Editorial: O Canada!
OPINION: Politicians the world over have as their priority - get elected and stay elected.
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."
That short excerpt from Prime Minister Christopher Luxon's full speech at Waitangi last week sums up the overall theme of the speech. And it seemed in tune with the way most Kiwis chose to celebrate Waitangi Day, coming together with friends, family, fellow concert goers, to have a classic Kiwi summer day and celebrate our way to life.
Contrast this with the media coverage of the day, and of the PM's speech: 'Luxon's outrageous speech', 'The spiders are coming - Kelvin David', 'I lift my gun, I let the shots do the talking - Pene Henare'. This negativity was delivered by the media with the usual lecturing and editorialising about how the Government was somehow being 'divisive'.
The evidence for this claim is thin, but the 'divisive' accusation has become a favourite for stoking the division. It won't be lost on people that those in the media hellbent on pushing this 'divisive' line - thereby silencing efforts to debate the Treaty - are the same ones who signed up for the $55m slush fund that required them to swear fealty to a particular view of the Treaty.
Luckily, the real world rarely resembles the view projected by the mainstream media; normal New Zealanders aren't at each other's throats, we're just getting on with it, together, and working to get the country back on its feet.
The challenges we face are real and exist across all sectors, not the least in farming and hort - where, again, the media claims of 'division' don't reflect the reality - where the majority are just getting on with it. Maybe it's time to turn off the 'divisive' news and focus on that.
The Ministry for the Environment (MfE) has found itself in a stoush with NZPork over the controversial National Policy Statement for Highly Productive Land (NPS-HPL).
Fonterra says the sale of its global consumer business and its Oceania and Sri Lankan operations could take 18 months to complete.
The lobby group the Methane Science Accord (MSA) says it welcomes a recent government move to seek outside advice on reducing biological methane targets, rather than relying on recommendations made by the Climate Change Commission.
Well-known scientist Jock Allison has passed away.
After a decade of consultation and court battles, Environment Southland has officially adopted a plan to prevent further decline in the region's water quality.
Farmers are throwing down the gauntlet to politicians - hold an independent inquiry into rural bank lending or face tough questions from the farming sector.