Labour Caucus Portfolios Reshuffled Ahead of 2026 Election
Labour Party Leader Chris Hipkins has announced a reshuffle of the party's caucus portfolios.
OPINION: Labour leader Chris 'Chippy' Hipkins is carrying on the world-class gaslighting of the nation that he and his cohorts started after their disastrous Covid response; now trying to undermine the Covid inquiry to protect his own backside.
Labour labelled their critics 'deplorables' and 'conspiracy theorists', which led to the extensive pasture damage at Parliament in 2022, and now threatens to derail the review of our Covid response.
The Hound can't help but see a parallel here with how farmers are treated by their own representatives when they refuse to get in line on issues like signing up to the Paris Accord on climate change.
The tactic is to label them as 'fringe nutters' and bully them into line.
That hasn't stopped the likes of Groundswell's 'Quit Paris' campaign though, and Chippy's gaslighting shouldn't be allowed to discredit the Covid inquiry either.
New Zealand's diverse cheesemaking talent shone brightly last night as the New Zealand Specialist Cheesemakers Association (NZSCA) crowned the champions of the 2026 New Zealand Cheese Awards.
Tracing has indicated that the source of the first velvetleaf find of the 2025-26 crop season, in Auckland, was likely maize purchased in the Waikato region.
Fish & Game New Zealand has announced its election priorities in its Manifesto 2026.
With the forage maize harvest started in Northland and the Waikato, the Foundation for Arable Research (FAR) is telling growers of later crops, or those further south, to start checking their maize crop maturity about three weeks prior to when they think they will start silage harvesting.
Irrigation NZ is warning that the government's Resource Management Act (RMA) reform risks falling short of its objectives unless water use for food production and water storage infrastructure are clearly recognised in the goals at the top of the new system.
More than five million trays, or 18,000 tonnes, of Zespri’s RubyRed Kiwifruit will soon be available for consumers across 16 markets this season.

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