Pics in hi-vis and a council recovery plan: Letters to the editor, July 18, 2026

Saturday, 18 July 2026

Photo opps

Have you ever wondered why politicians pose for photo opportunities dressed in helmets and Hi-Viz jackets? It may well be that safety regulations are to blame and this could be looked into by the Minister for Redundant Regulations. These politicians probably were more at risk traveling on the roads to these work sites than when standing in the open, guarded by competent people.

More likely, the lukewarm public reaction to their utterances makes them feel invisible and in need of Hi-Viz vests and anti-demonstrator helmets. In the Middle Ages, kings rode into battle with their troops, suitably garbed in armour and accompanied by flag bearers. Today’s battle scenes are unlikely to be attended by such as “The Donald” unless his bone spurs spook his horse.

Hugh Webb, Hamilton

Want to share your thoughts? Email editor@waikatotimes.co.nz with your full name and (not for publication) address and phone number. Letters should be no longer than 250 words.

Recovery plan

Hamilton’s Council is still failing to control its operating costs.

Staff wages are forecast to consume 28% of total revenue, up from 25.6% in 2025. That means 43% of our rates bill goes to pay staff wages alone. Professional services and administration costs are also set to increase.

The claimed $36 million operating surplus is misleading. It depends heavily on a $53 million property revaluation gain and $4 million of vested assets. These are accounting entries, not cash, which can’t be used to pay wages, reduce debt or build infrastructure.

Without these paper gains the planned surplus is only about $3 million – a very thin margin for New Zealand’s fastest-growing city.

The plan is weak on discipline, with rising overheads and the continued avoidance of structural reform. The Mayor and chief executive must now present ratepayers with a credible recovery plan or make way for people who will.

Mark Flyger, Hamilton

Tank theory

Great to see the political parties finally moving on solar energy. It has taken a while. They now need to be proactive and develop policies that encourage the better use of water. It is inevitable water rates will escalate in the coming years.

I suspect the real cost will be maintaining the water quality, so it is suitable for drinking. Yet this essential service comprises a fraction of the average householder’s usage.

New Zealand needs to act now, encourage householders, institutions and commercial operations to have water tanks, and to promote better grey water discharge into areas like toilet cisterns.

Failure to act now will see us continue to fall behind other countries in the protection of our natural resources.

Richard Cain, Hamilton

Economic case study

New Zealand’s economic challenge has a clear answer if we look to two countries that began from similar colonial circumstances in 1965 but chose very different paths. Singapore focused on building a high capacity state, global trade integration, disciplined monetary policy, and low, predictable taxes.

As your article notes, Singapore began with “almost no natural resources: no oil, no hinterland, limited land,” yet Lee Kuan Yew’s government built strong institutions, meritocratic civil service recruitment, and a currency anchored to a managed basket under the Monetary Authority of Singapore.

Malaysia, despite meaningful natural resources such as oil, gas, tin, palm oil, and gold, pursued redistribution through the New Economic Policy (NEP) from 1971. Ethnic quotas, preferential contracts, and university setasides for Bumiputera groups evolved into a wider system of political allocation and rentseeking. These choices shaped longterm outcomes.

The economic divergence is stark. In the mid1960s, Singapore’s GDP per capita was US$500–600, compared with Malaysia’s US$300–400. Today Singapore exceeds US$90,000, while Malaysia is near US$12,000. Currency performance mirrors this: in the early 1980s the ringgit traded roughly at parity with the Singapore dollar; today one Singapore dollar buys about 3.5 ringgit.

The lesson is simple: prosperity comes from enabling competitive enterprise, not subsidising or politically allocating resources. Singapore backed disciplined institutions that let people build; Malaysia backed planners who decided outcomes. The result is a gap of US$90,000 versus US$12,000.

The question for New Zealand is whether we have a leader willing to adopt Singapore style discipline and restore a pathway to prosperity.

Chris Hughes, Hamilton

Electricity salaries

The old electricity system used to potter along. No flash offices but competent engineers, little management and prices much closer to the cost of production.

Then the government had a bright idea which Mr Bradford was chosen to implement. Introduce competition into the mix to stimulate better pricing and all will be hunky dory. The CEO's renumeration at the time of the split was of the order of $400,000. The only competition that I can discern now is that between the CEOs. They now are given an average of well over $2,000,000 by the time performance bonuses are added in. Which now suggests that we are paying over $8,000,000 to the CEOs to run the electricity system.

It is doubtful that anyone earns $2,000,000 in a year. They simply get paid that amount to gain parity with some other manager who promptly points out that he used to get more than the first guy. And so the ratchet turns.

Now add in the 70 to 100 managers that are given as much or more than the original CEO and your eyes will water. But wait, there is more. There are 22 retailers vying for the household market. Each with staff, offices, vehicles etc.

The word 'productivity' has taken a beating recently and now you can see why.

Geoff Orchard, Ōhaupō

‘Phobias against truth and decency’

When your outside left calls his inside forwards hard-right, you know your team is losing its integrity. And when Gwynne Dyer (Times, July 11) goes on to suggest that Meloni, Le Pen, Weidel and Farage are fascist-adjacent, you know he hasn’t got the interests of the team at heart, but merely gushing that they should pass the ball to him more often.

The deadly lawfare used by the likes of Dyer to try to destroy Trump is now being waged against his political companion in the United Kingdom, where the large donation to Nigel Farage was on condition that it be used solely for his personal security, bearing in mind that two conservative politicians have been murdered there recently.

The corruption in the US prior to Trump has been reduced, but it hasn’t even been tackled yet in the UK—witness the Police in the Henry Nowak murder; witness the Judiciary in that to be accepted as a candidate for elevation the Bench your CV needs copious examples of DEI promotion; and witness in the Civil Service the cover-up and trivialising of the rapes of hundreds of thousands of white infidel girls at the hands of non-white immigrants, just because there is a phobia against being called racist. When the Law in a cowardly manner puts its feelings (and probably the safety of its officers, given the no-go ghettos that the system has permitted) before the rape and trafficking of underage girls, we see the extreme effects of the woke mind, and that wholesale change is necessary, à la Trump.

The phobias against truth and decency are all concentrated on Nigel Farage right now. Dyer’s mocking tone is merely an attempt to distract us from political action to overcome the threats to Western civilisation that have been so insidiously installed in our institutions.

Tony Molloy, Morrinsville

More rebates

The 2026 Triennial election of trustees' results are an eye-opener for all the candidates.

Due to the high cost of living and the increase in electricity prices, consumers wanted higher rebates.

WEL Networks line charges get increased each year, but the rebates have gone down. When Garry Mallett was the chairman of the WEL Trust, the rebates went up annually. I used to receive $225, but in the last few years, I have been receiving only $100, although the line charges have gone up a lot.

WEL trust should serve the consumers and all smaller community groups rather than giving a huge amount to particular projects. This is one of the reasons why we do not get higher rebates. This year, the voting pattern shows that the consumers do not want political candidates taking over the WEL Trust.

Trustees elected under 'Your Discount Team' attended public meetings and agreed to increase the power discount to consumers in 2027. This is one of the reasons why the majority of them got elected.

Mano Manoharan, Hamilton