A simple solution to two difficult problems
At a recent mayoral candidate forum a member of the audience offered an inspired solution to two of the city’s problems.
As we all know, the stadium loses money, more money than it would if we simply closed it. The city also has a difficult choice in front of it as to where to send our rubbish as the current landfill fills up.
Their solution: let’s simply put all the rubbish in the stadium. We save money on the stadium and on the landfill.
More rubbish
On my last visit to my supermarket I observed that an orange wheelie bin had been converted into a ballot box for the upcoming local body elections. Very appropriate. To be safe, I opted to send my voting papers by mail.
Mr 5%
Andrew Simms has been spending up large to assure us he is the paragon who will Make Dunedin Great Again. His continual personal and group advertisements are regularly backed by his business car sales ads touting Beast Bonus deals. Lots of grunt there.
He has vowed to ensure that rate rises do not exceed 5% under his rule. Along with any other candidate pledging something similar, he must be disingenuous, given the escalating costs of all council activities. Pledging some of his salary and car allowance, if elected mayor, to helping the homeless is an appealing gesture of a rich man’s noblesse oblige, but is hardly a practical long-term policy. Beware car salesmen bearing gifts, and Mr Simms may rue the day he answers to the moniker of "Mr 5%."
Parking, the return
I wondered if April 1 had come early when I read the front-page headline that the usual dinosaurs wanted to revive the dead Albany St cycleway project. The nightmare for businesses and their customers continues. I thought dinosaurs were extinct but no, not in good old Dunners.
Bawdy correctness
Re Stuart Nash and Takuta Ferris; when asked back in April, 2023, poor Chris Hipkins seemingly had no firm idea how to define a woman, acting as if it was a multiple choice game. As bawdy as it was, at least Stuart Nash had the cognitive ability of biology on his side.
Also, Te Pāti Māori MP Takuta Ferris' category of ethnic types in relation to the Tāmaki Makarau campaign was not an instance of racism, but was perhaps ironically insightful in that Te Pāti Māori and Labour are actively partaking in a political system reserved for a particular racial descent.
No taking off on own airport tangent please
As a former resident of Wellington, now of Christchurch and currently involved with Wānaka Stakeholders Group, I don’t really give a diddley squat if jets operate into Wānaka Airport. They do however help contribute to the kaleidoscope that is the fabulous Warbirds Over Wanaka.
What is of great concern is the behaviour of the various elected people presuming they truly represent their electorate.
I suppose it is wishful thinking that elected members of Queenstown Lakes District Council and airport governing body truly represent electors.
The numbers involved with the Wānaka Stakeholders Group would seem to represent a significant portion of the electorate’s wishes and ambitions that should not be ridden over in a roughshod manner.
The upper Clutha, Wānaka area needs help to ensure their elected representatives do in fact represent their electorate.
The polls and questionnaires that have been conducted give some unequivocal answers. It ill behooves members who have been elected, to have the temerity to hive off on some personal tangent while purporting to represent their electorate.
Let the people dine on oysters
I have had ex-pat friends over from Australia recently who could not get over the huge price increases for food.
They cited Australian oranges here for $6.50 a kilo: the same oranges are $1.75 in Brisbane. I suggested wait till you see the price of red meat and dairy: $34 a kilo for rump steak, $20 for a kilo of cheese, etc.
In a recent interview with Miles Hurrell, CEO of Fonterra, he was asked if we should move to a two-price model, making some dairy staples cheaper for locals. Mr Hurrell was incensed and suggested Kiwis should be more grateful of the jobs and tax Big Dairy brings to our country.
I think there is a real disconnect across all export sectors about the unspoken contributions made by every Kiwi to support these endeavours. Every tax and ratepayer subsidises these exports through paying the carbon credit bills for farming, and providing roading and bridges heavy enough to carry the trucks.
Taxpayers’ money has resurrected heavy rail freight to help out Fonterra and nitrate leaching has been left to ratepayers to sort.
Other countries build in a level of subsidy for the population, as recognition of the sacrifices the population make to help out their exporters.
There’s no use driving past paddocks of live stock every day if we can’t afford to buy the product: why are taxpayers contributing to something they can’t afford?
A dozen oysters are starting to look reasonably priced — a let them eat cake moment perhaps?
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