The drought has affected different parts of the country in different ways.
We were really bad here but had a let-off in late March. Mates further north are still suffering.
The drought has highlighted the desperate need for water storage. If we are going to farm our way out of the crisis, and that’s our only hope as a country, then we’ve got to have water.
The good news is that’s finally been recognised and commitments have already been made to increase water storage.
With covid-19 I’ve become increasingly frustrated with some of the supposed expert analysis.
We’ve had much commentary on the fact that New Zealand wasn’t prepared for a pandemic with Auckland University Professor Des Gorman leading the charge.
I can’t comment on our planning but I believe we’ve done a good job of containing the virus, which makes the level of preparedness less relevant.
Then we were quoted statistics – how NZ is 35th out of 195 countries in the Global Health Security Index.
So what. The most prepared country using that index is the United States. I prefer NZ at 35.
The news was dominated for a few days by the story the Ministry of Health had recommended we shut our borders to returning Kiwis with the Government ignoring the advice.
That shows me the system is working.
It was the ministry’s job to give the Government what it believed was the best advice, which it did.
The Government then assessed that advice and made its call. In my view the right call.
To me that was, simply, democracy working.
I also felt sorry for Opposition Leader Simon Bridges.
While he made a few calls in the early days I wouldn’t have I believe he’s done a good job. He’s there to call the Government to account, which he has. I think he’s done it well and effectively while not being pointlessly destructive.
Mind you, if he calls John Key his friend he doesn’t need enemies.
In the middle of the media attacks on Bridges Key came out effusively supporting ex-Air NZ head Christopher Luxon as a future leader.
My response to that is Bridges has been in Parliament for 12 years and held different ministerial posts. He has a track record. Luxon doesn’t.
Further, I don’t accept the argument that chief executives of large corporates make good political leaders.
The US is witness to that.
I believe we’re fortunate in NZ with democracy working the way it should.
I’m pleased with the way the Government has responded to the crisis and I believe the Opposition in the form of Bridges has properly held it to account.
In addition, it’s all done openly with live television. We’re fortunate.
There was some commentary saying the government over-reacted by moving to level four when it did.
I reject that.
The Bluff wedding and the Waikato stag party are witness to the fact it takes only one person in a gathering to infect up to 100 and be fatal.
There was also claims we should have gone from level four to level two, which I also reject. The Government made the right call.
Going forward isn’t going to be easy but I believe we can do it.
When Finance Minister Grant Robertson announced his support package over a month ago he made the point that companies with a strong balance sheet at the end of 2019 should be able to recover from the crisis.
The reaction from some companies has me wondering about the real state of their books at the end of last year.
I also wonder at the morality of some. I find it iniquitous that gold-plated, big-city law firms with gilded offices should reach for the taxpayer-funded begging bowl with indecent haste. Were they imprudent by operating without reserves or just greedy?
Fish and Game’s begging bowl also beggars belief. It is a compulsory union with guaranteed funding, covid-19 or not.
I also believe some used the crisis to justify actions that would have taken place anyway and the closure of the magazines owned by the German multi-media conglomerate Bauer was an example of that.
But I’m really positive about farming.
Prices for some products will be subdued for a while, markets will be more volatile than they have been and the supply of imported products will become less reliable and more expensive.
The flip side of that is the country will support food-producing farmers, the decision-makers will want to work with us not against us and farming will be seen as a career of choice.
Call me an optimist but even in these troubled times I’m confident about the future of food production in NZ.
