Three years of kindy not what city needs
God forbid, but is the Dunedin public in for another three years of the same kindergarten-type behaviour from our newly elected city councillors?
Already several of them are displaying the most immature, self-entitled conduct over who gets what and taking personal swipes at each other. To cite Andrew Simms as a classic example, no sooner than elected on to council he then throws verbal tantrums at not being recognised for his "business acumen". Mr Simms well may be a prominent figure in the motor vehicle industry but actually he is yet to prove his expertise on council matters. I would suggest that Mr Simms may be ego driven and not much else, but I could be proved wrong.
Also, the belittling questioning from Cr Vandervis on Cr Benedict Ong’s credentials is quite offensive and insulting to Mr Ong.
There has to be a cessation of all of the public scraps from councillors and a resolve to get on with doing what they were elected for.
Enormous ‘investment’
The ORC’s Michael Laws, usually ahead of the play, is way too late spending time and money reviewing strategic direction and ideologies for a regional council (ODT 1.12.25) that chairwoman Hilary Calvert accepts "will be set to disappear in two years".
As a businesswoman, Calvert must also know it would be much less costly and less disruptive for the ORC to remain in their existing offices and complete their new headquarters as new rentable commercial office space next year, rather than briefly moving the ORC into it. This would give ratepayers an immediate rental return on the enormous Maclaggan St "investment" and save the costs of transferring all the staff, office equipment and custom communications installations to the new ORC headquarters.
Greeks, gifts
I am afraid Mike Palin (ODT 6.12.25), misses the point with regard to the Santana Mine project.
He derides lifestyle blocks and vineyards, probably because, like me, he has no prospect of ever owning either; but succumbs, I feel, to the usual myopic view that such things must necessarily be infinite in time.
Were he to widen his focus and take a longer-term view, he might realise that these activities, which as he sees it favour a privileged few, are superficial in their impacts upon landscapes and do not leave permanent scars.
Opencast mining in the much-lauded Australian Broken Hill tradition certainly does just that and so has earned itself notoriety in many parts of the world for upping stakes and moving on without as much as a backward glance, when the ore, coal or whatever had given out, despite effusive undertakings of promised mitigation beforehand. On such thinking has Australia’s prosperity been built.
On a depressingly regular basis, somewhere in the wake of such operations, another containing dam has been breached, submerging yet another insignificant small community with no legal clout under a cocktail of some of the most deadly chemicals known to mankind, as a result of a past mining ventures where mitigation procedures effusively promised beforehand, had not been complied with.
It is not in the nature of Australians to be magnanimous so I am afraid the old saying "Beware of Greeks bearing gifts" still holds true today. Should there be any doubt as to what steps to take when negotiating with Australians, and particularly miners, I strongly endorse borrowing a key principle from their own culture and making those steps "bloody great long ones".
[ Abridged — length. Ed.]
Criticism of coverage of Leary’s AI questions
I wish to address the editorial published in the Otago Daily Times (5.12.25) and the Southern Say article the following day, which criticised Ingrid Leary’s handling of her interview with Maiki Sherman on One News.
The incident involving an email mistakenly sent to Casey Costello, containing questions prepared using ChatGPT, raises ethical concerns regarding the intentions behind the interview given she was door-stopped with no prior warning.
We should recognise Ms Leary’s responsible approach in similar situations, when she demonstrated integrity by acknowledging an error the same week when Matt Doocey mistakenly sent an email to Ms Leary and she advised him of his error.
In contrast, Ms Costello’s conduct appears to reflect dishonourable intentions, undermining the trust essential in political discourse.
Additionally, it is disheartening to see the Otago Daily Times leverage this incident for sensationalism, potentially inciting division among readers.
Media outlets should prioritise fair representation and constructive dialogue over divisive narratives.
Address Letters to the Editor to: Otago Daily Times, PO Box 517, 52-56 Lower Stuart St, Dunedin. Email: letters@odt.co.nz
