ImperatorFish: Environmentalists Are Not The Problem, Mr Groser

Written By: - Date published: 12:59 pm, July 3rd, 2012 - 9 comments
Categories: Environment, ETS, farming, tourism - Tags:

Scott at Imperator Fish has kindly given us permission to syndicate posts from his blog – the original of this post is here.

It’s behind an NBR paywall, but I’m told this is how Trade Minister Tim Groser described the threat to our “100% Pure” image.

“Our enemies who are internal, will find one cow in one stream and feed it back to environmental activists in the developed world to be used to try to exclude New Zealand’s products and services in the ludicrous belief this will somehow help New Zealand.”

The 100% pure brand was used to market the New Zealand tourism experience and it has been deliberately manipulated in this space,” Mr Groser says.

The “100% Pure” brand might be a good one for the tourism folk, but we don’t live up to the promise. The brand trades on New Zealand’s reputation for being an unspoilt paradise, but it’s a reputation we don’t deserve. Our streams and waterways are dirty, our agricultural emissions are growing, and we subsidise our biggest polluters. There is also no sense of urgency within central government about the threat to our clean green image.

We’re not the most polluted country in the world, but nor are we clean. We should aspire to be a country where the physical environment we live in is nurtured and cherished, rather than being treated as a dumping ground.

If our clean green image is so important, why isn’t the government Groser is a part of doing more to protect it? Groser’s attack on environmentalists is a clumsy attempt to divert attention from the government’s failures.

Nobody living in a democracy should be talking about “internal enemies”, but if we must identify those responsible for the failure of our “100% Pure” brand, let’s start with the polluters, not those who are trying to improve the environment.

9 comments on “ImperatorFish: Environmentalists Are Not The Problem, Mr Groser ”

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  1. Kevin Welsh 1
    3 July 2012 at 1:24 pm

    Creeping fascism?

    Nothing like an ‘internal enemies’ dogwhistle to mobilise the faithful.

  2. Uturn 2
    3 July 2012 at 1:48 pm

    One cow in one stream? Would have to be a very big cow, in a magical stream that reached waterways not directly connected to it. Oh right, hyperbole, motivated by the deep emotional distress of knowing you aren’t going to make as much money as you thought.

    • Jim Nald 2.1
      3 July 2012 at 2:11 pm

      “find one cow in one stream”

      For a second there, I had to re-read that and thought he was referring to one of his ministerial colleagues.

      The mental image was he was back in the country, in Canterbury or somewhere else in NZ, when he came across his colleague who was out and about looking for a photo op.

      • Uturn 2.1.1
        3 July 2012 at 2:20 pm

        He also implies NZ is not part of the developed world. That interview should’ve been filmed. Clearly he popped a foo foo valve.

  3. Matthew 3
    3 July 2012 at 3:09 pm

    If the trade deal Mr Groser is currently negotiating gets signed, a cow in a stream will be the last of our problems.

  4. BillODrees 4
    3 July 2012 at 4:43 pm

    The full NBR report was on The Standard last Friday.  Here it is again.

     Enemies within hurtful to ‘100% NZ brand’ Brand by Rob Hosking in NBR,   Thursday June 28, 2012  
    The “100% Pure New Zealand” brand – meant to promote tourism but extended for political reasons – is now being used to hurt New Zealand, Trade Minister Tim Groser says.
    Mr Groser told a Wellington Employers Chamber of Commerce function today the brand, begun in mid-1999 by Tourism New Zealand, was now being used to hurt this country.
    “Our enemies, who are internal, will find one cow in one stream and feed it back to environmental activists in the developed world to be used to try to exclude New Zealand’s products and services in the ludicrous belief that this will somehow help New Zealand.”
    The 100% brand was created to market the New Zealand tourism experience “and it has been deliberately manipulated in this political space”, Mr Groser  says.
    The comments came in response to questions about whether New Zealand could grow more “global brands” such as Fonterra, and what could be done to develop such brands.
    Mr Groser says development of such brands might be possible but size and the nature of New Zealand ‘s economic strengths makes their development difficult.  While some may eventuate, he says New Zealand is more likely to develop its own brand as a country, and also to have its products as part of other international brands.
    Development of niche industries, such as making specialist parts of international brands, is a more likely productive path. 
    “I cannot believe you can build many brands at a commercial level – there will be one or two of them who may do it. But we are just too small an economy.
    “Our future lies not in creating serious brands, although that is certainly an option for Fonterra.
    “But they will tell you some of the facile stuff you read about in the newspapers is just so ill-informed about the reality of what it takes to build a brand.
    “The reality is the way forward is to be part of the supply chain of a company that has a global brand. It’s about finding a niche in the supply chain of something that may be a global brand.”

    • Bunji 4.1
      3 July 2012 at 4:54 pm

      “I cannot believe you can build many brands at a commercial level – there will be one or two of them who may do it. But we are just too small an economy.”

      National: Ambitious for New Zealand.

  5. AnnaLiviaPluraBella 5
    3 July 2012 at 5:32 pm

    “Our future lies not in creating serious brands, although that is certainly an option for Fonterra.  “But they will tell you some of the facile stuff you read about in the newspapers is just so ill-informed about the reality of what it takes to build a brand. “The reality is the way forward is to be part of the supply chain of a company that has a global brand. It’s about finding a niche in the supply chain of something that may be a global brand.”

    Bunji is correct. This little man Groser, our Trade Minister, has so little ambition for New Zealand:  we should not have ambitions above our station in life.  He is saying that we are such a bit player we should take the lead from elsewhere.

    The worrying thing about this drivle on “brands” is that those negotiating against him in TPPA must find him the easiest patsy to roll.  The Americans will not need to buy Groser a G’nT.  Groser has lost all leverage before before he got to the bar.

  6. shaz 6
    4 July 2012 at 11:28 pm

    Wedge politics all the way.
    Divide and rule and seeing enemies within is just part of the game
    Mad environmentalists intent on ruining our economic base vs everyone else
    Single mums on DPB vs the employed
    Green vs Red
    Small business owners vs employees
    Lazy ACC claimants vs the currently uninjured
    the deserving vs the undeserving poor.
    Anti-asset sales people who decide not to turn up their noses at free money vs people who can afford not to be manipulated into buying shares vs people who cannot affort to buy

    Ugly manufactured disagreements to divide us and sadly it’s working well.