Numbers don’t seem to add up
The Prime Minister tells councils to stick to the basics, not to the wellbeing of their communities. And if they don’t, they will be in trouble. His Government is cutting funding to providers who support the poor and disabled.
Who fills the gaping hole? That’s right – the charities and the churches who care. Groups like our precious Christchurch City Mission.
Donations to charities are down as people hurt and power prices increase. But the scrooges in the Government are considering taxing charities.
Is it just me, or does this not add up? Angela McPherson, Merivale
What we expect
Luxon sayeth to councils: - “Ratepayers expect local government to do the basics and to do the basics brilliantly. Pick up the rubbish. Fix the pipes. Fill in potholes. And more generally, maintain local assets quickly, carefully, and costeffectively.”
Let’s rephrase that to “Taxpayers expect central government to do the basics and to do the basics brilliantly. Educate our children. Keep our people healthy. Make sure the lights stay on. Put a roof over our heads. And more generally, maintain assets quickly, carefully, and cost-effectively.”
Steve Cox, St Albans
Lunch limit
David Seymour’s proposal for a $3 limit on school lunches should also include a proposal that Bellamy’s restaurant provide meals at the same cost for politicians.
Professor Te Morenga’s column (Selling lunches to the lowest bidder,
Aug 19) exposed the mean-spirited logic of ACT and finishes with the old but current adage, “It takes a village to raise a child”, meaning that full community involvement is essential to bringing up healthy, well-fed, well educated children in contrast to ACT’s survival of the fittest ideology where child rearing is left to unsupported hard-working Kiwi parents doing it tough while struggling to put good food on the table
Under this kind of sink or swim philosophy, many Kiwi children will not thrive...
Even in that most capitalist of countries, the USA, Vice Presidential candidate Tim Waltz, as Governor of Minnesota, signed off not only free lunches for school children but free breakfasts as well, reaffirming President Truman’s National School Lunch Act of 1946.
Every childcare worker in New
Zealand who has seen the nourishing benefits of our current school lunch programme knows it takes a village to bring up children, but it only takes one mean-spirited, well-fed politician to bring them down again.
Rod Lewis, Sumner
Myth of competition
Discussing the Commerce Commission’s recommendation for more competition in the banking sector, Luke Malpass opined that “More competition is always good” (The curious case of National’s bank-bashing, Aug 24).
Deliberately or inadvertently, he perpetuated the myth of competition worshipped by free-marketers. A myth eloquently and surgically pierced by Rob Campbell (We don’t have competition, or the market structure to encourage it, Aug 23).
Myths are quite durable. But they are not impenetrable and often dissipate when interrogated by reason and science. Some, of course, are entertaining or harmless.
Nevertheless, the myth of the sanctity of competition is far from harmless. It disguises oligopolies. Responsible politicians and community leaders need to confront oligarchs and heed Campbell’s call to “disrupt their market power… and stay really vigilant”. Bruce Morrison, St Albans
Doctor shortage
Why train more doctors when one in three swan off overseas within 10 years to maximise their wealth and lifestyle?
It’s like continuing to fill a bucket with a gaping hole at the bottom.
And why even consider building a third medical school for $380 million to train 120 doctors per year when we are short 1700 right now?
When taxpayers’ contribution is $275,000 per graduate we might as well buy doctors from overseas with a $275,000 carrot and get 1400 right now for the cost of that medical school.
But for our Government’s lamentable largesse to landlords of $2.8 billion, the doctor shortage would have been solved six times over had if not caved to ACT to get ephemeral power.
John Waldron, St Albans
Comment of the day
The story ‘Impossible’ to cut health spending without affecting frontline services - union drew this online comment from Mikew10:
It’s an oxymoron thinking you can improve services by reducing staff and funding. As an older person I have seen this tried several times in the dairy industry where I was involved for most of my life. Fonterra is no more efficient or effective by not spending money. They became more productive per person with the advancement in processing technology but they still return less to the shareholders relative to 50 years ago. Unfortunately for Dr Reti and the Commissioner they are not dealing with bags of milk powder or blocks of cheese.They need to take a good hard look at themselves and realise that the people they are charged with protecting need people to protect them. Those protectors will not be found by across the board funding cuts or cutely disingenuous words. Get off your bums and recruit the needed people, please.