Frame this big issue positively
Councillor Victoria Henstock believes climate change shouldn’t be first on the list of city priorities because it’s “a divisive topic” (’Shameful’ rates rise mooted ,Feb 28).
Acting to prevent the Port Hills from burning every summer is not divisive. Neither is it divisive to ensure tree canopy coverage keeps footpath temperatures in the city below 40C every hot day in summer.
And it’s certainly not divisive to prevent regular flooding when sea level rise forces up the city’s water table.
Tackling climate change is not divisive. Maybe Cr Henstock just needs to frame it less divisively.
Ashley Campbell, Linwood
Please explain
I would like Cr Henstock please to explain why climate change shouldn’t be first on the list of city priorities (Feb 28).
We have an obligation to reduce our emissions given Christchurch ranks high (globally) on vehicle transport/carbon emissions. Add to this loss of land and habitat, due to both poor environmental planning in housing developments and poor water quality.
Our planners and policy-makers need to include the aforementioned in every aspect of policy and planning consent.
For the future of today’s children and grandchildren, act now.
We have told you. Listen.
We are decades behind on connecting planning cities and rural areas to climate change.
I am aghast at the unabated urban sprawl to semi-rural and rural areas. More vehicles are thus needed and a vicious circle of dependency grows. ClaireCoveney,Opawa
Mesmerised by Opotiki
Few of us would have shed a tear at the sight of the Comancheros’ bikes being crushed (Comancheros gang’s bikes turned into scrap metal, Feb 26).
I hope it caused the Minister of Police to ask where the money came from for such expensive toys. We all know it didn’t come from the sale of gang patches. Could the minister be too mesmerised by one noisy, but otherwise harmless, funeral in Opotiki to see the real danger of gangs.
Gangs in Aotearoa, like the mafia and cartels, are criminal empires made rich from the sale of illicit drugs and other illegal pursuits. It is this activity which menaces society, not what clothes the gangs wear.
I’m sure the police would rather have more resources to crack the gangs’ money supply than to be bothered by enforcing an alchemical law about their dress. Bruce Morrison, St Albans
No moral authority
Consigning 8000 children to an early grave through smoking-related diseases, winding back gun laws, increasing speed limits, cutting back on school rebuilds and maintenance, reducing essential government services (Customs and immigration being the most glaring) and let’s not forget good old-fashioned beneficiary-bashing with blatant racist policy.
The above is just an example of why this coalition Government has no moral authority to govern.
Is there anything Luxon won’t do for a tax cut?
When we are faced with unjust laws and policy, we all have a responsibility to push back against bad Governments.
Phil Yarrall and Amanda Stephens, Linwood
Binary choice
I was surprised to learn from a recent TV1 poll that 48% responded positively to the question “How well do you understand the principles of the Treaty of Waitangi?”
Surprised, because having read three articles published by LawNews last October, I can only say I have some understanding. Certainly not “very well” 12% of respondents - and not even “well” - 36%.
There is no solid consensus on what these principles are, despite the ample journalistic and academic commentary.
It's impossible to distil the complexities of the principles of te Tiriti by way of a referendum.
A referendum is a binary choice that can’t possibly encompass any subtlety or nuance and will be open to misinformation and disinformation.
To suggest, as ACT does, that the principles underpinning te Tiriti can be determined by way of a referendum is disingenuous, manipulative and divisive in the extreme.
Graeme Eng, Halswell
Happy confirmation
Virginia Fallon’s column (Grandparents: it’s in the name, Feb 29) mirrors a couple of sentences by Henning Mankell in his 2012 book “A Troubled Man”.
He writes: “Children are one thing but grandchildren are even more meaningful; they are the ultimate fulfilment.
“Children give us the feeling that our existence has been meaningful but grandchildren are the confirmation of that.”
John Reilly (A happy grandfather), Christchurch Central