We need to protect our assets — all of them
I am confused by New Zealand First’s position on asset sales.
Winston Peters, like many of us, opposes selling assets created by the hard work of our forefathers. But is this a complete definition of an asset?
Surely the Central Otago landscape and its potential for recreation is also an asset. As are the food and wine-producing capacity of its soil and climate, and the gold that lies beneath it. Accordingly, one would imagine that the effects on our other assets of selling the gold to overseas investors should be weighed very carefully.
But instead, Santana wants the whole process to be done and dusted in 30 days under Shane Jones’s fast-track legislation. The horrifying map showing mining consents in Otago (ODT 14.1.26) makes it clear that if gold prices remain high, the huge Bendigo mine application will probably be the first of many, be precedent-setting and thus destroy what’s left of the natural wonder of inland Otago forever. The fast-track process means that the only voice we will have over which assets we sell will be our votes.
So, can New Zealand First clarify its position on selling assets, and its rationale for defining just what an asset is?
ACC and alternatives
The article about ACC and overseas visitors (ODT 14.1.26) will inevitably lead to a chorus of people saying that tourists should not be covered by ACC at taxpayers' expense.
In fact, the alternative would cost most Kiwis more.
ACC comes with the loss of the right to sue. If tourists were unable to claim, they would sue — and in doing so, would add on costs that they cannot get from ACC. ACC does not pay weekly compensation based on overseas earnings and does not pay for any treatment or rehabilitation overseas.
Imagine a young American professional sustaining a head injury requiring 24/7 care. The cost of a lifetime of lost earnings, support in the home, treatment, transport and so on would be many millions, but ACC stops paying as soon as they get on the plane home. Consequently, businesses, car owners and others would need insurance against the possibility of injuring a tourist.
Be grateful that the architects of ACC had the foresight to include visitors.
We all need to stand up to aggressors
After the Munich agreement in 1938 where France and Britain ceded territory, Hitler occupied the rest of Czechoslovakia in March 1939.
Appeasement did not work then, and contributed to the start of World War 2.
In Feb 2014 Putin invaded and took control of Crimea. Few in the world reacted very much.
In February 2022, Putin invaded Ukraine. Did he do this because the rest of the world reacted so little to the previous invasion and he thought the rest of Ukraine would be easy like Crimea?
The world in general reacted to this invasion. Appeasement did not work.
In February 2026, Trump kidnapped the head of state of Venezuela.
Where was the outcry from our government and from most of the rest of world leaders?
This was "easy" with so little world reaction that it must be easy to take Greenland, Panama or other countries with valuables.
Appeasement does not work with people like Hitler, Putin and Trump.
New Zealand and world leaders need to stand up.
Address Letters to the Editor to: Otago Daily Times, PO Box 517, 52-56 Lower Stuart St, Dunedin. Email: letters@odt.co.nz
