Letters: Climate change, Stuart Nash and the decline of Auckland - New Zealand Herald

Letters: Climate change, Stuart Nash and the decline of Auckland - NZ Herald

Future has no votes so it’s up to us

So the Hipkins Government has decided that in order to win the coming election it must join National and abandon the future? What an indictment of our system that even as this summer’s catastrophic storms and floods announced the arrival of climate change, our two major political parties have kicked the issue into touch.

While Stuart Nash has taken the appropriate action in resigning, his actions while themselves “unwise” are understandable, given the ridiculous sentences passed down by some judges. I well recall the case of the brutal attack on a policewoman by a drunken thug which put her off work for months yet only attracted a sentence of 300 hours of community service. He should have received a three-year jail term and may well have if the charge of aggravated assault had not been downgraded to one of assaulting an officer. I still do not understand why the then Police Commissioner did not appeal, and there are numerous other cases where convictions are not entered because such a charge might impact an accused’s ambition to play for the All Blacks, etc.
It’s therefore not surprising to find the general public concurring with Mr Bumble that the law is indeed an ass. This is particularly so when last week a 73-year-old woman was convicted of drunken driving, fined, and disqualified. While I do not condone the offence, was she not also “unwise” in not being an international star or having a really expensive lawyer? I suspect the Opposition parties may come to regret opening this particular Pandora’s Box in years to come. Rod Lyons, Kumeu. It’s therefore not surprising to find the general public concurring with Mr Bumble that the law is indeed an ass. This is particularly so when last week a 73-year-old woman was convicted of drunken driving, fined, and disqualified. While I do not condone the offence, was she not also “unwise” in not being an international star or having a really expensive lawyer? I suspect the Opposition parties may come to regret opening this particular Pandora’s Box in years to come. Rod Lyons, Kumeu.