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OPINION: There's an infamous term coined by a US general during the Vietnam war, specifically in reference to the battle of Ben Tre: "We had to burn the village to save it."
A mate of yours truly reckons a similar approach is being taken by the Government with its ETS policy, which, to offset the country's combined carbon emissions (including the often understated urban-industrial and transport contribution), is covering good productive sheep and beef country in more bloody pine trees.
The downsides of this rampant afforestation have been well covered but remain true – jobs will go and the flow of money through affected rural communities will dry up. And yet it continues.
Crucially, ‘offsetting’ does nothing to reduce the actual emissions in the first place!
As the Hound’s old mate opines, sinking our country won’t save our planet.
OPINION: Your old mate reckons townie Brooke van Velden, the Minister of Workplace (or is it Woke Place) Relations is now showing how underemployed she is as a minister by initiating an investigation into whether young children should be banned from collecting eggs on farms and feeding animals.
OPINION: The sudden departure of Jim Ward, manager of Molesworth Station for 24 years, highlighted some major dysfunction in the way conservation estate is managed in this country - the biggest problem, as the Hound sees it, being idealogues who harp on about "taonga" and use all means possible to block sensible commercial operations on conservation land.
OPINION: While the destruction of NZ's oil and gas industry by Jacinda Ardern's band of merry vandals was virtue signalling on a heroic scale - producing no environmental benefit whatsoever - the politician vowing to make that industry whole again, Shane Jones, is not above a bit of virtue signalling of his own.
OPINION: Your old mate's ear has been chewed off recently by farmers voicing their displeasure with the National Party, particularly relating to how they're treating their farmer base.
OPINION: Your old mate hears that at a recent China Business Summit, PM Christopher Luxon delivered a none-too-subtle "could try harder" report card on the red meat industry regarding its exports to China - particularly when compared to Australia.
Dairy Women's Network (DWN) has announced that Taranaki dairy farmer Nicola Bryant will join its Trust Board as an Associate Trustee.
Rural Women New Zealand (RWNZ) says it welcomes the release of a new report into pay equity.
Red meat exports to key quota markets enjoyed $1.4 billion in tariff savings in the 2024-25 financial year.
Remediation NZ (RNZ) has been fined more than $71,000 for discharging offensive odours described by neighbours as smelling like ‘faecal and pig effluent’ from its compositing site near Uruti in North Taranaki.
Two kiwifruit orchards in the Bay of Plenty and one in Northland are this year's finalists for the Ahuwhenua Trophy competition.
OPINION: A mate of yours truly reckons rural Manawatu families are the latest to suffer under what he calls the…
OPINION: If old Winston Peters thinks building trade relations with new nations, such as India, isn't a necessary investment in…
