Editorial: War's over
OPINION: In recent years farmers have been crying foul of unworkable and expensive regulations.
OPINION: "The treaty is our past, present and future. It has shaped the country we have become, and the obligations it imposes on both sides will always be with us. However, we must aspire to go forward not as two sides, but together as New Zealanders because there is more than unites us than divides us."
That short excerpt from Prime Minister Christopher Luxon's full speech at Waitangi last week sums up the overall theme of the speech. And it seemed in tune with the way most Kiwis chose to celebrate Waitangi Day, coming together with friends, family, fellow concert goers, to have a classic Kiwi summer day and celebrate our way to life.
Contrast this with the media coverage of the day, and of the PM's speech: 'Luxon's outrageous speech', 'The spiders are coming - Kelvin David', 'I lift my gun, I let the shots do the talking - Pene Henare'. This negativity was delivered by the media with the usual lecturing and editorialising about how the Government was somehow being 'divisive'.
The evidence for this claim is thin, but the 'divisive' accusation has become a favourite for stoking the division. It won't be lost on people that those in the media hellbent on pushing this 'divisive' line - thereby silencing efforts to debate the Treaty - are the same ones who signed up for the $55m slush fund that required them to swear fealty to a particular view of the Treaty.
Luckily, the real world rarely resembles the view projected by the mainstream media; normal New Zealanders aren't at each other's throats, we're just getting on with it, together, and working to get the country back on its feet.
The challenges we face are real and exist across all sectors, not the least in farming and hort - where, again, the media claims of 'division' don't reflect the reality - where the majority are just getting on with it. Maybe it's time to turn off the 'divisive' news and focus on that.
Trade Minister Todd McClay says New Zealand has no intention of backing down in a trade dispute with Canada over dairy products.
There have been leadership changes at the Hamilton-based Dairy Goat Co-operative, which has been struggling financially in recent years.
Horticulture NZ chief executive Nadine Tunley will step down in August.
OPINION: In recent years farmers have been crying foul of unworkable and expensive regulations.
Another 16 commercial beef farmers have been selected to take part in the Informing New Zealand Beef (INZB) programme designed to help drive the uptake of genetics in the industry.
Trade Minister Todd McClay says Kiwi exporters will be $100 million better off today as the NZ-EU Free Trade Agreement (FTA) comes into force.
OPINION: The new government has clearly signalled big cuts across the public service.
OPINION: Your canine crusader is not surprised by the recent news that New Zealand plant-based ‘fake meat’ business is in…