The utes were three deep on one side of the paddock and two on the other. I’ve seen less spectators at NPC games.
Mind you, I’d seen worse rugby as well.
The utes were young and old, predominantly diesel and without exception they were covered in dust and mud. I didn’t see a clean vehicle.
That’s par for the course in the rural hinterland. A ute is a tool and a valuable one. It is there to do a job. It is not there to look pretty.
Someone should tell the clowns in Wellington.
Before I go there, I must mention the country club; East Coast did lose by the slimmest of margins (13-10) to the team from the rustic rural hamlet of Carterton. More importantly, it was a game of two halves and rugby was the winner. The match moved at a fast pace, with the referee not consulting the video ref once.
It’s as it should be.
Getting back to utes. There has got to be something in the water in Wellington that eliminates any vestige of practicality and common sense when people get there.
The latest stupidity is to tax utes and subsidise electric vehicles (EVs).
EVs, even with the subsidy, are incredibly expensive and their range is limited. The Government’s website proudly tells us that’s not a problem because the “average” round trip in NZ is only 90km. From the farm to Masterton, the return is somewhat longer than that.
There are six reasons to buy an EV, they tell us. The first is to slash emissions. That’s true, but an EV has a higher carbon footprint to construct.
The second point is that EVs have lower lifestyle emissions which is true, but you then must dispose of the toxic batteries.
There is no queueing at petrol stations which is correct, but you can take two hours to charge an EV.
We are also told that EVs are “cheap to run” – if you can afford the purchase price. They’re a “quiet, zippy ride” if that’s what you want. Having a ‘zippy’ ride in the roads round here would probably promote a crash, but an accident can’t affect our GHG emissions.
Transport Minister Michael Wood tells us that the Government initiatives, all $302 million of them, should promote 190,000 extra EVs. Considering the NZ fleet has 4.1 million vehicles, that’s not a lot.
My point is that if Wood wants to promote EVs that’s fine, but don’t do it at the expense of the productive sector.
For a start, no one is currently manufacturing electric utes. If it happens, it won’t be for years.
And while I’ve an open mind, I cannot imagine hauling the trailer, complete with a load of fence posts out from Masterton, by driving a Prius, a Suzuki Swift or a Nissan Leaf.
I can’t imagine putting half a dozen rams in the back of one either.
So why are we doing this?
Subsidising EVs is a sop to the wealthy as even with the subsidy, the average person can’t afford one.
I’d also like to see an independent analysis of the claim that the increase in electric vehicles will result in a reduction in our CO2 emissions of 9.2 million tonnes. The average car produces 4.6t of CO2 a year. If you multiply that figure by the 190,000 new EVs the Government is hoping for, the figure is 879,000t.
Conversely, increasing the tax on a workhorse in the form of a ute is little more than a bloody-minded impost on the productive sector be they farmers or trades people.
It’s important to remember that EVs for the wealthy are already being subsidised. They don’t pay a cent in Road User Charges or petrol tax.
Those driving petrol and diesel vehicles pay for all the road construction and maintenance. EVs get a free ride.
What irritates me is that farmers have little choice over the vehicle that they drive. In most cases it needs to be four-wheel drive. Farms in this part of the country aren’t flat.
In addition, the vehicles need to be diesel. I did have a petrol ute, which didn’t cut it.
From a safety perspective a four-wheel drive diesel ute is the best vehicle for the farm.
So why tax a ute, especially when a Remuera family, with their two tractors, can look forward to a government subsidy to change to EVs?
It is all a complete shower.
