Letters for Saturday October 23, 2021

Dear Editor,

The Prime Minister’s junket flight up north has all the disguises of a political meeting planned to meet constituency committees? Another, complete waste of thousands of dollars of the people’s hard- earned taxes.

How many trips does it take to the northern group, flying in a luxury jet, to meet and have meeting after meeting? This year, Mark Brown has been up north five times. Would Jacinda Ardern fly from Wellington to Invercargill every few weeks to meet officials and see projects? No, she wouldn’t, she would use Zoom or any phone technology to speak to officials and see what’s going on. Mark Brown would rather spend, over $35,000 a flight going round the rocks, using public funds during these difficult Covid times.

By the way, the Prime Minister is accountable to the tax payers, so show us how much of our tax dollars have you spent flying up north on the jet since 2018? I estimate this to be over a million dollars. There goes the Tereora teachers’ pay rises out the window. Best thing to do is to follow the private sector pay cuts and cut the Ministers and MPs pay along with those high pay officials.

The Prime Minister’s recent article on, The strength and endurance of our nation’s Christianity (Cook Islands News Tuesday, October 19), brought tears of laughter. Here is the PM of our country trying to preach the gospel and acting his best to be honourable, but deep down, he knows he is not a saint.

Matariki Observer

(Name and address supplied)