The Food Crisis

The Food Crisis.

I’ve read Bryce Edward’s article on the cost of living crisis in France that featured significantly in their recent election.

It doesn’t follow though that the mechanics of the inflation behind this “cost of living crisis” are the same in both countries nor does it follow that the public response will be the same or that it will feature in our next election to the same degree.

The common problem, and we really should have our best minds focused on this, is what is driving our inflationary issues and our public response.

There is common ground in that the world is suffering something equivalent to the inflation last seen during the Second World War with the level of disruption to (the two main drivers of the global economy) trade and tourism.

The pain hits those on fixed incomes and those not producing home produce. Up to the 1970s much of New Zealand was still in war mode production in that respect because of the Pacific theatre.

The New Zealand culture is very weary of our isolation and I would suggest much more in tune with self-sufficiency. The response to the “Food Crisis” rather than protest as we saw in France is more likely the development of a secondary economy around food – It’s already happening.

That adds pressure to the businesses of our already stressed growers in particular struggling with inflationary costs and over regulation.

To me, it’s disturbing that we would beat political drums over such a political comparison rather than look, for example, at what affect the current separatist agenda will have on our economy, our society and even our food production when we see this agenda fronted through Labour’s proposed 3 Waters.

Too much of the voting public have been left in the dark about He Puapua. One gentleman whom I asked, if he knew about He Puapua, replied that he was too old to learn another language.

When we compare the political advice distributed about Covid compared to the separatist agenda that really should ring warning bells and much louder ones than any comparisons with the French election.

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Refinery Meeting

A public meeting being held in Whangarei tomorrow, Sunday 24 April, will feature five speakers representing key players wanting the government to accept the Marsden Point Refinery as a strategic asset and keep the oil refinery in operation.

The five main speakers:

Craig Harrison, secretary of the Maritime Union which represents seafarers who crewed the two coastal tankers that delivered refined fuel from Marsden Point to ports around the country.

Aaron Holyrood, a senior operator who has spent most of his working life operating the complex equipment that turns crude oil into 80% of the country’s fuel needs.

Brian Cox, CEO of the Bio-Energy Association, whose members are involved in research, development, and production of advanced alternative fuels that a working refinery could blend with current fuel production.

Edward Miller, First Union which represents most of the workers being made redundant by the closure of the refinery whose skills and knowledge are being lost as many head to jobs offshore.

Chris Leitch, leader of the Social Credit party which gathered 18,300 signatures for a petition to raise awareness of the country’s fuel security and issues surrounding reliance on imported refined products.

Social Credit is understood to be distancing itself from its 2020 Northland candidate, Brad Flutey who is leading the “Dig In Protest” at Marsden Refinery. The writer understands that Flutey has been asked not to attend the meeting.

The meeting starts at 1pm on Sunday in Whangarei’s Forum North in Rust Ave in the city centre.