Crazy
OPINION: Your canine crusader was truly impressed by the almost unanimous support given by politicians of all stripes in Parliament to the recent passing of legislation for the NZ/EU free trade deal.
Green Party MP Golriz Gharaman is pushing a Members Bill that would give prisoners the right to vote and ban overseas donations to political parties.
Oh, and change the 5% party vote MMP threshold to 4% without a public referendum — just a simple majority in Parliament will do (we nearly forgot about that bit buried in the fine print).
With the Greens clinging to 5% in recent polls and being the third leg of the coalition, and NZ First at about 3%, it’s no surprise the Greens want to move the goalposts before the next election.
Gharaman has been called out on this undemocratic move by political commentators such as PR man Matthew Hooton, and others, but her response has been flippant, to say the least. She says her real target is overseas donations, and anyway the Electoral Commission said dropping the MMP threshold to 4% was worth doing. As Hooton rightly says, “parliamentarians with integrity should only change how Parliament is elected by a 75% super-majority or referendum”.
The country’s 4200 commercial fruit and vegetable growers will vote from May 14 on a new HortNZ levy.
Meat processor Alliance Group is asking farmer shareholders to inject more capital in order to remain a 100% co-operative.
A vet is calling for all animals to be vaccinated against a new strain of leptospirosis (lepto) discovered on New Zealand dairy farms in recent years.
Dairy
Rural banker Rabobank is partnering with Food Rescue Kitchen on a new TV series which airs this weekend that aims to shine a light on the real and growing issues of food waste, food poverty and social isolation in New Zealand.
Telco infrastructure provider Chorus says that it believes all Kiwis – particularly those in the rural areas – need access to high-speed, reliable broadband.
OPINION: Talking about plant-based food: “Chicken-free chicken” start-up Sunfed has had its valuation slashed to zero by major investor Blackbird…
OPINION: Synlait's financial woes won’t be going away anytime soon.