disinformation

[harm_less]

All of the industries you mention are becoming uneconomic. Economic viability is pretty hard to compete against and propaganda based on shoddy science just doesn't cut it in the modern world. It is becoming apparent we have been living a fools dream for the past half decade and it's now a case of doing our best to repair and hopefully reverse the damage we have inflicted on our planet, which is of course going to come at a cost to those who have been riding the gravy train up until now.

One of NZ's great strengths is its ability to innovate so we should now draw on that ability to find our sustainable place in the world, and transporting low value products which often have minimal added value input isn't going to serve that purpose. Located as we are down here in the bottom left hand corner of the Pacific we are further away from our markets than virtually any of our competitors so we need to produce high value good in a form that is acceptable to a very environmentally aware world. If not the fuel miles will continue to kill our market viability.

There is no other industry to replace what we are losing. Some tek companies will thrive but other than that all we have is to borrow until we can borrow no more. Our farmers are the most environmentally friendly in the world so shifting our farming to other countries is not helping the environment. Shifting our mills and manufacturing to China and India is not good for the environment as they are burning 40% more coal this year alone to fill that demand from the western world.

Our dairy farmers are on a hiding to nothing so long as their milk is shipped off with only the water removed. Shipping costs are similar for a container of milk powder as for one full of fine cheese (more so if it's certified Organic) or pharmaceutical grade by-products. It's a matter of working smarter not harder as NZ's environment is what's doing the heavy lifting and it's starting to come apart at the seams.

A similar case can be made for forestry and numerous other horticulturally or agriculturally based industries. We should be capitalising (and value adding) by way of our environmental integrity not degrading it in an attempt to make a quick buck.

The links you provide reinforce the point of differentiating our products as far from those from such country's outputs. To compete with those countries head to head is a sure fire road to economic failure and environmental ruin for NZ.