Jones takes aim at Fonterra and its chairman

REGIONAL Development Minister Shane Jones has criticised the leadership of Fonterra, calling for chairman John Wilson to follow chief executive Theo Spierings out the door.

Mr Jones said he told the company it should stop being political and instead focus on its business.

‘‘They should focus less on interfering in politics and more on justifying the money they’ve lost overseas. I believe that they have become disconnected from the farming community.’’

He said he had suggested to Agriculture Minister Damien O’Connor it was time to restructure the dairy coop, and singled Mr Wilson out.

‘‘The leadership of Fonterra, I believe, starting with the chairman, is full of its own importance and has become disconnected.’’

He said there was an absolute absence of accountability for the ‘‘enormous amounts of dough’’ that the current chairman had presided over.

‘‘The CEO has gone. Well, that’s only one party of the doubleDutch we’ve had to put up with in Fonterra over the last nine years.

‘‘I thoroughly believe this . . . that as the CEO leaves Fonterra, the chairman should in quick order catch the next cab out of town.

‘‘I’ve been bloody disappointed that Fonterra, in my view, the leadership has not accepted that there’s a new Government and there is a new narrative and I’ve had a gutsful of them believing they are bigger than what they really are.’’

Mr Wilson and Fonterra did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Mr Jones said later that farmers backed him and had left messages of support on his phone.

National regional economic development spokesman Paul Goldsmith said it was time Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern pulled Mr Jones into line.

‘‘Shane Jones’ attacks on Fonterra’s leadership are the latest burp from a man who is fast losing any respect he once had.

‘‘He says Fonterra’s leadership is ‘full of their own importance’.

‘‘That sounds like a more apt description of himself,’’ Mr Goldsmith said. ‘‘He even added he’s ‘worried about the absolute absence of accountability for the enormous amounts of dough that the current Fonterra chairman has presided over’.

‘‘This is startling hypocrisy from the same man who defended his own region getting the lion’s share of funding from his billiondollar Provincial Growth

Fund by stating ‘to the winner goes the booty’.

‘‘Well it’s not his booty and it’s clear Shane Jones has no idea what accountability means.’’

Fonterra is hunting for a new chief executive but Mr Wilson has been quiet about his plans.

In March, former Fonterra director Harry Bayliss sent an email to board members calling for Mr Wilson to step down.

Mr Bayliss said he did not believe the board had taken the opportunity to deliver on valueadd opportunities.

‘‘I honestly believe that the chair needs to be held accountable in that regard,’’ he said. — NZME