OPINION: NIWA has long weathered complaints about alleged stifling of competition in forecasting, and more recently, claims of lack of transparency by the Crown-owned entity - spurred by its refusal to release information under the OIA about its conduct around Cyclone Gabrielle and the Hawke's Bay flooding.
OPINION: Adding to calls to get banks to 'back off', NZ Agri Brokers director Andrew Laming has revealed that the banking structure massively favours lending to housing, at the expense of the productive sectors, particularly agribusiness.
OPINION: Just as they did in 2016 when Trump beat Clinton, liberals in the media are crying "how did this happen?"
OPINION: About as productive as a politician's taxpayer-funded trip to Hawaii, as cost-effective as an OSPRI IT project, and as smart as the power-company pylon worker, the Hound gives you the NZ Post business strategy:
OPINION: Was the ASB Economic Weekly throwing shade on Reserve Bank governor Adrian Orr when reporting on his speech in Washington recently?
OPINION: A reader recently had a shot at the various armchair critics that she judged to be more than a bit preachy, telling sheep farmers how they "must learn" and "embrace change" and various other platitudes that armchair critics bandy about on LinkedIn and on the speaker circuit in 'NZ…
OPINION: You're never as good as when you're dead, and with due respect to Theo Spierings' family, the Hound can't let the death of the former Fonterra CEO pass without mentioning the parlous state he left Fonterra in when he exited in 2018 - having pocketed well north of $30…
OPINION: In a victory for common sense over virtue signalling, David Parker's National Policy Statement (NPS) work on freshwater is now dead in the water.
OPINION: The Reserve Bank’s rate cut is great news, albeit a bit late, but your old mate agrees with Act leader David Seymour that the cut – with more to come – is a “multi-billion dollar mea culpa” by the RBNZ.
OPINION: While the Government’s Fast Track bill is copping it from all the usual suspects – opposition parties, greenies, unions and various other ‘interested parties’ who cream it in fees by forcing development through endless ‘consultation’ – your old mate reckons progress on key elements like housing, infrastructure, mining &…
OPINION: In a to the 1990s, our old mates at Greenpeace continued their crusade against affordable food by abseiling down the side of Fonterra’s Te Rapa factory and unfurling a big banner.
OPINION: Big surprise, Fish & Game find themselves at odds with farmers, once again, and at risk of costing their members the one thing they value above all else – access across private land to fishable lakes and rivers.
OPINION: Former politicians seem incapable of staying away from the limelight after they retire.
OPINION: Beef+Lamb NZ has run a roadshow to sell its new strategy.
OPINION: ACC has released its injury statistics for 2023 work-related claims.
OPINION: Listening to the hysterical reportage of gun law reforms being pushed through by Associate Minister of Justice Nicole McKee, your old mate wrongly asumed the Minister must be planning to hand out free AK-47s.
OPINION: Massey University has long been, and still is, a core part of the NZ farming scene, training the next generation of farmers, growers, agronomists and more, and doing great research too.
OPINION: Your old mate isn't really a fan of the recent trend toward collective whinging, otherwise known as an 'open letter'.
OPINION: While The Hound reckons it's great to see Shane 'I'm-a-red-blooded-male' Jones boiling over about the energy crisis - so much so that he's dropping f-bombs in the daily rags - your old mate hopes we'll see more than his usual bluster and get real action on this critical issue.
OPINION: A reader recently called out the Hound for not giving Federated Farmers enough credit for taking Otago Regional Council to task on its dodgy rule changes.
OPINION: Your old mate was shocked to learn that two pet projects of progressive dreamers have come a gutser in the real world.
OPINION: Leader of the Labour Party and His Majesty's Loyal Opposition, Chris Hipkins, has formulated a bold strategy to regain power that his rivals won't have predicted.
OPINION: The wooden bicycle enthusiasts over at Greenpeace have yet to meet a government policy or corporate initiative they didn't hate.
OPINION: NIWA has long weathered complaints about alleged stifling of competition in forecasting, and more recently, claims of lack of…
OPINION: Adding to calls to get banks to 'back off', NZ Agri Brokers director Andrew Laming has revealed that the…
