Tuesday, 01 July 2025 10:25

Trust us!

Written by The Hound

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OPINION: Ther'es a reason politicians rank even lower than John Campbell in the most trusted profession surveys.

Just when we think they've kicked an unpopular policy to touch, they repackage it and try to sneak it past the goalkeeper in a different form.

The current mob tried with its climate change taxation of the rural sector and are at it again with 'Ute Tax 2.0'.

Fed Farmers wants Revenue Minister Simon Watts to urgently rule out changes to Fringe Benefit Tax (FBT) that will apply to utes and could cost farmers thousands of dollars, ongoing.

Feds say the previous Ute Tax was bad enough, but at least it was a one-off cost.

These new FBT charges would be annual and cost farmers an arm and a leg each year.

With their polls cratering, National need to put the IRD back on the chain.

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True Reflection?

A fair question has been raised about how member-funded organisations should conduct themselves when taking a public position on any given issue.

The canine crusader always has his nose in the air for more media maleficence, so was pointing as soon as he saw the Stuff headline: ‘Wellington residents respond to PM saying he doesn’t need his job!’.

Civil Circus!

OPINION: It really is getting harder to lampoon government bureaucrats when they do such a good job of it themselves.

Anyone in the primary sector will know about the clowns covering the countryside in the red tape we all have to wade through.

Spare a thought then for media outfit Stuff who were threatened with fines up to $200,000 by a snivelling civil servant from the MoH for illustrating a quiz question with a photo of part of the cover of a 45-year-old copy Playboy.

As Stuff notes, “It wasn’t the Playboy cover which caused offence. No, it was the back page which… featured an advert for a cigarette brand”.

As Regulations Minister David Seymour notes, “The real scandal here is, well, no wonder we’ve got problems in healthcare when they’re doing the Stuff quiz during work time.”

Ewe Zealand First

OPINION: After all the criticism that Winston Peters leveled at the India/NZ FTA, it seemed just a trifle ironic to the Hound that the first NZ politician to visit India after Prime Minister Modi's visit was a member of the Ewe Zealand First party.

Wrong focus

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.

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