Dairy, Tourism and Housing – 3 sacred NZ cows in desperate need of slaughter

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We have 3 scared cows in NZ that are in desperate need of slaughtering.

Dairy: It is telling how crazy the debate about Dairy and its negative impact on environment has become when Fonterra are pushing pro farmer propaganda while also attempting to gag Greenpeace from playing adverts that show the truth behind their environmental lies.

Rachel Stewart nails it…

It’s all very well for Fonterra to say on their website that farmers have “spent $1 billion dollars on environmental initiatives over the last five years.” Quantify that figure. Break it down for us. Treat us like we are capable of reading balance sheets.

Is that spending on upgraded effluent ponds that, in many cases, should have been done years ago?

Is it on native trees for the riparian planting of streambanks, and normally subsidised by regional councils – ratepayers – anyway?

Frankly, I can’t see where the shadowy “billion” went but I do know this.

It’s been a huge waste of money simply because it hasn’t worked.

…Fonterra are liars about their true impact on our environment and while we remain a nation unable to develop our own raw products into finished goods, we are simply being held ransom by a small group of National Party Corporate Farmers. Less intensification, not more is what is needed and with climate change ready to dramatically change the agricultural cycles, we need to ensure domestic food supply and not a global one.

Will Dairy be reigned in? No way. They have too much power, Labour and even the Greens leave Dairy out of any real reductions in their climate change emissions.

 

Tourism: Tourism is empty money. With the massive loopholes in our free market immigration policies, foreign tourism operators import their own workers to work in the tourism industry here, and all we get is massive stress on our infrastructure to the point the bloody Airport is gridlocked.

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These huge cruise ships that come to town. When they are here they close the wharves to the public and these rich tourists come ashore demanding luxury goods from luxury good shops who don’t serve a domestic market but serve these rich tourists. The impact of that is to drive retail rents up and gentrify public space.

This image is what mass tourism creates…

We need an immediate infrastructure tax on all tourists visiting NZ. An extra couple of hundred dollars to these people that is paid directly to infrastructure projects would do much to solve this.

Will tourism be reigned in? Of course not, no one will admit it’s a problem until they need to catch a flight.

 

Housing: National needs the property bubble, it keeps pushing up values and makes property owning NZers feel like they are multi-millionaires. Middle class NZ have been taken hook line a and sinker with this and are happy to allow mass surveillance, 300 000 kids in poverty, 41 000 homeless and  unethical political behaviour to ensure they can still get a gold credit card from their bank. Property owners don’t care about those who have lost out, the millennials just want the same property speculation rights as boomers and the rest are left to sleep in cars.

We need to ban all foreign buyers of NZ land and we need to limit the amount of houses a family/individual can own.

Will anything change? Only when the global economy pops.

13 COMMENTS

  1. I’d add Thugby to that list! The panacea for all ills, just pretend poverty etc doesn’t exist whilst you watch the ‘game’ bashing up and other vile behaviour.

  2. The housing bubble will go ‘POP ‘.Environmental partisan warfare to will commence with a ‘ BANGGGGGG ‘ . Taxes on the rich ‘ visitor ‘ and the ‘ mercantile new New Zealander ‘ will be instituted. I anticipate late 2017.

  3. Do more with milk, make even better cheeses, boutique ones, and so much more. Do more to protect the environment, without that we are stuffed, how can dirty dairy be allowed?

    Tourism is a fake benefit to the economy, those many air-miles and emissions, that is not good for the environment, for sure, so how “green” is that kind of economy?

    Housing in NZ seems to be only an “investment option”, social housing no longer is a priority nor taken seriously by this crap government. Do we all have to live in rentals that accommodate the lifestyles of others, last not least property millionaires?

    I cannot believe NZers let it go this far, in Europe this situation would have resulted in protests or even a revolution a long time ago. Sorry to wake up sleepy hobbits.

  4. Why stop at banning foreign ownership of NZ land? Is there any good reason why land should be sold at all? When we have property booms like now, it is the land that increases in value. If land were not saleable, and the government was the steward of our land on behalf of the people, there would be no property booms and busts.

    • Henry Gorge advocated a system of Govt ownership of land which Norman Kirk saw as a good solution for many ingrained wealth gathering and concentrating problems. Crime is also strongly lined to this same problem.

      Foreigners owning land is crazy as is capital investment in land not being used by the “owner”.

      Land ownership is the base for growing inequity.

      Export of toxic dairy being the excuse for stuffing up our land and water is also plain crazy.

  5. rachel stewart – russel norman – green party politicians and the writer of this piece need to get up to speed with what is just around the corner for the nz dairy export industry..

    later this year on supermarket shelves will appear a product called ‘perfect day’..(previously called ‘mufree’ (geddit..?..you soon will..)

    this is a plant-based milk unlike any other..not just another soy/almond/whatever milk substitute..

    this is a milk indistinguishable from the animal-sourced one – it tastes the same..can be made into cheeses/whatever..the same as the animal-sourced one..

    is much much cheaper to produce..no environmental costs..no shitting in rivers etc..no half a million calves slaughtered every year in nz so the humans can get the milk intended for them..

    and it doesn’t need to be chilled..

    and this is just the first of a tidal wave of plant-based dairy products and ‘meat’ heading our way..and one that will wipe out our dairy industry..in the not too distant future..

    there will be no need for countries to pay for the import of meat/cheese etc from the other side of the world/nz..when it can be made locally in a warehouse/factory just down the road from where it is consumed..much cheaper to make/buy..much more environmentally ‘cleaner’..no need for the costs of/from raising then slaughtering animals..

    the nz dairy industry is currently in the same position as the bridle/saddle-makers/stable owners/horse-breeders when the first motor vehicles appeared on the scene..dominant/’good businesses’..but not for very much longer..

    and the outcomes of/from this will be devastating for nz

    and make no mistake..the plant-based ‘meat’ is also indistinguishable from the animal-flesh one..blind testing already done has proven that..

    and the fast-food chains will be the first to go for this..for the basic reason their customers won’t know/care about the difference..and once again..much much cheaper for them to buy than the animal-sourced stuff..

    pure economics will be a driver of this..a cheaper/better product is about to hit the market – and do away with what came before..

    so..there will be a hell of a lot of cheap dairy farms on the market soon..those late comers/queen st farmers who borrowed big to cash in on the white-gold rush will be some of the first to go to the wall..but most others will follow soon after..

    and i have real concerns for those iwi who have ploughed their treaty settlement monies into chasing what will soon turn out to be fools’ gold..they stand to lose the lot – and to be back to square one..

    and as a mildly interesting/amusing aside..i have been a vegan for about 20 years – and a vegetarian for avout 15 years before that..mainly for animal-rights reasons,,

    but the whole rationale for that/those choices/way of life will also be swept away..

    there will be no need to be vegan..’cos all/most of the products will be plant-based..so ‘problem solved’

    vegans are about to go the way of the abolitionists who fought against human-slavery in england/america etc..

    slavery in those places ended..no more need for abolitionists..

    animal-slavery will end..(for purely economic reasons/rationales)..so no more need for vegan animal rights activists..

    and funny story..!..like the dairy/animal-parts industries..most of those/my fellow vegans also do not yet realise this..

    but also like the dairy farmers/industry..they will soon enough…

    i am just sitting here watching/waiting for this trainwreck to happen..

    ‘cos ‘happen’ it will..no matter what anyone does/says/currently thinks..

    these are the facts i wish stewart/norman/greens etc. would get up to speed on..

    • The quiet revolution.

      Best future for peoples health, the health of the land its water as well as the sea and marine life we need in tact to have a ongoing healthy atmosphere.

      NZ dairy land should converted to smart cropping which will produce many times the food on a given area , use less water and when properly managed for long term soil health , will not use fertiliser of other toxic practises.
      Greenhouse gas emissions will be drastically reduced and wasteful destructive irrigation schemes avoided by growing crops that are suited to climate and land. This can be enforced by properly regulating consents for land use.

      Production of food and any processing needs to be in house for NZ.

      This planet is in a dire state so carrying on in the same manner that caused the destruction is not an option.

      Plant based food diet would see cancer, heart disease and a wide range of immune system diseases all falling to very low rates of incidence.

      We also need to reduce human population numbers. Intelligent planning is better than dealing with unmanageable consequences.

      Tourism is a crazy polluting, environmentally destructive pastime for rich ignorant wasters.

    • another test tube disaster waiting to happen and about the same chance of success as cancer causing tofu had in replacing real healthy meat

      • Check the “Cancer Causing Tofu” research.

        Weston A Price foundation has circulated a lot of pseudo scientific clap trap about Soy. They are funded by US ranchers who who saw Soy as a challenge to meat , a substance we know is cancer causing.

        Soy products have been used for centuries in communities with very low cancer rates.

  6. We need to freeze the accommodation supplement (a $1,800,000,000 subsidy for landlords which allows them to charge higher rents) and instead build many more state houses.

    • 100% for a starter.

      State financing of house loans for families with pegged interest rate.

      State Advances is not a new idea but used to house many families of the boomers grew up in.

      State based insurance also has been killed off by guess who – not the people.

  7. The solutions will probably need to be incremental, but a reasonable set of priorities include:
    Break up Fonterra. As a monopsony it is an obstacle to the kind of innovation and diversification that would be best for NZ. It was created for lobbying power and that is its only virtue. Smaller players obtain better returns to farmers and may be receptive to innovations like organic milk or biotechnology.
    Tax capital gains. Property speculation has never been good for any economy, and share market capital gains are not a whit more virtuous. There is no reason whatsoever that they should be privileged over income – if anything they should be penalised to direct investment towards productive enterprises.
    Reform immigration law with the presumption that local employers are the kind of lying, kiwi-hating wannabe slave owners exemplified by the Talley family. Work permits for technical skills only, with right of first employment to any qualified kiwi absolute – workforces not consisting of a majority of NZ citizens restructured.
    Non-contributing tourist operators (those that employ non-NZ labour) or non-contributing accomodation like foreign cruise ships to pay a head tax set at a level that infrastructure items like public toilets and waste collection in so-called freedom camping problem areas are covered.
    Banking reform – access to the lucrative NZ mortgage market should only be allowed under conditions including competitive credit card rates, very modest fees, and full taxes on any profits just like any other business.
    It will take only one or two terms to revive the NZ economy, in the unlikely event any government actually wished to do so.
    Treasury might as well be scrapped – they’re only lying non-performing assholes. Stats is no better.

    • Treasury and Stats along with other Govt Depts are driven by political interests under recent govts.

      They were once a public service reasonably independent of political influence. Now any whistle blower is deal to.

      Stats on the NZ poor have been virtually dropped form publication.

      Neo liberalism is alive and flourishing in Treasury. Staff selection processes see to that.

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