NZEI attitude questioned

The Waikato Times on August 23 states that the NZEI attitude towards the Government’s Investing in Educational Success initiative is puzzling. It is much more than puzzling. It is one more example of the tragedy for our education system: the militancy of the teacher unions.

Both the PPTA and the NZEI are more focused on playing politics and scoring points off the government, rather than constructively trying to improve education outcomes.

The overwhelming rejection of the Government’s initiative by the NZEI is a typical example. The initiative is designed to improve the quality of teaching, a far more important factor than class size, and about which the unions constantly harp. It also points towards improving the professional status of teaching as a career, something sadly lacking at present and which is due largely to the militancy of the unions.

The NZEI claims the $360 million to be spent on the Government’s programme would be better spent on other things, but it offers no constructive alternative. At least the PPTA, rather surprisingly, is prepared to examine the scheme and see how it could be improved.

No matter what is proposed, the focus must be on the pupil’s education welfare and improved outcomes. The NZEI does its membership, our education system, and the pupils a disservice by engaging in politics rather than on how to improve the standard of teaching. VINCE ASHWORTH Morrinsville

Leaders debate

National Party supporters will be shocked at the downmarket performance of John Key in Thursday’s debate. While Cunliffe took up a stance like Wyatt Earp, Key looked like General Custer. He looked tired and lacklustre. He tried to talk the talk but it came out as platitudes and generalisations. His mouth said

INSANITY STREAK

yes but his eyes said ‘‘I surrender’’. Had Matthew Hooton already spoken to him? It certainly looked like Key was carrying the weight of Judith ‘‘Calamity Jane’’ Collins on his shoulders.

Where Cunliffe had new ideas Key had excuses. Where Cunliffe hit the bulls eye, Key was out of ammunition. This is not the Key of old. Is he already dreaming of Hawaii?

The PM knows what WikiLeak’s Julian Assange is going to say – Key has seen all the WikiLeaks and knows how damaging they are.

Will the second debate be the shootout at the OK corral?(Abridged) MIKE LEACH Hamilton

Bolger on book

Former Prime Minister Jim Bolger is widely respected for his many decades of public service. In your latest Panel Review (August 23), he dismisses the Hager book Dirty Politics as a stunt that will simply bore the public. I presume he has not actually read the book? If he did, I suspect he would be surprised and appalled at the methods used and the extent to which the Key government has deceived the public and abused its position of power. DAVID COY Hamilton

Election coverage

I’ve recently started to buy the Waikato Times because I am really interested in the upcoming election and the policies that each party is presenting.

In the past week there have been three articles in which the opinions of both Hamilton East and West Members of Parliament and various candidates have been presented; however, there has been no coverage or comments from our Hamilton East Labour candidate Dr Cliff Allen.

Dr Allen is a very well-respected local identity and having had experience as a farmer, a businessman and an university lecturer has an excellent understanding of the problems facing people in our local area. He always attends community events, runs public seminars to inform

Water worries

people about current issues and is currently the chairperson of the board of trustees of the Refugee Orientation Centre.

He is very well informed of the needs of the people in our electorate.

I am looking forward to seeing a more balanced and comprehensive coverage from all of our local politicians and what matters to them, so we in Hamilton and the Waikato can make an informed decision as to who to vote for. KYM LENIHAN Hamilton Editor’s note: The Waikato Times will be profiling the Hamilton East electorate and candidates in coming weeks. We were brought up to believe water is a free commodity – well no longer. Soon Waipa District Council residents will be charged for the ‘‘air’’ that we breathe – having meters installed on our arms!

Yes, it is fair to accept that we have to pay for the infrastructure and maintenance for the supply of water to your doorstep from its source.

However, if we were to consider meters, what is a fair price for water? Who sets the price and do we the ratepayers have a say on their installation? Is it fair to pay for the consumption of it?

Be mindful of the CCO (Council Co-joint Organisation) being sold to us, it is a precursor to privatisation of water in our district. Privatisation of water will give council a licence to print money by overcharging us (the ratepayers).

The best strategy to follow and to continue to do so for water conservation is the current ‘‘water alert’’ system from the Water Demand Conservation Policy. The ratepayers have saved 18 per cent, compared with the 15 per cent suggested by installing meters.

The proposed cost of $6.5 million to install meters would be better going towards the cost to build a new water treatment plant/ reservoir to supply water to Te Awamutu and the district. (Abridged) HAYDEN WOODS Te Awamutu

Rating changes

Recently I received information from Hamilton City Council regarding the proposed changes in the rating system. The leaflet stated that 50 per cent of residential ratepayers will go down (some older suburbs), while 50 per cent will go up (some newer suburbs).

I presumed that this meant that those with valuations below the median would pay less, those above would pay more. We live in an ‘‘older suburb’’ with a valuation at least $50,000 below the median – and yet the notice said that our rates would increase by about $30 each year for the next 10 years.

So I rang the phone number given, and the change was

WAIKATO TIMES - THE WAY WE WERE

Times

Waikato The metal supply is an ever-green topic with local bodies and the Waipa County Council gave the subject an early place in its deliberations at the monthly meeting yesterday at Ohaupo. The engineer said that the railway business was getting worse and just how the Council would be situated next summer, through lack of carriage facilities, he did not know. Cr. Livingstone said that he had made the utterance twice at public meetings in regard to the Newcastle Road Board’s prospects of supply that he did not think the Board could get metal for two years. explained. This apparently depends on the percentage that the Land Value (LV) is of the Capital Value (CV). If this percentage is below a certain percentage (about 40 per cent, I think he said), then there will be an increase, and a decrease if the percentage is higher. The amount of the increase/decrease each year, for the next 10, is a percentage of the 2104-15 CV, and depends on how much the property’s LV/CV per cent is below or above the median LV/CV per cent. (I think I’ve got that mostly right!)

Please, HCC, let’s have transparency for your ratepayers regarding how the calculations for the changes will be made – ‘‘50 per cent will go down/50 per cent will go up’’ doesn’t give the story, and only causes confusion and worry. NEAL UTTING Hamilton

Fluoride review

Concerns raised by those opposed to fluoridation are not supported by the scientific evidence. That is the clear message of the review just published by the Royal Society. This was a very thorough look at the scientific evidence on the safety and effectiveness of fluoridation, covering the specific concerns raised about potential harm such as cancer and IQ. It was carried out by a panel of independent experts who looked at original studies and other reviews, and was checked by three international scientists before release.

There has been a smokescreen of misleading information put out by the opponents of fluoridation under the guise of scientific credibility. The Royal Society review will be very helpful in this debate, particularly for councils when they consider fluoridation. It’s well worth reading. SELWYN JUNE Hamilton

Church focus

I was surprised to read the front page article titled ‘‘Church Sex Obsession’’ (July 21) in your paper.

You quoted an ex-vicar of the Anglican church saying that the church’s agenda in the last two decades was heavily focused on Because the South Auckland Education Board wants a delay in the introduction of three-year training courses for primary school teachers some other education board should be given the opportunity to show leadership, according to the Waikato branch of the New Zealand Education Institute. The branch met to discuss the South Auckland Education Board’s attitude to the three-year course and the meeting passed three resolutions objecting to its statements being labelled ‘‘irresponsible’’ by the chairman of the South Auckland Education Board, Mr R. H. Thomas. homosexuality like it was obsessed with the subject. I don’t think so.

Personally I feel that for a long time we have been critical of a group of people who were born that way due to no fault of theirs according to science and whom Jesus has never criticised. Can someone show me a single instance in the Bible where Jesus has criticised homosexuality in so many words? I will stand corrected.

Also when several governments including our own have changed their laws and approve of same sex marriage, the Anglican church was forced to rethink its stand.

I have been an Anglican for decades and I have been to Anglican services in several countries. And most certainly the subject of homosexuality was rarely a very important subject. No-one was obsessed with the subject. DILIP M KURIEN Hamilton

Joke comment

Winston Peters is in trouble again for his old joke about the Chinese. If his joke had been about a Scotsman being tight, the Irish being thick or any joke at all about the Poms or the Australians noone would have batted an eyelid. J KEMP Hamilton Reported burglaries, thefts and unlawfully taking of cars in Hamilton may be dropping because of more community-based policing, the city’s senior police officer says. However, reported dishonesty crimes was the only category to show a drop in the latest crime figures from July last year to June this year for the Hamilton district, including Cambridge and Raglan. Hamilton’s eight per cent drop goes against the 2.6 per cent rise in reported dishonesty crimes nationally, and carries on from a trend over the last couple of years, Superintendent Les Barber said.