What is significant about more roads? The National government has a history of prioritising roadbuilding over any other expenditure and this regrettably includes essential healthcare in our region. In 2011, National was planning to build an extension to the Auckland Northern Motorway from Puhoi to Warkworth. This 17km-long stretch of the roads of “national significance” was termed by the locals as the “Holiday Highway” as it saved about four minutes off the journey to a popular beach. Despite the fact that there was an existing
plan to upgrade State Highway 1 at a cost of less than half a million dollars, the government decided to plough ahead with the construction of the new road. This road which runs parallel to SH1, was initially costed at $750 million and was expected to take seven years to build. The actual cost turned out to be $1.05 billion, a 40% increase over the original cost. It was completed in 2023, five years later than predicted. The further extension of this road is over
even more challenging terrain and unlikely to be completed on time or within the budget of $4b. The government have insisted that the Dunedin hospital rebuild will not exceed the $1.8b budget and have cut back planned facilities to stay within that figure. Applying the same logic leads me to believe that the proposed extension from Warkworth to Te Hana will fall short of its destination by about 7km. The recent announcement that $180m will be allocated over three years for the expansion of healthcare
services in Central Lakes, is less than 5% of the cost of this proposed road in the North. It demonstrates very clearly that this government cares little about the health of those of us in the South Island. Dollars and cents When making comments on the Budget may I suggest Carolyne Smith (3.6.26) compare the cost of the Waikato expressway with the cost in 2026 dollars of the Southern Motorway in Dunedin. Also the more recent cost of the Lookout Point overbridge. May I also
remind Ms Smith that this government backed the $60 billion Covid response. The government is now paying approximately $3b in interest because they do care for everyone in New Zealand. The good old days when we drained the swamp Councillor Ong, yet again, provides us good service in illustrating the idiotic constructs that are modern council operating rules. It is not so many years ago that council service was voluntary. That is unpaid. Currently the UK prime minister is paid about $NZ400,000 a year, and
the US president about $NZ700,000. Middle-aged Dunedin residents of the 1980s would wonder why we would even need a city chief executive, let alone that they should be paid more than the UK prime minister to manage a little town at the bottom of the world. There were no endless committees, just a group of about eight to a dozen councillors making most decisions. They would say we’ve always managed very well without one for the last 130 years and if still alive today, would
say had achieved a lot more at much less cost. There were extraordinary feats of engineering like the draining of the swamp that was South Dunedin at no huge cost to ratepayers. I think the sea used to come up to about Hillside Rd. Or the installation of electric lights along the main streets. Young ones would be surprised to learn it wasn’t always there. Losing sympathy for the one-time loved underdog As a child growing up in a proud working class home in the
north of England, I was indoctrinated into the theory of supporting the underdog. Underdogs, as in the Jewish situation, from the indescribable horrors of concentration camps to the violent actions they needed to perpetrate in order to reclaim their homeland, as such they needed support. Hence I have always spent years feeling sympathy for and supporting the actions of the Jewish state, believing their actions were built on self-preservation and survival. Any lingering feelings of support have now gone. They have become twisted. Not all,
there are many who protest the atrocities being committed, but they can’t stop the ongoing sick activity being done under the banner of “freedom’’ when in fact it is a banner of bloodthirsty revenge and retribution. Have we, or they, learned nothing at all? [Abridged. Ed] Syrup spurned The syrupy AI generated flyer on the front of the ODT (8.6.26) promoting Ryman’s retirement villages had me wanting to head for the hills. Two women of my age, with one standing in a physically impossible position,
chatting ever so cheerily, encased in a utopian background of blooming rose arbours with happy gardeners “taking care” of everything was just too much for someone with a preference for earthy reality. I am not knocking retirement villages as a genuine option for many. It is the sickly style of advertising I find offensive. And I suggest Ryman’s check the AI model’s posture next time.
road spending, healthcare funding, Auckland Northern Motorway, Puhoi to Warkworth, Dunedin hospital rebuild, Central Lakes healthcare, Ryman retirement villages, AI advertising, council chief executive pay