendowie.

Bible studies

Thanks for Simon Collins’ story ( NZ Herald, July 20) about me “slamming [a religious instruction survey] as biased”.

I do criticise a number of the survey’s questions, but I support its basic goals, to get rid of Bible in Schools, and Christian prayers in State school assemblies.

The features I was challenging were the survey’s emphasis on religious studies, which, if unchecked, would make schools a place where religions in general and Christianity in particular get more emphasis than they warrant in a secular society.

It would be crazy to get rid of the promotion of a single religion, and then replace it with a promotion of multiple religions (with a token measure of education about atheism). But I still want to be part of the survey process, so I and the Secular Education Network can make a contribution inside the consultation, rather than carping from the outside. David Hines, public relations officer, Secular Education Network.

Our new PM

In our midst is a man who undoubtedly knows everything there is to know about how to run the country.

Why don’t we appoint him, pay him $1 million per year?

The benefits? The glaringly obvious: saves millions for a general election and he just gets on with it.

His name? Simon Wilson.

Jim Radich, Red Beach.

Road to ruin

Simon Wilson stating that National is not on the “right road with costly options”’ in their infrastructure planning to get Auckland moving is predictable.

But he admits Labour has not “credibly articulated a progressive transport vision for the future”.

All the cycleways in the world will never solve Auckland’s gridlock. Or the gridlock of no vision and no action.

June Kearney, West Harbour.

Life on Mars

The editorial ( NZ Herald, July 17) states that it’s been 20 years since the discovery that water once flowed on Mars. This “discovery” (based on appearance of rocks in a fissure on Mars’ surface, photographed by a space capsule) cannot be classed as indisputable.

Water flowing in a stream on Mars implies necessarily a range of conditions approximating those on Earth. Namely, a cycle of evaporation/condensation/ precipitation from surface to atmosphere and back. This needs a favourable atmosphere whose components are neutral gases to an optimal altitude above the surface, with temperatures and pressures ranging within optimum limits.

Mars has a very thin atmosphere, thought to be mainly carbon dioxide. Here on Earth, the erosive effect of water on the land mass is well known. It cannot be known on Mars without actual observation, as conditions, not least gravitational pull, are very different. The surface temperature ranges on the Red Planet vary wildly from ours. It may well be that there’s water on Mars, but it’s axiomatic, “While water is essential to the existence of life, it is far from sufficient.”

Eion Field, Hamilton