Today's Letters to the Editor from readers cover topics including rural health, the war in Gaza and a plea not to destroy books.
Rural health and our tight fiscal restraints
A significant part of the problem for health workforce staffing in rural areas is twofold.
Living rurally is not for everyone and is often unattractive to younger people, including health professionals.
Living in high-cost-of-living areas, such as Central Otago, is not conducive to the successful recruitment of health professionals, as they often prefer not to trade off living in a so-called desirable region for a lower standard of living.
Incentivising the health workforce with higher pay can be a solution to the problem, but this is at the expense of taxpayers.
Therefore, a hub-and-spoke model of healthcare delivered from a tertiary hospital can be justified given the tight fiscal restraints placed on this sector.
Rachel Hannan
Dunedin
Future shame
We watch animals struggling to survive after being attacked by some larger beast and feel pity and want to care and protect.
We know of children in care who have been abused and feel outraged and demand justice and retribution. We protest for equal rights and freedom of speech because history has taught us these rights are worth fighting for and keep us honest.
We have come so far to improve our humanity and yet we fail to act when we see history repeating itself with extreme cruelty.
Once we could turn a blind eye to atrocities and crimes against humanity, declaring we didn’t know. We didn’t see as hundreds of thousands were systematically tortured and killed.
Now we have no excuse and yet we turn away and say it’s war, its terrorism, its over there, its not our fault.
Some individuals stand up with brave faces and cry out ‘‘it must stop’’, collective masses hold banners and wave flags. Still nothing stops this onslaught of death and destruction.
Mothers and children cry ‘‘They have forgotten us’’, ‘‘we are left to die here in the rubble’’. Where is the outrage from politicians?
Our government and all countries need to make a stand for humanity, against corruption and the brutality and cynicism that has taken the world to the brink of unreason. Future generations will look back with shame on their forebears and horror as we all did for past inhumanity. If we do nothing to stop this cruelty, we are complicit. Our government needs to make a stand now.
Jane Macgregor
Oamaru
Avoid complicity
The time for writing letters to Israel about their actions in Gaza has long since passed. Once again Foreign Minister Winston Peters prefers to follow instead of leading on this issue.
Starvation and death by malnourishment is now occurring - mothers, babies and children. Civilian structures are being destroyed and targeted. The war crimes being committed against a civilian population are unprecedented in our lifetime.
Why then is the government’s response so woefully inadequate? Sanctions need to be imposed on Israel and Mr Peters needs to lead the call for them to be applied globally.
There is only so long you can watch crimes being committed before you become complicit in them.
G Nicol
Mosgiel
Act Party AI
I am so impressed at the endless stream of profound utterances from David (trust me, I know what I am doing and I am never wrong) Seymour that I have become convinced that his perfection is so unnatural that he is not actually real and is, in fact, an AI-generated hologram.
Barry Salter
Invercargill
Drawing the line at destruction of culture
I am writing about the reckless decision by the National Library and MP Brooke van Velden to destroy half a million books. Any books.
But The Bible? The Torah? The Koran? Shakespeare? ‘‘In favour of New Zealand works’’ ... yes, Barry Crump and Janet Frame et al have their place. But this literary vandalism is totally unnecessary. Who decided?
Options abound. Send to Pacific Island libraries? Sell them or donate publicly, or return to their respective religious or literary communities? It is irrelevant that ‘‘there are plenty of other copies’’.
As religious books they are sacred to those who believe. A significant number of New Zealanders may I say. To say they cost $1 million a year to store? Hard to believe.
Wake up and smell the pages of wisdom, knowledge and ancient history, still applicable today. These are national treasures, not fuel for the ‘‘book bonfire.’’
How to erase a culture? Once they are gone they are gone forever.
Jacqueline Athanasatos
Ravensbourne
Address Letters to the Editor to: Otago Daily Times, PO Box 517, 52-56 Lower Stuart St, Dunedin. Email: editor@odt.co.nz
