Just what are ‘Kiwi values’?

Winston Peters’ exhortation begs the question; what are “Kiwi values”? Does Monday’s Herald give us clues?

A discussion of a rejected teacher pay offer. Why do we not support and even revere them for their value as guides for each new generation?

Peter Jackson’s reverential reconstruction of World War I footage to remind us we supported a fading empire 12,000 miles away — until it ended our “breadbasket of the UK” status in favour of Europe. Suddenly we needed Pacific rim and China trade like never before.

Alcohol and speeding caused an “horrific four-vehicle crash in Wiri”. Wellunderstood Kiwi values exhibited.

KiwiBuild projects are not new. The 1905 Workers Dwelling Act introduced public housing but by 1906 it was all over. Workers could not afford high rents asked by Government! Fast forward. A “difficult rebirth” developing in Glen Innes. Working-class residents uprooted in favour of new buyers and Tamaki river waterfront sections. Sound familiar?

I’ve barely scratched the surface of Winston’s Kiwi values; name-calling the National party “leaderless, vacuous and moribund”. Nigel Meek, Bayswater.

Left’s contradictions

Your anonymous correspondent of October 1 describes her experiences with alcohol-fuelled partying in 1968 in a US college environment. It is good that the police were called before anything tragic happened.

The question that “progressives” need to be asked, is what might their celebrated revolution of liberation and “free love” and a hookup culture (all the better to destroy traditional morality and the family); have had to do with the increased “danger of predatory men exploiting vulnerable young women”? In a culture where young people get mocked (and worse) for being virgins and “squares” and “inhibited”, especially if faith is involved?

This social environment was created by the progressive left. Good on your correspondent for being uncomfortable and surreptitiously tipping her alcoholic drink out; and good on whoever called the police. But thought-leaders of the progressive left at the time would have been disappointed at the thwarting of debauchery by “Victorian prudes”.

Judge Kavanaugh's diaries and yearbooks have been handed over as evidence. I wonder if his accusers’ diaries and yearbooks would tell us anything relevant about them?

The progressive left’s contradictions are breathtaking. Phil Hayward, Naenae.

Promise forgotten

So again the Government walks back a pre-election promise in finding that massive film industry subsidies that primarily find their way into the pockets of Hollywood moguls should be continued. However, it also found that innovative cancer treatments that would save hundreds of lives could not be funded through Pharmac because this might end up in US drug companies’ pockets. So much for a public health system and more kind and caring society.

Terence Collier, Wellington.

Facebook loses face

It appears that somewhere between 50 and 150 million Facebook account access tokens have been hacked. This seems to mean that your privacy settings may have been affected.

The thing that is puzzling is why? It would seem privacy is not so much a concern as most Facebook users want to be seen by as many people as much as possible. They may be happy that even more people can see their lovely and talented children and their deeply thought-out views on complex issues. Face it, Facebook has lost face again.

Dennis Fitzgerald, Box Hill, Vic.

PM marked harshly

Every week du Plessis-Allan must dig for something nasty to say about the Government and our PM. While the rest of the world's media is praising Jacinda, du Plessis-Allan is rating her just a six out of 10 for her efforts in New York, and added bitchy comments. Ardern has had an astonishingly brilliant week and brought great credit to our country on the global stage.

I give du Plessis-Allan one out of 10 and suggest she take a long holiday.

Bill Mathews, Auckland.

Voters pandered to

As it now appears a general capital gains tax will not solve the housing shortage, some of your correspondents are performing an Orwellian pivot. Now the capital gains are allegedly “income”. In fact, income is: “The revenue a business earns from selling its goods and services or the money an individual receives in compensation for his or her labour, services, or investments” (the latter meaning dividends or interest which are, of course, taxed).

The uncertainty of capital gains, the prospect of capital losses, and the distorting effect of inflation make such a tax costly to police, impractical, and unjust. Think of a government letting inflation rise, and — presto — the tax take will increase. If overseas shareholders are exempt, the tax take will be low. If they are not, the market will collapse when they are fleeing a draconian tax regime. The issue appeals to people who have no capital, and to Labour and Greens politicians who pander to their voters.

K. H. Peter Kammler, Warkworth.

Ardern’s words of hope

I am proud of our Prime Minister. Jacinda Ardern spoke with authority, sincerity, confidence and wisdom at the UN General Assembly. We have waited a long time for a leader to speak about kindness in front of such an audience.

A character trait which encompasses empathy and compassion and is selfless in its pursuit of the greater good. It was refreshing to see her speak positively about our country, without putting down any country or person. Words of hope and optimism for all. Steve Horne, Raglan.

Arguments tired, old

A recently published article had the unusual effect of prising some data from Auckland Transport (AT).

In defence of its reluctance to develop greater water ferry services, AT published the relative costs per passenger as rail ($6.24), bus ($4.71) and ferry ($7.63), so demonstrating that ferry provision was the most expensive and therefore unattractive.

Assuming these “costs” are variable and therefore sensitive to passenger volumes, one can predict that costs per ferry passenger will drop as passenger numbers grow. It is axiomatic that passenger numbers will be static without the provision of additional services.

AT statements are the tired old arguments previously used to resist further investment in rail services.

Owen Lockerbie, Newmarket.

Anomaly problem

In his regular Friday column, Brian Fallow notes the Tax Working Group has failed to address the remarkable absence of social security levies in New Zealand compared to other OECD countries.

In an op-ed published in the Herald some weeks ago on the impact of demographic ageing on our revenue system, I drew attention to this anomaly (alongside the imbalanced tax treatment of capital and property).

This anomaly means that insurable risks including pensions and health care are funded out of personal taxes, putting New Zealand towards the top of the tax table. It also means that, in an ageing population, the long-term future viability of the full funding of these schemes is in doubt.

In ACC and KiwiSaver we have embryonic schemes that could be steadily developed so that personal taxes could be correspondingly lowered and the public funding for pensions and health and social care can be safely secured. Peter Davis, Department of Statistics,

University of Auckland.

Morris Minor did job

All this complaining about the price of motor fuel. Meanwhile, the vehicles running around the roads get ever bigger, using more and more finite sources of energy and poisoning the atmosphere with carcinogenic pollution.

Why not try an ebike or electric car or perhaps public transport?

Many years ago a humble Morris Minor with an 850cc engine was considered a quite adequate family vehicle if lucky enough to own a car at all.

All the kids walked or cycled to school, shopping was done locally and people lived within reasonable distance of where they worked. Vince West, Milford.