Importance of volunteers shown by hospital stay
I recently spent time in a hospital A&E department and saw the valuable and effective contribution of the St John volunteers working there.
The care and attention they gave to patients and families was impressive. They also relieved the hospital staff of many time-consuming non-medical duties.
The volunteer programme is part of the core objectives of Hato Hone St John. What is Hato Hone St John thinking about, planning to get rid of the volunteers in the hospitals and then assuming that the already overworked hospital staff will be happy to find the time to organise a replacement system.
This programme makes a massive difference relieving exhausted staff who certainly do not have the space to add to their duties. St John volunteers could help organise the programme if that is the problem.
What discussion took place with members and volunteers before the decision was made? Surely it is time to rethink the decision and the negative impact it will make on our community, not to mention not acknowledging the wonderful work that the volunteers do.
The more things change
In the same week as the New Zealand police scandals, the BBC is in disgrace over their editing of President Trump’s speech. In both cases, public trust has been seriously damaged.
It is a sad truth, but most institutions are eventually corrupted. The BBC has become the story rather than the impartial reporter of facts, guilty of peddling blatant propaganda. Is it any wonder that trust in the media is as low as that for politicians?
In both scandals, heads will roll. Justice appears to have been done. However, the systems which allowed such abuses of power remain. Political masters make disapproving noises and then carry on as before.
The classics are called such because the human condition never changes: it applies equally to Roman emperors and Renaissance popes, just as to national and local government bodies.
CGT is unfair
Bill Southworth (Letters ODT 18.11.25) says Labour campaigning on capital gains tax on the sale of investment properties is to disincentivise the purchasing of investment properties.
Once again landlords are an easy target. Not all are greedy, wealthy, and sorted. Many are hard working on median incomes who have saved hard to provide for their retirement.
In recent years with rising mortgage rates and loss of tax deductions many have subsidised rents until that was no longer feasible and decided to sell for peace of mind.
If there is a shortage of rental properties where are those who don't own a home going to live? Landlords need to be recognised as providing a service and not all lumped into the "greedy landlords" basket.
A suggestion: tax incentives for those who own a rental property but not on top tier incomes. Those with million-dollar properties rented to those who can afford astronomical rents should be taxed at a higher rate.
On the other hand
I fail to understand those who complain about the capital gains tax on the grounds that people have "worked hard" to get the rental house and should not be penalised when they sell.
I and many others have worked hard too – but when I manage to put some money aside into a term deposit, making perhaps 4% interest, I am taxed on every dollar and always have been.
Why do some people think it’s OK for some of us to be taxed on our hard-earned savings, and others to get away with paying nothing?
Say no to development until problems solved
Thank goodness for people like Elizabeth McCusker (Opinion ODT 14.11.25) for pointing out the development of Homestead Bay and reasons for opposing it.
Unless we have people like her bringing these developments to people’s attention then they go slyly forward until it’s too late for discussion and thought.
Traffic in Queenstown and its surrounds is a nightmare already. Council needs and must say no to any more development until the problems we have already are solved.
Nick Leggett’s article (Opinion ODT 11.11.25) was also very true: the government takes everything and gives nothing back to the South.
The GST generated in each council around New Zealand would help councils to meet their commitments and go some way to lower debt.
This goes for Wānaka as well, with all the development and extra rates with it.
How dare they raise rates by 10 and more percent year on year: it is just not sustainable or right.
Action needed on youth jobs, mental health
Two supposedly unrelated events spurred me to write.
The first was a friend saying she was going to check on and try to comfort her 20-year-old son, who had just lost his best friend to suicide.
It made me realise just how far the circle of grief ripples out into the wider community.
Recently, the government has cut funding to organisations such as the Dingle Foundation and Youthline — groups that have long provided vital support and guidance to young people in need.
Meanwhile, the government saw fit to allocate $4 million to bring the Michelin Guide to New Zealand — to review high-end restaurants.
How can our young people feel valued when those in power make it so clear where their priorities lie?
Later the same day, I was reading The Listener and came across an article by Garry Moore, mayor of Christchurch from 1998-2007.
He helped establish the Mayors Taskforce for Jobs — a nationwide initiative aimed at tackling youth unemployment locally.
Today, there are around 70,000 unemployed New Zealanders aged 15-24 — more than 10% of that age group and nearly double the rate for the general population.
It was encouraging to read that the Taskforce still exists, but sobering to realise how persistent the problem remains.
I sure hope our new mayor and other members of the new Dunedin City Council will participate in this initiative which has been successful in the past.
If we truly value our young people, we must invest in both their wellbeing and their futures. That means funding support services and creating real pathways to employment and listening to the voices of youth themselves.
The cost of doing nothing is far too high — measured not just in statistics, but in lives cut short and communities left grieving.
[Abridged — length.]
Address Letters to the Editor to: Otago Daily Times, PO Box 517, 52-56 Lower Stuart St, Dunedin. Email: letters@odt.co.nz
