Meka Whaitiri proclaims she is putting her whakapapa first. Basically she means nepotism. Co-governance is also code for putting your whakapapa first, at the expense of democracy.
Whaitiri's Maori Party chums then go on to claim Parliament "has not treated wahine Maori well in the past', nor is it a "safe place for our people". But "safe" enough to draw a big fat wage from the taxpayer.
The Maori Party cannot thrive without manufactured resentment and race baiting stunts. I despair for my fellow Maori and New Zealanders as a whole.
Irian Scott
Dunedin
[Abridged]
Maths authority
With all the authority vested in me by my 15% in "Pure Maths" in the 1952 School-Cert exams, please allow me to endorse Lester Flockton's forthright views on the extent to which ‘experts’ have dropped the ball in respect of this vital subject (Letters 5.5.23).
I would advocate making maths interesting.
Part of my failure in School Cert was algebra.
Why? Because we were told on our first day of secondary school that "Algebra is a general statement", and for most of the subsequent three years I had spent performing well in other subjects, it had never made clear to us what it could conceivably be of any earthly use for after leaving high school.
There was no incentive to wish to excel at any subject, much less maths, the way it was being taught in the 1950s, while most of my contemporaries were merely tolerating the system until the day they turned 15.
Ian Smith
Waverley
[Abridged]
Ferry maintenance
The KiwiRail CEO appeared on TV a few nights ago explaining why the Kaitaki suffered a catastrophic engine and system failure.
He told New Zealand that the ship had a component fitted that had a four-year shelf life but that it had been on the shelf for 13 years before being fitted.
There were 864 lives aboard Kaitaki that day and the weather was shocking.
His breezy attitude really annoys me. I’ve just retired after 49 years being a maintenance controller for a small helicopter company. Had we suffered a fatal accident that killed six passengers because a helicopter had time-expired components, I would expect prosecution for endangerment.
The KiwiRail CEO should have been hiding his face in shame — at least.
Why on earth is Maritime New Zealand tolerating such negligence?
The repeated breakdowns of ferries and trains smacks of a systemic failure in KiwiRail management and the consequential culture that always falls out from that.
In a structure like KiwiRail, the difference between a near miss which the Kaitaki suffered, and an event involving massive loss of life, is luck.
This time it was good luck. That is nothing for any CEO to smile about.
John Sinclair
Blenheim
Kett should go too
RE the Nigel Skelt resignation, perhaps Peter Kett should resign too given his attitude to women.
Women, in this day and age, do not have to tolerate that sort of basic sexism.
Kay Hannan
Weston
The coronation procession. PHOTO: SUPPLIED
The Crown and whether to forge our own path
In Anna Campbell’s article "Time to become a republic" (ODT 10.5.23), she states that what the coronation "symbolises makes [her] feel uncomfortable about how New Zealand and other countries were colonised and the treatment of indigenous peoples." She also states that moving towards a republic must include legislative protection for the Treaty of Waitangi and the current Māori-Government relationship. Of course, this is to honour and uphold the Treaty. Is she is aware the Treaty was drafted and signed on behalf of the British Crown?
James Parsons
Port Chalmers
ALEX Armstrong (Letters, 9.5.23) is incorrect in suggesting that in the event of becoming a republic New Zealand would leave the Commonwealth: 36 of the 56 member nations of the Commonwealth are republics. Five members aside from the UK have their own monarchs. It can be argued Elizabeth II's greatest legacy was overseeing the Commonwealth's transformation into a community of nations rather than a collection of subjugated peoples. I hope in the reign of Charles III New Zealand reaches a point where we forge our own path.
Peter Sime
Forbury
BIBLE READING: He heals the brokenhearted, and binds up their wounds. — Psalms 147.3.
