Wednesday, 05 July 2023 11:06

Paying off!

Written by  The Hound

OPINION: Your old mate reckons there is no mystery why Newsroom journalist and bicycle-riding, whinging pom Rod Oram and climate catastrophic recently wrote a scathing article criticising the Nats' new ag emissions policy, which was widely circled by Government ministers and Labour party apologists.

One notes that Oram's employer - the Newsroom website - has been a huge beneficiary of the Labour Government's controversial $55 million (Public Information Journalism Fund (PIJF).

Over the six rounds of PIJF funding, Newsroom took $2,377,356 in taxpayer handouts - over 4% of the total fund.

With some media outfits sticking their noses so deeply into this dodgy trough of state funding, it's no wonder the public are losing trust in these media outlets, especially when they cuddle up so closely to the Government so they can suckle from the taxpayer teat.

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OPINION: Milking It reckons if you're National, looking at recent polls, the dream scenario is that the elusive economic recovery finally roars to life.

If voters see some growth and wages rising faster than prices, the government could say they've "fixed" things as they ride into the next election.

Back here on Earth though, the economy they inherited is a basket case, and the long-term headwinds are fierce.

Political commentator Liam Hehir says, "dreams are not plans" and if the turnaround doesn't come in time, National may have no choice but to go negative.

"Everybody wants to fight on the economy if they can. But when neither side has a compelling story, the contest shifts to other issues. That's not new. In fact, it's the stuff of politics everywhere, always."


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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.

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