‘Experts’ in a bubble of ignorance

Once again, our epidemiology “experts” — politicians and journalists alike — have embarrassed themselves.

Just days after their chorus of moans about our border remaining closed, there is a Covid-19 outbreak in Brisbane, and the city has been locked down. New South Wales, Western Australia and South Australia have closed their Queensland borders.

Here in New Zealand, 11 new cases have arrived, many of them with evidence of negative Covid-19 tests taken just prior to boarding. Ten of the cases came from the same flight.

It’s past time for those “experts” to pull their heads in and leave it to the real epidemiologists who have produced the best possible science, and to the Labour Government for following that science and keeping us safe.

Gerry Beckingsale, Torbay.

Online thieves

This weekend I had almost $600 stolen from my credit card. The money was taken out in five steps. Two organisations were involved one was Epoch*Techniuslt Epoch.Com.Gb the other was Echst.Net 866-452-5108 Us.

I have never purchased from these organisations and have no idea who they are.

I rang my bank, ANZ, straight away and had my card blocked, however once the transaction has been made, even though it had not been processed, my bank is unable to stop the payment.

Once the payment has been processed, the bank will look into it and see if they can trace it back to its source.

After making several calls to the bank I have been told that no online credit card payments are 100 per cent safe. If the people you are dealing with hold on to your details, they can be hacked.

The bank staff also advised me to check my banking every day to make sure my accounts haven’t been hacked — how worrying is that?

I have now cancelled my credit card and do not intend to get another one.

I have reported the theft to the police.

Sue Bentley, Pakuranga.

Diminished investment

Whether or not you pity landlords caught out by the new housing legislation, let’s take emotion and envy out of the equation and look at the issues logically.

If an investor buys a house for $1m, and she borrows $600,000, then her annual interest bill will be around $21,000. Let’s assume other expenses such as rates, insurance and maintenance come in at $5000, and she is receiving $30,000 in rent. She has made a profit of around $4000 and she will pay approximately $1300 of that in tax.

Under the new rules, she can’t claim interest as an expense, so her assessed profit will now be $25,000, and she will pay tax of around $8000. The outgoings on the house are now $21,000 + $5000 + $8000 = $34,000, against an income of $30,000.

Some investors would be happy with that, relying on capital gain to make up the difference. But for many, they just won’t be able to afford the extra outgoings. They will either raise the rent to cover the shortfall or sell up.

Neither outcome is good for tenants.

Eric Wolters, Tauranga.

Into section

In 1957, my then-to-be wife bought a 1/5th acre (809 square metre) section in what was then Waikowhai for £800. Her brother, who was a builder, drew up the plans for our new house and we contacted a builder we knew to give us a price — £3000.

After contacting State Advances we got a loan for 30 years and the builders started on what has been our home for 64 years.

Over time we were able to furnish it and add to it as our family grew and now, with today’s housing price valuations, it is a whopping $1.8m.

My advice to young people today is to save up, buy a section, get a loan and build your own nest, which will last you all your lives.

David Cave, Hillsborough.

Going . . . going

It does seem so unfair that youngsters can’t get “a look in the door” with buying a house. My niece has been to five auctions and come away unsuccessful.

A common practice has been that someone makes a starting bid of $900,000 which then sets the pace for the property going well over a million, even when the CV is in the $800,000s.

I agree with other recent talk that auctions should be banned, and an expected price be advertised, so that all this greed is knocked on the head. Is the first bidder a genuine buyer, or a “plant”?

This is not the way the New Zealand dream is realised.

Margaret Dyer, Taupo¯.

Building confidence

After reading ( NZ Herald, March 29) of yet another apartment block that is leaking, and or not up to scratch, I suggest that new laws be introduced for developers of an apartment block, or six units or more that are joined together.

Firstly, the developer must enter into a new joint business venture, together, with a new business division of the city council, the architect and the builder. The business will be the number and name of the street Ltd, each having a 25 per cent share. ie, 123 Beach Rd, Papatoetoe Limited.

Secondly, the company cannot be wound up for at least 20 years.

The new company must pay insurance for next 20 years covering, faulty workmanship, labour, design and approval of such a bad design to cover any major repairs that may be found in the following 20 years.

This way, all parties involved in creating this faulty/leaky monster of a building are financially liable for at least 20 years.

This would then give prospective purchasers comfort that they will not have to foot a $400K + repair bill in the future.

Warren Prouse, Papakura.

Chronic neglect

Has anyone else spotted that “long Covid” is obviously the same thing as Chronic

Fatigue Syndrome, ME, the Tapanui Flu, etc? “Post viral” syndromes have been around forever, just not paid much attention. If medical science had already resolved these things, we’d be doing the right thing for “long Covid” sufferers as a matter of routine.

Phil Hayward, Naenae.

One authority

At present most district health boards are operating at a deficit due to lack of government funding, and hospital waiting lists have increased by 90 days to 330 days (for non-urgent elective surgery). A proposal also exists for waiting lists to be abandoned, and replaced by a booking system for non-urgent surgery, with many patients simply referred back to their GP.

Despite this background, in the next few weeks the Cabinet will consider a proposal to fund a separate Ma¯ori Health Authority at a cost of $5 billion. The Government should remember that many groups in NZ have special needs, including the Asian and Pacific communities and the elderly.

Therefore there should be only one central point of decision in each region to consider the relative merits of each individual’s need for surgery in order to maintain fairness of approach.

Jeremy Kay, Patumahoe.

Limiting access

Is the real reason for the restrictions on all North Shore road access to the harbour bridge — apart from dissuading personal car use — to choke traffic before it hits the bridge thereby allowing traffic on the bridge to continue moving more freely?

From Constellation Drive down to the bridge, stationary or slow-moving traffic places greater strain on the already creaking structure. The ridiculous number of cameras being installed in Onewa Rd is purely extra revenuegathering.

James Archibald, Birkenhead.

Shaken seasons

Japan’s 2011 earthquake shifted the earth’s axis an estimated 10 to 25cm, increased the rotational speed of the earth by 1.8 microseconds per day and caused fewer days of sunlight in the northern hemisphere as more of its area pointed further away from the sun.

Here in New Zealand having 80 years of experiencing the seasons, I swear summer has shifted in that time from January to March with cold temperatures now experienced until the end of December and here at the end of March in Auckland we are still experiencing temperatures of 24 to 28 degrees. Gary Hollis, Mellons Bay.