Tuesday, 15 June 2021 14:00

Cracked China

Written by  The Hound

OPINION: Your old mate reckons Fonterra and its dairy farmer shareholders may well be all cock-a-hoop about the prospects of a near $8 payout this year and one north of $8 next year.

However, he suggests these giddy, high payouts mask a major issue the dairy co-op appears to be glossing over - the total, absolute failure of its Chinese investments.

Starting back with Fonterra's ill-fated investment in San Lu, followed by the disastrous Beingmate and China Farms ventures, billions and billions of shareholder funds have been lost.

Yet, no one - either on the board or from the executive of the dairy co-op - has ever been held accountable for these disasters.

Some blame former chief executive Theo Spierings.

Others point the finger at former chair John Wilson.

But that it is too easy, as a dead man cannot defend himself. What about the board directors and management at Fonterra who are still around?

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Spare a thought then for media outfit Stuff who were threatened with fines up to $200,000 by a snivelling civil servant from the MoH for illustrating a quiz question with a photo of part of the cover of a 45-year-old copy Playboy.

As Stuff notes, “It wasn’t the Playboy cover which caused offence. No, it was the back page which… featured an advert for a cigarette brand”.

As Regulations Minister David Seymour notes, “The real scandal here is, well, no wonder we’ve got problems in healthcare when they’re doing the Stuff quiz during work time.”

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The Hound

True Reflection?

A fair question has been raised about how member-funded organisations should conduct themselves when taking a public position on any…

Civil Circus!

OPINION: It really is getting harder to lampoon government bureaucrats when they do such a good job of it themselves.…

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