Editorial: Be daring, ask tough questions
OPINION: In less than three months New Zealanders will vote in the local government election.
OPINION: With nominations now closed for the local government elections to be held in October, it is time to start taking some real interest in the candidates standing and policies they support.
Voters across the country will get to choose 1,600 elected representatives - including mayors, regional councillors, local councillors and an array of local and community board members. Voter turnout at local body elections is abysmal - only 41.7% bothered nationwide in 2019.
It appears apathy is always the biggest winner at local body elections and most of us have negligible interest in the candidates standing. Surely we should all be asking what these people stand for, if they have the experience, professionalism, commercial, strategic and political nous to be effective leaders capable of delivering value for money for the services we pay for.
Many of us claim to treasure local democracy, yet we can't be bothered to vote. Meanwhile, those who do take the trouble to put their hand up for election (and who would want the kind of invasive public scrutiny of silly schoolboy antics one new MP is currently experiencing?) are often perennial candidates or political party lackeys.
For farmers and those living in the regions, we face a current government that is hell-bent on making sweeping changes to local government, with the very existence of some councils under threat.
The Three Waters reforms continue unabated, despite a great deal of opposition. This will put control of unelected and hard to hold to account entities, likely headquartered far away from rural New Zealand. Farmers and rural voters should be supporting candidates opposed to these changes.
There are also moves for district planning functions to be regionalised, which will leave some provincial councils with little left to do. With the Government's 'review' of the future of local government not winding up until next year, poor local election turnouts will give it ammunition to force amalgamations of local councils.
If you believe in local democracy and the value of regional representatives then it is up to you to seek out candidates who support these concepts and vote accordingly - or risk losing it.
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.
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