While O’Connor is seen as one of the few credible and farmer-friendly members of the new government, the Hound reckons he will soon fall out of favour if he keeps re-inventing history. Perhaps O’Connor was on another planet during the 1980s when the then Labour Government’s reforming policies hit agriculture harder than other sectors and forced thousands of young and not-so-young farmers off the land. Maybe the West Coast MP would be better off spending his time building a bridge to rural Kiwis who feel they were carved off from the rest of NZ by Labour’s politicking during the election campaign. Better that than making a stuff-up.
This old mutt is getting a little bored with the claim by the newly minted Agriculture Minister Damien O’Connor -- that farmers “always do better” under Labour governments.
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