increase font size
National Party leader Christopher Luxon.
Christopher Luxon says the present government has spent much of its time running around with problems in search of solutions.
He says a lot of stuff has been piling on the rural community and likened it to sitting on the other end of the tennis court, getting 10 tennis balls thrown at you at the same time and you can't hit any of them. He points to the problems of rising inflation, increasing fuel and other input costs and supply chain challenges.
"We have had a situation where fruit has been sitting on trees rotting because orchardists can't get workers into this country.
"You are buried under a mire of regulation and this is coming from a culture within government that is really rooting in centralisation," he says.
Luxon hit out at the expansion of the bureaucracy during Labour's time in office, claiming the addition of 14,000 more 'pen pushers' in four and half years. He also points to what he describes as some dumb ideas being generated by bureaucrats, such as the plan to spend $800 million on a walking bridge across the Auckland Harbour that might draw 3,000 people on a good day.
One of the country's leading experts on China has praised the NZ Government for its handling of the recent incident with China over that country's cyber attack on two of our parliamentary institutions in 2021.
Morrinsville based Power Farming Group has launched a flagship New Zealand facility in partnership with global construction manufacturer JCB Construction.
Returning to the field days circuit after a break of four years due to Covid, the Southern Field Days at Waimumu, near Gore, was all about positivity – following six months of negative sentiment in New Zealand agriculture.
The new Minister of Horticulture, Nicola Grigg, says the reason that she came into Parliament was because of her interest in and commitment to agriculture.
OPINION: "The treaty is our past, present and future. It has shaped the country we have become, and the obligations it imposes on both sides will always be with us. However, we must aspire to go forward not as two sides, but together as New Zealanders because there is more than unites us than divides us."
Trade Minister Todd McClay says New Zealand has no intention of backing down in a trade dispute with Canada over dairy products.
There have been leadership changes at the Hamilton-based Dairy Goat Co-operative, which has been struggling financially in recent years.
Horticulture NZ chief executive Nadine Tunley will step down in August.
OPINION: In recent years farmers have been crying foul of unworkable and expensive regulations.
Another 16 commercial beef farmers have been selected to take part in the Informing New Zealand Beef (INZB) programme designed to help drive the uptake of genetics in the industry.
Trade Minister Todd McClay says Kiwi exporters will be $100 million better off today as the NZ-EU Free Trade Agreement (FTA) comes into force.
