Budget 2026: Slim Pickings For the Rural Sector
In advance of the Budget, Finance Minister Nicola Willis put a clear damper on expectations and delivered accordingly.
How ironic then that these two have teamed up to do the exact opposite of their respective virtue signalling.
Rural publishers invest a lot of dough funding rural journalism.
Stuff plans to undercut this business model by investing – wait for it – absolutely nothing in rural journalism.
How? Because Feds have enabled them, letting Stuff undercut the market, in return for a glorified newsletter – a vanity soapbox project cooked up in a plush Wellington office paid for by the same farmers that proper rural publishers serve, week-in, week-out.
So much for “funding journalism” and “supporting rural communities”!
