Both Bill English and Fred Tulett have had their say on the Fed's boardroom walkout, but they've chosen to throw their weight behind opposite camps. In the ES corner, Fred Tulett, Southland Times editor. Rooting for the dairy farmers, Bill English, Deputy Prime Minister. Fred's got it right, Bill's way off the game. In today's editorial, 'Federated feelings', Fred picks the hypocrisy of the Fed's emotive walkout as it contrasts with their intention to claim moral authority by minding their p's and q's at the public meeting. Mr Tulett's tone is...well, I'll let you judge for yourself, here. Suffice to say, he's not swallowed the Fed line, hook or sinker. Bill English has though, and has gone to the effort of claiming all sorts of pro-federation, anti-Council things. He's been fed the Fed line and has gulped it down. "I was a bit surprised but I don't think it was a good thing Environment Southland decided it couldn't talk to anybody in the last three months about the issue..." says Bill. You'll be equally surprised then, Mr English, to find that what you've been told isn't true at all. "It shouldn't get to that point...[farmers] have not been able to be heard." Wrong again, and a simple phone call to any of the Councillors would have cleared up Bill's mistaken thinking. Making statements like that in our regional newspaper, without checking their veracity seems foolish, but perhaps Mr English has his reasons for attacking the Council. His declaration that, "We can't leave Southland's future in the hands of those who rely on slogans, instead of facts, and fighting, instead of problem solving." is designed to garner farmer favour and make nervous the Council but is nonsense when weighed against the facts.
Of the two commentators, Bill and Fred, only one of them has it correct. And it's Fred.
7 comments:
Bill is all bluff and bluster and as finance minister he has already proven to be appalling with figures, he doesn't seem to realize that dairy farmers are a minority in his electorate.
His aim will be, perhaps, to ignite anti-council sentiment and negative public reaction, at the same time trying to endear himself to the farming community, something he needs to do as his Government is not serving them well lately. Or perhaps he's just been fed spin by the Feds and hasn't bothered to do some background investigation.
Perhaps.
Perhaps the farmers friend fred will write a positive dairy industry or feds editorial next week?
Perhaps. I suspect he will write something he believes to be genuinely beneficial to Southland. his recent pieces on the Waituna Lagoon and water quality across the region have been enthusiastically received by Southlanders and after all, Fred writes for the whole community, not just a small segment of it, such as the Feds, or the dairy sector.Personally, I think Fred's getting it about right.
Could you include some links to what they said?
Hi Ross.
I would, but neither is online, curiously. Both the editorial and English's pot-shot are on paper only. Next time, I'll scan and include them with my commentary.
Don't you get the Southland Times :-)
Hi Robert,
I've had another look through Saturday's and Monday's paper and can't find English's reply. It could be because I'm reading the Central Otago / Lakes District version.
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