Pigs

Written By: - Date published: 10:00 am, May 27th, 2009 - 15 comments
Categories: animal welfare, greens, labour, national/act government - Tags: , , ,

pigIt’s good to see Green MP Sue Kedgley calling on John Key to personally fix the abuse of pigs in sow crates. The chair of Nawac appears incapable of seeing that there’s even a problem, and the Minister of Agriculture has already been caught misleading the public on national television to defend the industry. It’s up to John Key to show some leadership and sort this mess out.

Speaking of leadership, what I’ve found most disappointing in this whole saga has been the deafening silence from Labour on the issue. The National Party was founded by farmers. They’ve always defended farmers for their bad behaviour and they always will. Labour has no excuse. Sure, you sat on your hands for nine years and let this continue without a word, but would it really hurt to take a stand on principle here?

Yes, there will be critics asking embarrassing questions about why you didn’t stand up for animal welfare when you had the chance, but if John “creeping communism” Key can swallow his pride and support Working For Families I’m sure you can do the same for something that, deep down, you actually believe in.

15 comments on “Pigs ”

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  1. the sprout 1
    27 May 2009 at 10:11 am

    yep fair call on that one Eddie. Labour have not shown any leadership or concern on this issue.

  2. Luke H 2
    27 May 2009 at 10:21 am

    Fun fact about the “Creeping Communism” article: the title was probably made up by Lindsay Perigo, not John Key.

  4. Pat 4
    27 May 2009 at 10:35 am

    Labour swallowed the dead rats and admitted they got it wrong on the Electoral Finance Act and Seabed and Foreshore. So I agree that it would be smart for Labour to seize on popular issues to promote, even if it raises icky questions on their inaction whilst in Government. If nothing else, Goff can use issues like this to show that his Labour party is different to Helen’s.

    Goff needs to learn from Key on this. Key has no problem hoovering ideas from the Greens and stealing the thunder, such as the home insulation package. Why doen’t Labour pick up on Kedgley’s compulsory labelling idea as well?

    .

  5. Bill 5
    27 May 2009 at 10:39 am

    Let me get this right. JK reckoned that wff would mean workers not doing overtime. That employers would wonder where the workforce had gone.

    So, now that the economy is in a recession workplaces can snap up workers to make up production. Right?

    On a broader note, the subtext of his ‘Creeping Communism’ piece could be, not unreasonably, taken as (given the main topic of this post) that if it’s good enough for pigs, its good enough for beneficiaries.

    Two legs good, indeed.

    edit. Cram ’em in to high density ‘housing’. Give ’em no amenities and a heap of close family time. hmm…………oh, and maybe the ability to dream.

    • Bill 5.1
      27 May 2009 at 10:53 am

      Gee. Forgot about the pills and drugs to keep them going, crap diets, fatalism, plenty of opportunity to huddle and generate natural body heat and no insulation.

  6. outofbed 6
    27 May 2009 at 10:42 am

    We (the Greens) don’t mind people nicking our ideas, Go for it

  7. exbrethren 7
    27 May 2009 at 11:07 am

    Time for Labour to dump the outdated Anderton and have a new direction on farming issues. I believe he was behind a lot of the conservative thinking on animal welfare issues in the last government.

    • George D 7.1
      27 May 2009 at 6:19 pm

      Him and Sutton.

      Does anyone here actually expect any better than this from the Labour Party? I’m not in the least disappointed, because thus far they’ve exceeded my expectations. Saying nothing is a huge improvement on their performance over the last 9 years.

  8. The Voice of Reason 8
    27 May 2009 at 11:08 am

    I’ts not Labour’s silence that surprises me, it’s the lack of comment from the Senseless Sentencing Trust. Why aren’t they campaigning to move pigs into prisons and prisoners into the crates?

    A win/win, surely?

  9. Tigger 9
    27 May 2009 at 11:43 am

    Oh god, don’t encourage Key to do anything else. The man is already run ragged. Between negotiating on the Hilary papers, defending Christine Rankin’s love life, noting that Melissa Lee probably shouldn’t like the idea of carrying a gun, banning over the counter medications and announcing car crushing (yep, for some reason he felt he had to front for Joyce and Collins on this) not to mention single-handedly curing the common cold (okay, I made that last one up) – Key already has a full plate.

    Mr Key, you DO realise you have Ministers who were elected to do all this stuff you think is somehow your concern? You’re looking more and more like a meddling CEO and less like a competent PM who has a good Cabinet who he trusts to do their job.

    Personally, I don’t want Key looking after pigs – I want someone with time and focus to do it and do it well.

  10. the sprout 10
    27 May 2009 at 12:07 pm

    Roger Douglas was a pig farmer, he may have a bit of time on his hands.

  11. grumpy 11
    27 May 2009 at 12:56 pm

    The only way Labour can get back is to take back middle New zealand.

    The pig farming issue is an opportunity to distance itself from the Clark/Anderton years. Labour must also lose the feminist Gay rights domination of it’s caucus and make itself more relevant.

    Otherwise the Greens will be the party of the Left and Labour will be gone.

  12. Pat 12
    27 May 2009 at 1:04 pm

    Give Mallard and Cosgrove the reins, and Labour would look slightly Left of ACT! They could probably form a MOU.

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