Damien O’Connor: NZ united on global trade
When it comes to international trade, politicians from all sides of the aisle are united, says Labour's trade spokesman Damien O'Connor.
A mate of the Hound’s wonders just how Agriculture Minister Damien O’Connor is getting along with his 2IC in the agriculture portfolio Meka Whaitiri.
Remembering O’Connor’s infamous comment about the Labour Party list selection process, a few years back, in which the West Coast MP described it as controlled by ‘’self-serving unionists and a gaggle of gays’’, the Hound’s mate suggests it could make for an ‘interesting’ working relationship between O’Connor and Whaitiri.
That’s because the associate ag minister’s whanau are “staunch union members’’ and she is also a proud member of the Labour Party’s rainbow caucus.
Mind you, your old mate suggests if O’Connor does get out of line, Whaitiri should avoid giving him a bit of a slap – like she was accused of in her first term as a minister and subsequently lost her job!
Farmer interest continues to grow as a Massey University research project to determine the benefits or otherwise of the self-shedding Wiltshire sheep is underway. The project is five years in and has two more years to go. It was done mainly in the light of low wool prices and the cost of shearing. Peter Burke recently went along to the annual field day held Massey's Riverside farm in the Wairarapa.
Applications are now open for the 2026 NZI Rural Women Business Awards, set to be held at Parliament on 23 July.
Ravensdown has announced a collaboration with Kiwi icon, Footrot Flats in an effort to bring humour, heart, and connection to the forefront of the farming sector.
Forest & Bird's Kiwi Conservation Club is inviting New Zealanders of all ages to embrace the outdoors with its Summer Adventure Challenges.
Grace Su, a recent optometry graduate from the University of Auckland, is moving to Tauranga to start work in a practice where she worked while participating in the university's Rural Health Interprofessional Programme (RHIP).
Two farmers and two farming companies were recently convicted and fined a total of $108,000 for environmental offending.

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