Professor Robert MacCulloch: The Old Guard of Helen Clark and Don Brash are Out of Touch

Time to Hand the Torch to a New Generation

In a bizarre jointly written Opinion Piece, former Labour PM Helen Clark and Leader of the National Party Don Brash have written an article criticizing the new coalition for indicating NZ maybe keen to participate in the Aukus defence alliance between Australia, the UK and US. They start by saying, "In 1985, the NZ Labour Government made it clear that nuclear weapons were so terrible - in the full meaning of that word - that as a country we had no wish to be defended by them. As a result, we were rather unceremoniously ejected from the Anzus alliance which to that point had linked Australia, NZ and the US". That is far from the truth - a large part of the reason I heard persuasively stated at the time was that should a ship carrying nukes be in our waters when war broke out, that would make NZ a nuclear target. We feared being attacked by nukes, not defended by them.

Richard Prebble: Logic versus emotion

Whether you have voted or not, the Herald Auckland mayoral debate is revealing.

Efeso Collins really does not know there is no such thing as free transport. Taxpayers pay for Gold Card holders “free” joyrides on the Waiheke ferries. Tourists will joyride “free” public transport. The cost to ratepayers will be conservatively four times Efeso’s estimate.

Wayne Brown sees everything as an issue with a rational solution. What is the problem? What are the facts? What the options? Wayne is right. It is logical to spend money to utilize the full potential of the existing roads before spending billions on new projects. No wonder successive governments have used him as a problem solver. It also explains why Wayne clashes with those who think emotionally. Auckland has no shortage of issues for a rational problem solver to fix.