The 2012 report saw widespread praise for John Key’s “rightward turn” following the 2011 election, with a sense that the Prime Minister was beginning to govern in the interests of the country rather than the polls. Mixed-ownership models and asset sales featured prominently, while the age-old issues of infrastructure deficits and skills shortages reared their heads once more.

It was hard to suppress the image of a black-singleted John Clarke singing, “If it weren’t for your gumboots, where would ya be?” when I took part in a Federated Farmers debate on foreign ownership. The proposition that “if foreigners want to own dairy farms in New Zealand, they should put on their gumboots and come and live here”, got …

Fonterra’s top brass emerged from their Monday board meeting claiming a clear mandate to proceed with the controversial trading among farmers (TAF) scheme. It’s going to take a lot of work to rebuild trust between the Fonterra board and management, and many of their farmer shareholders if TAF is to be bedded down without more public brawling. A week before …