Winston's crusade
OPINION: A short-term sugar hit. That's what NZ First leader Winston Peters is calling the proposed sale of Fonterra's consumer and associated businesses.
However, it appears the brains trust at Gumboot castle (Fonterra HQ) seem only too happy to take advantage of the current Government's folly and generosity with the taxpayers' chequebook.
This comes in the wake of news that the dairy co-op put its hand out for some of the $6.5 million in taxpayer funding for electric vehicles the Government is dishing out.
Apparently, Fonterra is using the 'subsidy' to trial a 46 tonne electric milk tanker at its Waitoa milk plant.
One would have thought that if an independent, future-thinking, industry-leading company like Fonterra thought that electric milk tankers were really the way of the future, they'd pay for it themselves.
But then again, who is going to turn down free money?
