Tooting about giving money to wildlife
Why don’t I toot for protesters, even if I feel that they have a valid cause?
Well every protest appears to have a few hangers-on — in other words "the professional protesters" often photographed in the ODT. These zealots often fly long distances and join other protesters to do as much damage as possible. These pests often damage property and/or ruin other people’s livelihoods or holidays.
They turn up at airports, outside leaders’ offices, hold up traffic with hands glued to roads, delay trains, hang from wires on the West Coast and even protest on the harbour or shout and hold placards to spoil the enjoyment of visitors to our city.
Unfortunately a few of these protesters have been voted in as Dunedin City councillors again and will they never learn? They are negative people who vote, as a group, against positive ideas.
Now some of these councillors are protesting because they don’t want all councillors to get the same salary for equal responsibilities or workloads. Strangely I remember one of this group (along with another long-termer) complaining about responsibilities and remuneration three years ago.
This recent protest is all because the mayor has decided to change the responsibilities of one very capable councillor and pay him what he deserves. Other councillors will receive less than was originally decided and this fellow said "he had planned to give his extra $1000 to the Dunedin Wildlife Hospital and now the penguins would miss out" (ODT 13.12.25). He still has an opportunity to donate $1000, from his remuneration to wildlife if he chooses. I think he should.
No funds owed
We are writing to correct an impression in Tuesday’s article (ODT 16.12.25) concerning amounts paid by Andrew Simms for advertising for the Future Dunedin team campaign.
In the story concerns were reported to be held regards Future Dunedin election costs. This was inaccurate. No money is owed by either candidates Rachel Brazil or Jo Galer to the leader of Future Dunedin Andrew Simms.
Both candidates have contributed themselves to the costs of their campaigns, with what was asked of them by Andrew Simms having been delivered.
Andrew, Jo and Rachel have no quarrel regards this, despite an impression from this article that may be to the contrary. Jo, Rachel and Andrew wish each other well.
Andrew Simms, Jo Galer and Rachel Brazil
Name change
I would like to propose that the New Zealand Labour Party should change its name to the Liberal Socialist Party because it no longer represents the values and the demographic it was created to represent.
The Labour Party was created to represent the working class of New Zealand in their struggle to gain better working and living conditions. There was up until the 1980s a heavy representation of shop floor people in the leadership and organisational structure.
It has now been hijacked by university-educated liberal
activists who espouse the likes of "critical race theory", "transgenderism", "co-governance" and a host of other "be kind" initiatives which are at odds with traditional Labour values.
The be kind initiatives are fine until such time as you disagree with one of them, then you are ostracised and cancelled.
As proved by the last Labour government, the current leadership believe in government control of media, so that they can be the arbiters of disinformation and misinformation and cancel the ideas they do not like.
The term Labour is a misnomer and should be changed to reflect their current ideology.
Persistence of Surrey St campaigners lauded
I applaud Lynne Newell and co for their tenacity in holding both the Otago Regional and the Dunedin City Council to account. I find it incredible that David Ward continues to use the words “challenging" and “complex” as an excuse for not fixing the sewage problem in South Dunedin. Surely George St upgrade and Bath St spaghetti junction were also complex and challenging?
Problems in Surrey St were known from at least the 2015 floods. This has given five years for engineering planning and consents, another five years to complete the on-site work. This work should now be completed.
The $60 million required is about half the cost of the George St upgrade and South Dunedin library combined.
Wisdom/morality
Where is the wisdom/morality of this government halting strategies to reverse climate change in favour of yesterday’s economic policies that got us in this mess in the first place?
Behaviour of authority figures has consequences
There is little doubt that the behaviour of people in positions of authority and decision making such as those on city councils, Parliament and educational institutions could well be responsible for the brainwashing and ultimate creation of extreme terrorist behaviour as occurred at Bondi.
The continued abuse and hatred directed at the whole spectrum of members of the Jewish culture continues to be experienced in Australia, New Zealand and other countries.
Why does this behaviour continue well into the 21st century when the recent outpouring of concern about such horrific anti-Semitism as expressed by all New Zealand political party leaders, and by the vast majority of the public?
What is clear is the impact that key individuals who constantly broadcast anti-Semitic hate speech has on some "hot heads"
It is the audience who change their hate words into action directed towards Jews.
Leaders of the Green Party, both at public marches with chants "From the River to the Sea" and symbolic Islamic dress garments in Parliament, and some elected local council members also draping symbolic garments on themselves at their public work spaces, are deliberately communicating their anti-Semitic views.
Behavioural psychologists tell us such constant communications results in some people putting those hate expressions into action by abusing and ostracising Jewish children, defacing Jewish institutions, to the point that armed police have to constantly be deployed to protect the individuals, their homes and places of worship
Our government must show real leadership and clearly spell out that all minority groups, be they Jews or Muslims or gay, must be free to practise their faith or gender — as are all members of our democratic New Zealand culture — as long as they don’t impinge on the rights and freedoms of their neighbours.
[Abridged: length. Editor.]
Address Letters to the Editor to: Otago Daily Times, PO Box 517, 52-56 Lower Stuart St, Dunedin. Email: letters@odt.co.nz
