Thursday, 26 October 2023 10:55

Gumboot diplomacy!

Written by The Hound

font size decrease font size increase font size
Print
Email

OPINION: Your canine crusader notes that the new parliament will have a fresh array of new MPs from farming backgrounds taking up seats in the nation's capital.

The Nats have the likes of Miles Anderson, Mike Butterick, Suze Redmayne and Grant McCullum joining their ranks.

Meanwhile, ACT sees the addition of former Feds president Andrew Hoggard to their caucus and NZ First sees the return of Mark Patterson.

Many of these MPs have close ties to Federated Farmers, including the aforementioned Hoggard, Anderson and Butterick from National and NZ First's Patterson.

That should make a nice change for the farmer lobby in having a few friends and ex-colleagues in the halls of power.

More like this

True Reflection?

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

The canine crusader always has his nose in the air for more media maleficence, so was pointing as soon as he saw the Stuff headline: ‘Wellington residents respond to PM saying he doesn’t need his job!’.

Civil Circus!

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

Anyone in the primary sector will know about the clowns covering the countryside in the red tape we all have to wade through.

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.”

Ewe Zealand First

OPINION: After all the criticism that Winston Peters leveled at the India/NZ FTA, it seemed just a trifle ironic to the Hound that the first NZ politician to visit India after Prime Minister Modi's visit was a member of the Ewe Zealand First party.

PC1 Pause Looms as Coalition Targets Waikato Farm Rules

A pause on Waikato Regional Council's (WRC) plan change that sets new freshwater rules for farming could be announced in the coming weeks.

Featured

Te Pari Acquires NZ Sheep Handler Brand Combi Clamp

Oamaru-based livestock handling specialist Te Pari has bought Combi Clamp, the New Zealand manufacturer of Combi Clamp manual sheep handlers.

RSE Scheme Changes Coming - McClay

Agriculture Minister Todd McClay has admitted that a scheme bringing workers from Pacific nations to work on orchards has become too hard to navigate but says changes are coming.

New App StockScore Digitises Livestock Condition Scoring

A new app designed in New Zealand aims to help sheep, beef and deer farmers capture, analyse and use body condition score data more effectively.

Andy Macfarlane Joins AgriZeroNZ Board

Canterbury farmer Andy Macfarlane has been appointed to the board of AgriZeroNZ, the public-private partnership designed to accelerate the development and deployment of emissions reduction tools for New Zealand farmers.