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Sadly, much of the substance of the anger at 1080 seems to draw from the anti-establishment well. This is what saddens me the most; that despite all the evidence of 1080 being effective it is quickly dismissed because there is some relation to a crown entity or state department. Even the independent charities, such as Forest and Bird, are dismissed as being too cosy with government. While there are obvious and understandable reasons people may be sceptical of government and even science; but pest control is not a profitable industry. There is no financial motive, or any discernible motive that comes from the use of 1080. So why would we continue to use it? Because it’s proven to work.

The scientists & conservation workers that I know look forward to the time when reliable, equally-effective alternatives become available – but that time is still, realistically, years away and frankly, our native ecosystems can’t wait that long. We definitely need to keep talking about this issue, and we need to improve the way we do that. The grandstanding and the untruths don’t help anything, least of all the living taonga we all want to protect.

Bill Rosenberg is the economist and director of policy for the Council of Trade Unions 

I re-entered politics because I wanted to see hope return for the many New Zealanders whom National had failed. I was sick of seeing the people in my community go without and fall further and further behind as those from the wealthier parts of town danced to a ‘rock star’ economy tune none of us could hear.

It’s strange to see that the infamous British politician Nigel Farage didn’t set the internet aflame in New Zealand, but I guess there’s no algorithm to the fickle beast of social media.

This morning on that great bastion of National Party propaganda, Kiwiblog, David Farrar wrote a very unbalanced and quite frankly sloppy article titled “Willie wrong on almost every stat”.