Consulting the faithful
In December Mike Yardley wrote an opinion piece about the Catholic Cathedral (Welcome change of heart on cathedral, Dec 12, 2023) in which he said he had asked the previous bishop, Paul Martin, if he would consult Catholics on his plan for the Armagh St site.
The bishop rejected the idea as being too much like a government relying on referendums.
A new bishop, a new approach. Bishop Michael Gielen, while expressing a preference for Barbadoes St, provided a detailed information brochure showing the size of each of the three possible sites and the advantages and disadvantages of each, and asked the people to think and pray about it for four months and fill out a survey.
As a result, Catholics engaged not only their hearts (the history of, and emotional attachment to, the Barbadoes St site), but also their minds. It was pretty obvious to the majority which site was the most practical and affordable.
I might also add that the engineering experts have said the land at Barbadoes St is good to build on and that in itself is a huge factor. Pictures taken of the interior of the cathedral after the February 2011 quake showed the chairs were mostly still standing in straight rows, and even I, as a non-engineer, thought that looked like a positive thing.
We’ve had years to see that rebuilding, or building, on a drained swamp is immensely costly and full of unforeseen obstacles.
Alison Hale, Somerfield
Anzac for migrants
As one gets older, one gets a deeper significance towards the brave men and women who went to war to make us the free country we are today. Some gave their lives, others returned home. It is indeed heartening to see more and more young people at Anzac Day commemorations throughout our country recognising this.
Maybe next year it could be time for all our new migrants to step up and join all of us in remembering those who ensured our country was free, not just for us Kiwis but for others living here. We have citizens from over 40 countries (and possibly more) living here and it would be wonderful if small groups from every nation could attend Anzac celebrations, each group carrying their own home country flag, for they also, I am sure, are grateful for what our forefathers left them as well, a place to live - New Zealand. Brian S Keeley, Sumner
Councils and consents
If I were Eric Crampton I wouldn’t hold my breath (Allowing competition in building consents will help make houses more affordable, April 24).
In the days when Maurice Williamson was Minister of Building and Construction, I wrote suggesting an alternative authority issuing building consents might help reduce the horrendous costs and delays evident for some time.
I was pleased to have a positive response advising the government was proposing that the Housing Corp be considered as an alternative. You can imagine how the tail wagged the dog when that suggestion was, presumably, promoted by a minister. Buried forever, obviously.
The law on councils’ responsibility has been common law now for some time and presumably unchallenged. My experience of councils bearing this responsibility is based on eight years as a mediator under leaky homes legislation.
One major council dealt directly with the claimants in an attempt to put right the wrongs. The majority, in my experience, didn’t attend, represented by their insurance companies’ legal representatives.
The tactics they employed were the result of a seriously flawed decision to forbid, in the statute, the right to seek costs. Claimants felt compelled to accept unsatisfactory outcomes as a result. In fact, one claimant a couple of years ago told me he had never been paid.
I consider that home builders, having paid these outrageous fees, can expect some certainty from the council. The right to charge on a “recovery of costs” basis has some obligation and councils should honour it.
Anthony W Finnigan, Nelson
Why have them?
Eric Crampton’s opinion piece prompted me to question why we need building consents, inspections and compliance certificates.
Competition may help to lower building costs but much greater savings are possible by scrapping the local government building consent, inspection and approval bureaucracy.
It is the builder who should be responsible for ensuring the structure is code-compliant and has insurance to cover any deficiency discovered during a warranty period. No different to buying a new car. Electricians, plumbers and drainlayers don’t have to obtain consent for their work, their trade qualification is sufficient to expect code-compliant workmanship.
Why should ratepayers have to fork out compensation for defective workmanship not identified by a building inspector, who incidentally is no better qualified than the builder, when the ratepayer has absolutely no interest in or responsibility for the structure being built? Stuart McKinlay, Lincoln
Back on track
We were asked recently to make submissions on the fast-track legislation. This new fast track is what big business people want. They want nature as a commodity and they want to sell it. They want cash and they want it now, no, yesterday. They will steal from future generations, because time is money and money talks louder than their grandchildren.
This submission is to stop a process that wants to do away with submissions. So will they laugh at our submissions? Probably, definitely yes.
This fast track is mostly for coal mines, because Christopher Luxon knows this will be popular somewhere but will be unpopular everywhere else.
So he is happy to let Shane Jones front it. Mr Jones does not mind being shamed for doing this to our climate because Mr Jones does not know what shame is. Mr Luxon is very pleased with how this has worked out. He is getting this country back on track, the fast track to the biodiversity and climate crisis.
Chris, you are a hero. I am sick of nature too. It gives me mild asthma sometimes. Ben Lowe, Halswell
Boomer not OK
The term Baby Boomer has become a way to denigrate all the people born soon after World War II. It is equivalent to the derisive labels used to denigrate people by race, colour, gender or country of origin.
Labels prevent us from seeing the tints, hues and sparkles of a group of people who are intrinsically diverse. Each of us brings our own unique wisdom and foibles.
Labels lead us away from discussion and agreement, to squabbling and nursing hurt feelings. Labelling the generations leads us towards generational camps, at a time when we desperately need all the wisdom that comes from all of us.
I have skills, knowledge and wisdom from my grandparents and through me, these flow seamlessly onto the next generations. Equally, skills, knowledge and wisdom of grandchildren flow back along the generations. Let us see life as a seamless, diverse flow.
Mary Tingey, Whangarei
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