Opinion

Bird strikes with aircraft pose a serious threat to human safety. The problem dates back to the early days of aviation, with the first death of a pilot recorded in 1912 when an aircraft crashed into the sea after striking a gull.

One of the world’s most anticipated earthquakes is the next major surface rupture of the Alpine Fault in the South Island of New Zealand.

Perhaps council’s staff advisers had little choice but to retrospectively make true the claim in their LWB response to my editorial that Long Term Plan deliberations are public. Hoisted by their own petard.

We are being told the health system is in crisis, “on the brink of failure” – spending beyond its budget, waiting times getting longer, suffering from widespread staff shortages.

QLDC could so easily fix the risk in its draft Long Term Plan that it loses supermajority shareholder control of Queenstown Airport without any community consultation. But instead of addressing this risk, Council’s “correction/clarification” of my Lakes Weekly Bulletin (LWB) article sought to obfuscate, misinform and divert attention from the serious issues raised. Issues about which Council’s LWB response was silent.

Please raise your hand if you’ve ever heard a visitor or newcomer saying "I’ve come to Queenstown cause it’s always been my dream to ride the Skyline Gondola".

Analysis: What should visiting Aotearoa New Zealand cost your average tourist? The government has suggested raising the price of admission - otherwise known as the international visitor conservation and tourism levy (IVL) - from $35 to $100.

Mark Harris, managing director of Queenstown-based New Zealand Sotheby’s International Realty, with his post-budget opinion on the property sector

We Love Whakatipu's Cath Gilmour on why QLDC selling its Queenstown Airport shares would be a "serious mistake, sacrificing long-term community control to short-term political expediency".

I have lived in Queenstown since 1977, when the population was approximately 7,000 (give or take) but I left for greener pastures in the early days, because rents were high and wages low and one couldn’t get ahead. Australia paid more, but winters were something not to miss if you were addicted to snow. There wasn’t that much of it (snow), to be honest. No snow making and not much precipitation. The lifestyle and mountains were a draw, but the money wasn’t enough. Sound familiar?

Council’s consultation on Project Manawa would almost be funny if it were not so tragically farcical. And their plans for consultation on Stage II of the huge arterial project are even worse.

Sometimes it just seems too hard to bike to work, but mud guards, pannier bags and wet weather gear clinched the deal for me to commit to biking, over driving or busing. Here are 7 reasons to love commuting by bike:

Council’s planned new offices for 600 staff could be built with no debt, no rent, and leave money in the bank for cultural and community facilities. But not as proposed by QLDC’s Project Manawa – a project supposed to create our “community heart” in downtown Queenstown, through a complicated and costly land swap process and joint venture that would cost ratepayers forever rent and substantial debt.

The property market is New Zealand’s largest industry, adding NZ$41.2 billion a year to gross domestic product. But there is a debate over how we tax houses – particularly those sitting empty despite the ongoing housing crisis.