what is happening

I am enjoying time with my mother and son over the holidays. I love watching the generations together, 76 and 4 and me closer to mums age than Kahu’s. Mum was born into a family that lived in the Catlins, in what would be called now, a shed. Where will Kahu be when he is 76. I do believe we are heading towards tough times but I have hope. I believe in my son and the world he is growing into. I will do everything to make that world the best it can be for him and his peers.

Part of that is highlighting aspects of our society that are detrimental to the benefit of everyone. I was shocked to read this report about dairy farms and their voluntary (non) compliance with the Dairying and Clean Streams Accord

Nelson Mail

Under the latest accord figures published last month, 69 per cent of Fonterra Tasman dairy farmers told the company their stock was totally excluded from all permanent waterways on their properties deeper than a Red Band gumboot and wider than a stride. However, a representative audit conducted by the Ministry of Agriculture of 35 of those farms found that the actual figure was just 17 per cent, the second worst result behind Marlborough with 8 per cent. Nationally, MAF found 42 per cent of 587 farms inspected excluded stock from waterways, just half of what Fonterra's survey of farmers suggested.

69% to 17% is a disgrace and should be investigated thoroughly. There is something really wrong that farmers can misrepresent what is happening to the environment within their farms. These waterways flow and carry any shit, silt and mud downstream.

Neil Deans, Nelson Marlborough manager of the environmental group, which has long been critical of the policing of the accord, said the gap between what farmers said they did and what MAF had found was too big to put down to a mistake and it was clear some farmers were "pulling the wool".

Sadly a lot of dairy farmers, for all sorts of reasons, are letting us all down. We want the rivers to be clean and alive with strong mauri and plentiful life. The dairy farmers who are actively working against that should be ashamed, and they are making life more difficult in the future for our children – that should be reason enough for them to change their ways. But to date they have made the problems worse and changed little for the better.

Scoop

The number of dairy cattle in New Zealand increased to 6.2 million at 30 June 2011, Statistics New Zealand said today. This provisional result from the 2011 Agricultural Production Survey was up 260,000 on the number in 2010. "This is the first time the number of dairy cattle in New Zealand has exceeded 6 million" agricultural statistics manager Hamish Hill said. "The dairy herd is now double the number it was 30 years ago."

Our environment should not be sacrificed for a small group to make money. The basic requirements are compliance even if it lacks teeth and is woefully inadequate. The fact that this simple requirement cannot be met should send shivers down our spines because what the hell is actually going on. How bad is it?

i am a son of my mother

I've been away for a few days driving trucks down country. The highlight was catching up with mum, cooking her a big pot of dahl, discussing the election and hearing that Mana will be getting two ticks from her in South Dunedin.

like mother like son

we are doing good

I’ve been on a journey down south to support mum who suffered another small stroke. She is okay and doing well. The trip was eventful and overall the impression I have of the last few days is of kindness. From the start to the finish I was surrounded and supported by kindness – and I enjoyed it. The exchange of kindness via support creates obligations above and beyond any monetary value and those obligations feel natural and will be fulfilled because that is the way we do it, that is utu.

One of the unintended consequences was I really missed the by-election. Sure I heard some reports and have caught up a bit now, but I missed it. Although unintended it has been positive because I have had time to mull and consider what happened and what should happen now in regards to Mana.

It is great the Hone won and I am very pleased about that because it is the seed for the Mana Party – from this win a great tree will grow and that tree will supply shelter to those who need it. I also feel that the by-election result was a win for labour. The numbers tell the story and that majority is very slender now. I have zero time for goff – he is just a boneless weakling and his continued line about not working with Mana is idiotic and false – I don’t expect anything else from goff, but I do from labour and that hope is an illusion.

I had a number of chats with people on the road and often although they like Hone sortof they don’t like the impression that he can’t get on with people. This meme has gained traction especially amongst Ngāi Tahu I spoke to and shows the value of hitting a consistent message, albeit negative. Hone has contributed to this obviously and I think the ‘white motherfucker’ line has done more damage than anything. What to do. Hone is Hone and that will never change and I don’t want him to. Hone is quite statesmanlike when he wants to be and he is gracious too. But I think the challenge for Mana is to find a leader who is a Māori female a toa wahine. I think Hone is better and more effective when he has the room to move and he hasn’t got that as the leader of the Mana Party. Now is the time to sort this – before the election - as the list is announced and this will create media and the ability to put the message out to the people which definitely needs to be done as the by-election result shows. There is a danger that it could be perceived negatively but within the hailstorm of deliberate undermining of Mana it won’t make a difference in their messages but it would broaden the support base of Mana.

Anyway, just some thoughts.

I am with Sandra Lee on the olive branch to the maori party issue – no - we are following Hone because he is following a different kaupapa to the maori party. The people are investing Hone with mana to lead them with integrity. Of course working together is no problem but there can be no deal on the seats – that one is to be sorted in the ballot because otherwise they will not learn the lesson and they will always whinge on about how they were right – no - they will get smashed to bits and from those bits will again rise up and there will be a vehicle to represent them and it will be Mana.

So all good really. The big advantage of the by-election is to listen to the messages coming back and find the gaps and the areas where improvement can be made. People are crying out for a political party to represent them, the challenge is to show them how Mana is that Party. 

Kindness to others and to ourselves - we are doing good.