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OPINION: A mate of yours truly reckons these days it appears you have to be a boring, bald bloke to get a run at the Nat’s ag portfolio.
Of course, new National leader and former ag spokesman – and seriously lacking in the hair department – Todd Muller took over the role from the rather hirsute Nathan Guy, who is retiring at the upcoming election.
When Muller took on the leader’s job, he appointed David Bennett, another chrome dome, as ag spokesman, and someone called Andrew Falloon – who, you guessed it, is another bloke with a receding hairline – as associate ag spokesman.
This old mutt is unsure why these uninspiring two made the cut when you consider the Nat’s line-up includes some good people with better and stronger ties to the sector – such as Amy Adams, Louise Upton, Barbara Kruger, Ian McKelvie, Lawrence Yule and former Young Farmer of the year winner Tim van de Molen.
OPINION: In politics, credibility is and should be big. It must surely rank higher than charisma, which is quite trite and superficial. Yet, voters nowadays are often wooed and influenced by how someone looks or talks at a superficial level. TV plays a huge role in this.
I think it's going to greatly weaken National at the election. That's the view of a former senior National MP on the recent attempted coup against Prime Minister Christopher Luxon.
OPINION: Since when did one and one make three? Who didn't smell an elephant-sized rat when our leaders decided to give $60 million to save the cement factory in Northland?
OPINION: The same mainstream media muppets that brought you Jacindamania in 2017 have been flat out pimping for the Opportunities Party, labelled by some as the 'LinkedIn Greens' for their corporate spin on Green-esque 'tax the rich' policies.
OPINION: It's election time.
The Royal New Zealand College of General Practitioners (the College) and Hauora Taiwhenua Rural Health Network are calling for investment in a proposed new training pathway for rural GPs, warning that many rural practices are struggling to recruit while a large share of the existing workforce nears retirement.
Federated Farmers has called on Central Otago District Council (CODC) to drop or vote down a plan to truck sludge from Alexandra and Cromwell to farmland near Lauder, warning it would compound an "outrageous" situation created by a separate council's decision weeks earlier.
Synlait has swung to second-half profit as operations stabilise, but the dairy processor still posted a $75.4m annual loss.
LIC shareholders have elected a new North Island representative to the co-operative's Board, along with five representatives to its Shareholder Reference Group (SRG), following the company's Annual Meeting held in Invercargill.
Farmers across parts of Southland and South Otago are continuing to deal with difficult conditions after a prolonged run of wet weather, with pressure building around feed supply, stock management, pasture damage, farm infrastructure and everyday workloads.
Federated Farmers says it welcomes Labour's commitment to reviewing the Sharemilking Agreements Act, calling on other major parties to do the same.
OPINION: The same mainstream media muppets that brought you Jacindamania in 2017 have been flat out pimping for the Opportunities…
OPINION: Your old mate reckons the atrocious way farmers in the UK are treated by their lords and masters in…
