Tuesday, 23 February 2021 10:12

Hats off!

Written by The Hound

font size decrease font size increase font size
Print
Email

OPINION: Your old mate was a little confused by Maori Party MP Rawiri Waititi’s stance over not wanting to wear a tie in Parliament’s debating chamber.

Waititi was booted out of Parliament on the first day back this month, after a dress code scuffle with Speaker Trevor Mallard.

As he was leaving the house, after being ejected by Mallard, Waititi said: “This is not about ties, it is about cultural identity.”

The Hound suggests Waititi may very well have had a valid point about the archaic rule around wearing neck ties in Parliament, which has now been relaxed.

However, he suggests if Maori Party co-leader is going to pull the old ‘cultural identity’ claim then he’d probably have more truck and ‘mana’ if he were not wearing his omnipresent, ridiculous-looking cowboy hat, which is hardly traditional Maori garb!

More like this

Disunity is death

OPINION: Staying with politics, with less than nine months to go before the general elections, there’s confusion in the Labour Party when it comes to working with the divided Maori Party.

Time for action

OPINION: If David Seymour's much-trumpeted Ministry for Regulation wants a serious job they need look no further than reviewing the rules and regulations governing members of the so-called House of Representatives.

Wrong focus

OPINION: Your old mate reckons townie Brooke van Velden, the Minister of Workplace (or is it Woke Place) Relations is now showing how underemployed she is as a minister by initiating an investigation into whether young children should be banned from collecting eggs on farms and feeding animals.

Burn the village

OPINION: There's an infamous term coined by a US general during the Vietnam war, specifically in reference to the battle of Ben Tre: "We had to burn the village to save it."

Purist problem

OPINION: The sudden departure of Jim Ward, manager of Molesworth Station for 24 years, highlighted some major dysfunction in the way conservation estate is managed in this country - the biggest problem, as the Hound sees it, being idealogues who harp on about "taonga" and use all means possible to block sensible commercial operations on conservation land.

Featured

UK Ag Lender Oxbury Enters New Zealand with Livestock Finance Focus

Specialist agriculture lender Oxbury has entered the New Zealand market, offering livestock finance to farmers.

Study Shows Balanced Phosphorus Use Across New Zealand Farms

New research suggests Aotearoa New Zealand farmers are broadly matching phosphorus fertiliser use to the needs of their soils, helping maintain relatively stable nutrient levels across the country’s agricultural land.

Helensville Farmers Win Auckland Supreme Award at Ballance Farm Environment Awards

Helensville farmers, Donald and Kirsten Watson of Moreland Pastoral, have been named the Auckland Regional Supreme Winners at the Ballance Farm Environment Awards.

Lalichs Take Top Honours at 2026 Canterbury/North Otago Dairy Industry Awards

Marc and Megan Lalich were named 2026 Share Farmers of the Year at last night's Canterbury/North Otago Dairy Industry Awards.

Massey Student Wins Prestigious Pāmu Agriculture Scholarship

William John Poole, a third year Agribusiness student at Massey University, has been awarded the Dr Warren Parker and Pāmu Scholarship.

Top CNH Dealers Named as NZ Firms Shine in Awards

The most outstanding CNH dealers from across Australia and New Zealand for the past year have been revealed, with two New Zealand dealerships amongst the major winners.