Letters: The real local council priorities; sad state of energy supply

Reminder, this is a Premium article and requires a subscription to read.
“It is unfortunate that the dominant tower in the city is the casino tower,” a reader writes. Photo / Andrea Izzotti
Council priorities in a scattered city
The attack on the priorities for funding of local councils shows a severe lack of understanding of the roles councils carry in local government.

Their
essential role is to ensure that cities, for example, are able to provide a quality of life so their citizens can flourish. This includes the style and quality of buildings, fostering the cultural diversity present in every city and ensuring that the vulnerable and marginalised are secure and supported.

Auckland has a range of priorities to fulfil to ensure that it continues to be a vibrant city. It is unfortunate that the dominant tower in the city is the casino tower. This distorts the visible strengths the city has.
The city has always supported cultural groups such as its orchestras and must be seen to continue to do so. While the housing stock remains under severe pressure, the city has to have a care for effective policy for those worst affected.
Auckland is one of the most widely scattered cities in the world. It is therefore not responsible for the Minister of Housing to suggest further expansion on its outermost fringes. That simply suggests that he has not done any serious thinking on the dynamics of vibrant cities.
When the Prime Minister dismisses essential roles as “fantasy projects”, he is doing a severe disservice to the need for sustained policy development on what is required in ensuring a modern city with a distinctive style and effectiveness.
Graeme Ferguson, Henderson.
Sad state of affairs
Correspondent Paul Cheshire correctly identifies where a significant amount of the profits we generate as a country go (NZ Herald, August 26).
We send these to our Aussie cousins, some overseas investors and a few wealthy Kiwis. He also notes New Zealand used to be one of the wealthiest countries in the world and then asks, what happened?
Well, Sir Roger Douglas conflated ownership with efficiency and sold off many of our most valuable assets for a few pieces of silver. We chose short-term gain over long-term pain. Max Bradford completed this process by selling most of the electricity system, effectively destroying one of New Zealand’s most important competitive advantages – low-cost energy.
We chose to elect politicians who promoted popular policies rather than what was best for New Zealand, purely for their own electoral advantage. We continue to do this, as demonstrated in our most recent election.
It is all very sad.
Eddie Mann, Remuera.
Gaslighting Government
The current Government is gaslighting us, again.
There is consented renewable electricity generation that has not been constructed. This is partially due to the electricity generators being required to provide a good level of dividend to progressive governments and private investors.
The current system, set up by Sir John Key’s Government, has failed because electricity supply in a nation like Aotearoa is a natural monopoly, like roading. The market has failed to deliver security of supply at a reasonable cost.
Setting up gas supply for generation is not the quickest way to produce more security of supply and will increase emissions that we will pay for both environmentally and financially after 2030 (NZ Herald, August 27). The Government is studiously ignoring these coming costs.
Solar panels can be installed quickly and efficiently as solar farms and distributed on our roofing network. Consented renewables should be constructed forthwith. Battery farms can store electricity for the peaks. Our best long-term batteries are our hydro lakes, preferably without the expensive Lake Onslow scheme.
Jeanette MacDonald, Māngere Bridge.
System flunking
At the end of 2023, one in every six of our school leavers left school without even NCEA level 1; for our Māori rangatahi, it was close to one in three. In total, that is close to 11,000 individual young people.
These figures have changed little for decades. The Ministry of Education, responsible for supporting teachers and schools, has failed. The Education Review Office, which talks about improving learning as a key purpose of its existence, has failed. Successive Governments and their political solutions have failed. The problem will not be solved by a new curriculum, more assessment and different ways of teaching.
These appalling statistics, and the lost life opportunities they represent for so many of our young people, will not change unless there is recognition that the system itself, designed for the world of the late 19th century, is no longer appropriate to the world of 2023.
David Hood, Hamilton.
Chipping in
Jacinda Ardern (and her Government) sent the New Zealand economy into a downward spiral. That took six years and she got a damehood for it.
After more than 10 years at or near the top of world women’s golf, Lydia Ko is still waiting for hers.
The New Year’s Honours list is too far away. After her most recent wins, Lydia deserves it now.
Graham Fleetwood, Tauranga.
Reminder, this is a Premium article and requires a subscription to read.