Auckland Mayor Wayne Brown says expensive cycle lanes are not a good investment. Photo / Alex Burton
I was surprised to read that Chloe Swarbrick and Wayne Brown have agreed to work together to see the harbor car operation moved from Bledisloe Wharf, as neither has the slightest idea where it should be.
go. Any move to Northport for example will take longer than their political mandates as a new MPI/customs area will need to be built as well as appropriate RORO (roll on, roll off) facilities and KiwiRail will need to be funded to build specialists. cars and purchase additional locomotives, unless hundreds of trucks are to ply the route from the port to Auckland, adding to, not reducing, emissions and road damage. I believe Wayne Brown has spoken to KiwiRail about securing land to provide a rail terminal in Auckland so vehicles can be unloaded until final delivery. These two have made no suggestion as to who will foot the bill.
Gavin Baker, Auckland
Do the math on New North Rd
Three thousand houses in a small area with an average of three people living in each = 9000 x average x 2 cars = 18000 vehicles trying to park and trying to access Great North Rd from Carrington Rd. New North Rd = Chaos.
Alan Gray, Auckland
Reduce road user charges
The high cost of diesel increases transportation costs, which fuels inflation. Perhaps now would be a good time to scrap road user charges. The drop in revenue would give Auckland Transport an excuse not to fix the potholes.
Chris Elias, Mission Bay
High praise for Letele’s plea for crime to help the food bank
Former boxer Dave Letele runs the Brown Buttabean food bank in Manukau, which was robbed of at least $10,000 worth of produce.
How I admire Dave Letele, who asked the police if the person arrested for robbing his food bank could do his community service by working at the food bank.
The Ministry of Justice could learn a lot from him.
Margaret Neill, Matamata
Farmers will cope
I don’t know what planet Paula Bennett and Heather du Plessis-Allan were on when the news of the farmers’ climate tax was announced. Paula opens up about meat and dairy becoming unaffordable. Hello? These products have been unaffordable for a very long time, and red meat is now a luxury along with cheese and butter for low-income families. I think Paula is overpaid. And as for Heather, as long as she has anything to do with Labour, she’s going to hit her with a big stick. They forget that a group of farmers agreed with the government’s decision. They’ll cope, they’re supposed to be resourceful Kiwis. Who said they have to plant pines, they can plant walnuts or fruit trees, etc.
Tom O’Toole, Taumarunui
Forget planning, act now
John Mackintosh (Letters, October 16) may be right that our contribution to global warming is practically insignificant, but what about the local impact? What about the practice of cutting down trees next to waterways to expand pasture/paddock growth, which allows animals to walk up to and sometimes into waterways where they defecate? The Waikato River is a dairy wasteland and Canterbury’s groundwater is no better. I don’t care about the rest of the planet right now. I want clean rivers to swim in and coastal shellfish that I can safely eat. We don’t need a plan to prepare for change, we need to change now and it needs to be local.
J McCormick, Gisborne
World leaders? Great work
So our leader says we will lead the world in reducing our methane emissions. Great work. I can assure Jacinda Ardern that the world simply doesn’t give a damn. Most of us don’t even know who we are or even where we are. Only our farmers care because they will have to pay for it. And I care because my food will soon cost more. And because of our small global carbon footprint, these new taxes on our farmers will achieve nothing.
Michael Walker, Blockhouse Bay
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Watch TV Jacinda, it’s golden
If you ever needed proof that NZ is wasting its time trying to be environmentally friendly, just watch TV3’s Gold Rush, which is about Americans and Canadians destroying the environment for a few grams of gold. Just look at how they destroy the landscape and the massive carbon footprint they create with all the huge machines they drive to scour the landscape for literally a few pieces of gold. Jacinda and all climate change freaks should watch this program to see how the big nations are totally ignoring them.
Jock MacVicar, Hauraki
The season of smoke and mirrors
In parliament on Tuesday, Brooke van Velden, Act’s deputy leader, instigated an emergency debate on the state of hospital care in NZ, sparked by the Middlemore Hospital report.
Despite the March 2020 warning of Italian hospitals not being able to help Covid patients, her party has always advocated open borders; the transtasman bubble kerfuffle that brought Delta well into December 2021 despite Omicron taking off in November. Her priestess concern is now finally appreciated. A recent death was all it took to convince her to finally be incredibly concerned about the underfunding and undervaluation of A&E doctors. It must be the election year. Political baiting, duplicitous concern and the season of smoke and mirrors is back.
Steve Russell, Hillcrest
Copy that, here’s an idea
Crime is rampant. Murders too. Domestic violence has never been practiced with more enthusiasm. Ram raids are the latest craze among 11- to 15-year-olds. Sexual abuse is recorded and not addressed at the national level. Break-ins are answered, sometimes. May be. And then there are road crimes that need to be controlled. Speeding and driving under the influence of alcohol/drugs. And using your cell phone while driving is a universal pastime. The police have a lot on their plate. Too much, maybe? Here’s an idea. Why not have a separate police force (we could call them ‘traffic officers’) to deal with traffic – so the police can concentrate on real crime? oh wait We had them once, didn’t we? The national government abolished them in 1992 to “cut unnecessary spending”, in Ruth Richardson’s pitiless Mother of All Budgets.
Clyde Scott, Birkenhead
Fergies top tractors Remuera
Farmers arriving at the Beehive in mega-Remuera tractors, which farmers say cost $1,200 to fill up in protest of the government’s climate change initiative, is not a convincing way to cry poor. Rusty pre-war Fergusons might have been a better way to sway the public to their cause.
Gary Hollis, Mellons Bay
