Thursday, 26 October 2023 09:55

Out to pasture?

Written by  The Hound

OPINION: A mate of yours truly wonders if outgoing Agriculture Minister Damien O'Connor will now call it a day on his 30-year long political career.

Not only did O'Connor's Labour Party take a drubbing on election night, but he also lost his West Coast seat to the infamously labelled 'F#$%ing useless' Maureen Pugh.

While O'Connor got back into parliament, courtesy of his high list placing, one would have to wonder if the 63-year-old fancies a likely (at least) six years in opposition before getting back into government again.

That would see him nearing 70 years of age and frankly well past his use-by date.

As a list MP, O'Connor can depart from Parliament without triggering an expensive by-election and the next 'union flunky or gay gagglist' (to paraphrase his own words) from the Labour list can take his place.

More like this

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.

Drill baby, drill!

OPINION: While the destruction of NZ's oil and gas industry by Jacinda Ardern's band of merry vandals was virtue signalling on a heroic scale - producing no environmental benefit whatsoever - the politician vowing to make that industry whole again, Shane Jones, is not above a bit of virtue signalling of his own.

Featured

Te Radar celebrates kiwi farming heritage in latest release

Undoubtedly the doyen of rural culture, always with a wry smile, our favourite ginger ninja, Te Radar, in conjunction with his wife Ruth Spencer, has recently released an enchanting, yet educational read centred around rural New Zealand in one hundred objects.

Waireka Research Station leads biodiversity restoration in New Plymouth

For more than 50 years, Waireka Research Station at New Plymouth has been a hub for globally important trials of fungicides, insecticides and herbicides, carried out on 16ha of orderly flat plots hedged for protection against the strong winds that sweep in from New Zealand’s west coast.

National

Machinery & Products

» Latest Print Issues Online

The Hound

Political colours

OPINION: Your old mate welcomes the proposed changes to local government but notes it drew responses that ranged from the reasonable…

True agenda

OPINION: A press release from the oxygen thieves running the hot air symposium on climate change, known as COP30, grabbed your…

» Connect with Rural News

» eNewsletter

Subscribe to our weekly newsletter