Too 'Little', too late - HortNZ
Horticulture NZ is scathing about the last gasp announcement by Labour to lift the Recognised Seasonal Employer (RSE) by just 500 workers.
OPINION: The last minute decision by Health Minister Andrew Little to give the rural community some status in the new health reforms bill - Pae Ora Healthy Futures, is a victory, but there never should have been a fight over this.
The Pae Ora Healthy Futures Bill, which takes effect on July 1, is hugely significant. It is the first major reform for nearly two decades and the goal is to try and fix some of the enormous problems the sector is facing. Rural communities are seen as the poor cousin to urban people in terms of health services, facilities and the lack of access due to their isolation. Urban people have these on their doorstep, but even they endure long waiting lists for 'elective surgery'.
The bill was based on a series of reports, most notably one by Heather Simpson who was Helen Clark's formidable former chief of staff. It was Simpson who recommended that the rural community should have legal status in the bill along with Māori, Pacifica, women and people with disabilities. But in the debate in the select committee reviewing the legislation - the committee dominated by Labour and Green MPs - a bizarre decision was made to strike out 'rural'.
This rightly drew immediate outrage from the Rural GP's Network with their chair, Dr Fiona Bolden, calling it outrageous and saying it left nearly a million rural people out in the wilderness. National's Dr Shane Reti and Act's Brooke van Velden added their voices to the outcry and outrage over the select committee decision.
The reasons why the committee made such a decision is puzzling although there are several theories which are best left unsaid.
In the end, and to his credit, Andrew Little read the political landscape much better than his colleagues in the select committee and reinserted 'rural' into the bill. That there was a debate on this issue reflects badly on Labour and reinforces the view that rural is a low priority for them. It shows that some people in the Labour caucus don't understand what is happening outside Wellington and are fixated on urban social issues.
This is a victory for rural NZ and a terrible outcome has been avoided by a senior politician finally seeing reason - albeit at the last minute.
A vet is calling for all animals to be vaccinated against a new strain of leptospirosis (lepto) discovered on New Zealand dairy farms in recent years.
Two major red meat sector projects are getting up to a combined $1.7 million in funding from the New Zealand Meat Board (NZMB).
Angus Barr and Tara Dwyer of The Wandle, Lone Star Farms in Strath Taieri have been named the Regional Supreme Winners at the Otago Ballance Farm Environment Awards in Dunedin.
OPINION: The distress that the politicians and bureaucrats are causing to the people of Wairoa and the wider Tairāwhiti is unforgivable.
Dairy
Rural banker Rabobank is partnering with Food Rescue Kitchen on a new TV series which airs this weekend that aims to shine a light on the real and growing issues of food waste, food poverty and social isolation in New Zealand.