Changing New Zealand For The Better

[Kanga]

Increasing the hours Te Reo Maori is taught (at school).

Ka pai Ralph.

My husband and I were discussing what we'd choose last night and we both felt that the number one thing that would make NZ a better place to live would be to close the socio-economic disparity between Maaori (silly laptop has stopped doing macrons) and Pakeha but we weren't sure how to go about that in one wish ... it's so complicated and controversial and multi-faceted! I think increasing Te Reo Maaori in schools would be a long term brilliant way forward

I totally agree with the sentiments of people on here saying it's perfect, why fix it; I have a great life here but, otoh, it'd be a greater life if more of NZ's people could enjoy it like I do!

[veronica]

Ban Sandflies I concur with that one

[Millieandme]

Emissions controls for cars and trucks!

There are way more polluting wrecks on the road than there should be. A large percentage of the cars on the road would never be allowed on roads in North America or Europe. There is this idea that the noxious fumes just blow away but if you are behind one of these polluters you end up having trouble breathing. We frequently pull over to wait for the air to clear. Most of the time we just drive with the all the windows closed, the air on recirculate and the air con running just so that we can breathe.

And buses are even worse. I often say that encouraging more people to ride buses in Auckland will likely reduce air quality because the buses pollute so much. A couple of weeks ago I was behind a bus that quite literally disappeared from view behind a cloud of black smoke as it pulled away from the light. Appropriately the bus was called Kiwi Experience. No Kiwis seem surprised when I tell them that story.

[ralf-nz]

A large percentage of the cars on the road would never be allowed on roads in North America or Europe. .

Yep exhaust fumes can be annoying here. However I have experienced much worse in Europe.

[Kanga]

Oh Millieandme, I so agree! There are some real belchers on the road .... not very clean and green.

[Familyofmonkeys]

Personally I'd love to change the mindset of the huge number of people who feel the need to drive unneccesarily large and powerful cars here.

I was discussing cars with someone last week as they were about to get a car for their soon to be 15 year daughter old to learn in. When she said she wanted a small engined car, under 3 litres, my jaw dropped. When I said my 7 seater family car was 2.6 litre and plenty big enough, her jaw dropped and so did pretty much everyone else in the coversation. I'm not sure they believed me and thought I was joking when I then said my first car was a 1.1 litre renault. Nuff said!

[James 1077]

Yep exhaust fumes can be annoying here. However I have experienced much worse in Europe.

Yes, one of the things that I like about NZ are that there are very few diesels on the road. Summer in London was a little bit of a nightmare for me as diesel particulates irritate my skin so pretty much the whole of summer was spent with a horrible itchy rash!

Love it in NZ as there are very few diesels so I can actually breathe and don't get the horrible itch! That said there are some badly maintained busses which belch out diesel smoke and give me hayfever-like symptoms ... but nowhere near as bad as London!

[Addicted to NZ]

Only thing to date for us....would like to see no people crossing the line while going/coming around corners. Motorcycle rider just about meet his maker couple weeks ago, via the front of my car.

[Kanga]

When she said she wanted a small engined car, under 3 litres, my jaw dropped. When I said my 7 seater family car was 2.6 litre and plenty big enough

The crazy thing is, I bet before you moved out you'd have thought 2.6l rather massive! I know we once had a 1.6 peugeot in Britain and we thought that was big engine but that would be small out here. Ridiculous, I guess it's the towing the boat mentality.

[Kea]

You can imagine how people used to react when I said I didn't have a car cos they were too expensive to run and not very green! Jaws would drop in horror. But that was only possibly when we lived on the link bus route in Auckland. After the addition of DD I finally cracked and got a Swift (1.5l). My first car ever at the age of 36....