Word of the day

Allotriophagy – a depraved appetite; desire for improper food; craving for strange foods.

Rural round-up

Support extended for drought-affected South Island:

Support for the drought-affected eastern South Island has been extended with an extra $100,000 for Rural Support Trusts and the medium scale event officially extended to February next year, Primary Industries Minister Nathan Guy has announced today.

Mr Guy met with local farmers in the Hurunui district today and says North Canterbury is the worst affected region with little rainfall all year, despite being well into winter.

“North Canterbury, Southern Marlborough and parts of South Canterbury and Otago continue to experience very dry conditions. Pasture growth is well behind normal for this time of year and with lambing and calving starting, the situation remains serious for some,” says Mr Guy. . . 

Low stress the key to success at Whangara – Kate Taylor:

Robbie and Kristin Kirkpatrick’s eyes light up when they talk about the opportunities they have been given at Whangara Angus since 2009.

The business is owned by Patrick Lane but is still officially Lane Bros after Patrick’s father and uncle who bought the first part of the farm in 1929.  Whangara Angus was formed in 1966.

Robbie started working as a shepherd at the station, north of Gisborne, six years ago and is now managing the 1800ha property. . . 

Mushroom battle faces more delays –  Patrick O’Sullivan:

Te Mata Mushroom Company has accused Hawke’s Bay Regional Council of keeping it in the dark.

The council is prosecuting Te Mata for six allegedly smelly discharges between March and April.

The 48-year-old Havelock North company has been the subject of regular complaints from a nearby new housing development about the odour it produces when making compost. . . 

Rebuild of US beef cow herd will hit NZ:

New Zealand’s beef prices could fall as the United States rebuilds up its beef herds.

A new Rabobank report suggests the US is well on its way to rebuilding its herds as it recovers from a drought which has lasted since 2011.

It is expected to reduce the demand and record prices for New Zealand beef in this country’s biggest market.

The report – Beef cow repopulation, the case for diversification – showed the US beef industry expected to grow by 3,000,000 head of cattle in the next three to five years. . . .

New technology for sustainable snapper fishing:

The New Zealand seafood industry makes a serious commitment to the sustainability of our fisheries through significant investments in world-leading technologies, Chief Executive Tim Pankhurst says.

He was commenting on today’s announcement that fishing companies Aotearoa Fisheries, Sanford and Leigh Fish are stepping up their efforts to bring greater transparency into the inshore fleet. The companies are some of the first to commit to fitting vessel monitoring systems (VMS) on all vessels within their fleets that are part of the snapper fishery operating on the east coast of the North Island from the far north to the bottom of the Bay of Plenty. . . 

Hawke’s Bay Viticulturist Encourages Other Farmers and Growers to Enter East Coast Ballance Farm Environment Awards:

Winning a category award in the East Coast Ballance Farm Environment Awards was a nice little pat on the back for viticulturist Steve Wheeler and his employer, Mission Estate Winery.

Steve manages 33ha of vines for Mission Estate, one of New Zealand’s oldest and most well-known wine producers.

Based near Napier and owned by Marist Holdings Ltd, the winery prides itself on “delivering excellent wine to consumers in a way that enables the natural environment, the businesses and the communities involved to thrive”.

“Mission Estate has being doing some great work in the sustainability field,” Steve says, “so entering the Ballance Farm Environment Awards (BFEA) was an excellent way to showcase this work and to encourage others to do the same.” . . 

Friday’s answers

Thursday’s questions were:

1. Who said: Love begins by taking care of the closest ones – the ones at home.?

2. Who had a sign saying TRESPASSERS W outside his home and what was the W short for?

3. It’s domicile in French, abitazione in Italian, hogar in Spanish and kāinga in Maori, what is it in English?

4. What does Lang may yer lum reek mean, literally, not figuratively?

5. What makes your house a home?

Points for answers:

Grant got two, a nearly (reek can be smell but lum is chimney not house).

Gravedodger got three and the apology for distraction.

J Bloggs got four.

Answers follow the break:

DIRA’s had its day

Some good news on dairying:

Primary Industries Minister Nathan Guy today certified that in the 2014/15 season independent dairy processors collected 22 percent of all milksolids in the South Island.

Under the Dairy Industry Restructuring Act (DIRA), the Minister is required to certify when this threshold is reached. It triggers expiry of the pro-competition DIRA provisions in the South Island by no later than 31 May 2018, unless there is legislative change before then.

“While Fonterra continues to collect more milk every season, it is encouraging to see new processors enter the market and create competitive pressure,” says Mr Guy. 

“Independent processors also collected 9 percent of all milksolids in the North Island. This indicates there is increasing competition in the New Zealand dairy industry.”

Monitoring of the amount collected by independent processors is required under DIRA, which allowed for the merger of our largest dairy co-operatives to form Fonterra Co-operative Group Limited in 2001.

DIRA also contains provisions to promote the efficient operation of dairy markets in New Zealand through contestability in the farm gate and factory gate markets. These provisions are intended to expire when there is sufficient competition. 

“While the percentage of milksolids collected by independent processors is one indicator of competition, it is not definitive. For this reason the Commerce Commission has been tasked with providing a report on the state of competition in the New Zealand dairy industry.

“The Commerce Commission’s report, as well as policy advice from the Ministry for Primary Industries, will help to inform my decisions as Minister and will inform the Government as it considers the results of this review.

“The Government will need to consider next year whether to promote changes to legislation to extend the duration of the pro-competition provisions, or provide a transition pathway to deregulation, or a combination of both.” . .

Information about the process, including the terms of reference for the report, key dates, and how submissions can be made, are available on the Commerce Commission website: http://www.comcom.govt.nz/regulated-industries/dairy-industry/report-on-the-state-of-competition-in-the-new-zealand-dairy-industry/

The final report is due on 29 February 2016 to the Ministers of Primary Industries and Commerce and Consumer Affairs. The Government will respond shortly thereafter by giving public notice of the Government’s policy intent.

The sooner these provisions in the DIRA go the better for Fonterra and the industry.

Under the provisions farmers can sell their shares, supply another company then go back to Fonterra which has to take them back.

DIRA has also encouraged dairying in distant areas which might not have happened had Fonterra not had to take the milk produced.

It’s had its day and competition is alive and well in the industry, at least in part not in spite of Fonterra but because of it.

No matter what the hurdles someone will see an opportunity and seize it.

Bit isn’t always better as suppliers to Tatua which is forecasting a $6 payout this season know.

Those wanting the meat industry to follow the Fonterra model should take note that the market will find a way even with legislation.

They should also note that if legislation is the answer to a business’s formation or growth you’ve almost certainly asked the wrong question.

The opportunity to change, or not

Parliament has voted to give us the opportunity to change our flag, or not:

New Zealanders will have their say in choosing the New Zealand flag after legislation enabling two postal referendums was endorsed by Parliament, Deputy Prime Minister Bill English says.

“The passing of the New Zealand Flag Referendums Bill, with the support of four Parliamentary parties, will secure New Zealanders their first opportunity ever to vote on the flag that best represents them and our country,” Mr English said.

Ah the hypocrisy of Labour which went in to the election saying it would give us the chance to change the flag, and do so through two referendums exactly as enacted, but voted against the legislation.

The first postal referendum is planned to take place between 20 November and 11 December and will empower voters with the opportunity to rank four alternative designs.

The most-preferred design from that first referendum will then go to a second binding referendum in March, where voters will democratically choose between the status quo and the most preferred alternative flag.

Public discussion on the merits of the flags on the longlist is welcome and appears to be vigorous.

The Electoral Commission is well-advanced in its preparations for the referendums, Mr English said.

Prime Minister John Key puts the case for changing the New Zealand Flag:

You can also listen to him put the case for change to Simon Barnett and Gary McCormick here.

There’s some information on flags of the world here.

And John Lapsley also puts in the case for change in the present flag speaks of another time, country:

I feel quite ill when conscience demands I write a sentence of unqualified praise for our political masters.

But helped by a gumboot shiraz and a Panadol, we man up, and get on with it. Here goes:Despite popular thought to the contrary, the Government has made a first rate job of planning the new flag referendum.

And if you believe it’s wasted $25million boring the populace, you’ll soon be proved spectacularly wrong.

True, the first months of the Flag Consideration Project have been as dull as its name. But that was to be expected while they did the dreary spade work of research and consultation. Things don’t get interesting until we set eyes on the possible new flags.

That’s now about to happen. This month the project’s panel of luminaries releases its ”long list” of 50 plus flags winnowed from 10,000 odd entries. (So much for alleged disinterest.)

After a month’s public palaver, they produce a four flag shortlist. Before Christmas the nation will vote to choose one that runs against the present flag in a March referendum.

Come the new year, you won’t escape the pub or the proctologists’ ball without a flag argument. It will be the media’s subject du jour. Talkback jocks will jabber. There will be no place to hide, as we enjoy democracy at its most glorious.

I was listening to talkback on Tuesday, the day after the long-list was announced, and the flag was the major topic.

Let me nail my colours to the mast. I’m for a new flag. I respect our present one, but it speaks of another country – the very different New Zealand of the past. It symbolises origins we’ve grown beyond.

The blue Southern Cross flag with its dominating Union Jack, is our third. We were just a British colony when it was introduced in 1902, but soon to become (dear God) a ”dominion” – from the Latin ”Dominium”, meaning a country subject to another’s ruler.

We may find the term insulting, but our great grandparents didn’t. In 1902, nearly half had wet their first nappy in the British Isles. (Today’s UK born figure is just 4%.) I recall my own grandparents’ wistful immigrant speak about ”mother country” and ”home”.

My mother, a third generation New Zealander who had never been further than Australia, also spoke of Britain as home in the 1960s, though if I recall correctly not after she’d been there in the 1970s.

Until the 1950s, much of our art and literature was obsessed with a great puzzle – what it really meant to be a New Zealander.

Mired in culture cringe, and in awe of anything London, a Union Jacked flag seemed properly parental to a country whose nationhood was still in short pants.

That parent turfed us out of home in 1973 when it joined the European Economic Community, and left us high and dry. Yet our old master’s insignia still sits proud – top left on our flag.

We hear three main arguments for keeping this flag.

It’s claimed change would dishonour servicemen who died fighting for the flag. This is nonsensical – the Kiwis we honour on Anzac Day died serving their country. I doubt the flag crossed their minds.

Some Maori fought under the Union Jack in the land wars, some fought against people fighting under it.

The 1900 medal commemorating the Boer War shows a version of the United Tribes’ flag and New Zealanders fought under the Union Jack in World War I.

It is argued that removing the Union Jack somehow disrespects the country’s Queen. Well, actually, it doesn’t, and the Queen has her own distinctive Royal Standard. The Union flag is her country’s banner.

I hadn’t heard that argument but most other Commonwealth countries have changed their flag without in any way disrespecting the monarch.

The third argument for the status quo is that the flag is historic. That’s true, but also the core of the problem. The flag tells the world the British part of our history remains paramount to us today.

And this is a flag adopted when the colony still excluded Maori from its main census count – a flag which ignored and obliquely insulted our Polynesian past. Yes, it’s that far out of touch.

Fiji is about to remove the Union Jack from its flag, leaving only three of the 49 self governing Commonwealth countries that keep it – us, Australia and those parts of Tuvalu which remain above water. It’s right to value the British part of New Zealand’s heritage.

But it’s wrong that in 2015 we keep a different, distant, country’s flag as the most eye catching feature of our own.

This denigrates us, and it does it very directly. Our country has built its own identity. It’s time our flag reflected it.

I won’t definitely commit to voting for change until I know which of the new designs I’d be voting for.

But I am open to the idea of changing our current flag which recognises only part of our past:

 The Union Jack in the top left-hand corner of the Flag recognises New Zealand’s historical foundations as a former British colony and dominion.

And was designed in Australia to feature Crux Australis (the Southern Cross) by a man who’d never set foot in New Zealand, for a former Queensland governor who was just passing through.

I’d prefer one which is recognisably ours, that may or may not acknowledge the past, and does reflect New Zealand now and where we want to go.

And I am excited about the idea of a flag that is chosen by us.

How many other governments have trusted their people to choose their own flag or vote against change which will be an option in the second referendum?

Hypocrisy and sabotage would give Hobson’s choice

Labour went into last year’s election supporting the planned two-stage flag referendum process and promising to enact it should it become government.

Just a few month’s later the statesman like promise has been supplanted by childish posturing out of pique:

Labour’s Trevor Mallard said he opposed the process and believed it was not time to change the flag.

Mr Mallard said he would be ranking highest the worst possible alternative flag and ranking lowest the best possible one as his protest against it.

 It is hypocritical to say it’s not the time now when his party was fully supportive of the process last year.

And this isn’t just a protest, it’s an attempt to sabotage the process which allows us all to choose a new flag, or not.

He won’t do that by just voting perversely himself but by milking the opportunity for publicity by encouraging others to do it too.

Everyone who doesn’t want a fourth flag, or is open to change but doesn’t like the option we’ll be left with, will have the opportunity to vote for the current flag, which is our third, in the second referendum.

Given the number who don’t want change for genuine reasons and those who will oppose the change out of political pique, the chances are we’ll be stuck with the status quo anyway.

But Mallard isn’t prepared to leave people to choose or not, he’s going to do his best to give us Hobson’s choice.

 

Quote of the day

All the effort pays off. You can’t focus on love and not become more loving. Work on compassion and you’ll become more compassionate. The same goes for forgiveness and trust and all the other great things that make being a human a big love affair. Practice doesn’t make you perfect, but it surely brings you closer to the beautiful person you were born to be. And that’s worth the effort. – Scott Stabile