The trade union that the Nats support

How can the right-wing NZ National Party be so much opposed to industrial unions when some of their members of Parliament belong to a union?

The federation of farmers is a union by another name, doing just what an industrial union does for their members – negotiate advocate and, where necessary, agitate. I would, for example, suggest that the rally generated by Federated Farmers and their members at Morrinsville during the election campaign was no more than what an industrial union would do to highlight a concern of their members.

However, let’s compare the federation of farmers and their associates with the industrial unions. One group has caused the cost of staple dairy products to rise so much that instead of being a necessity, it is now a luxury for a lot of ordinary people.

The same group has presided over, to a degree, the degradation of the environment. Were an industrial union to have contributed in any way to a like situation, it would be reviled as greedy and self-centred by the Nats, so I ask why does one group of advocates attract such a degree of hate by the Nats, yet the other group is lauded as the backbone of the country by the same party. Let’s have a level playing field and treat all unions the same.

IanWilkie

Give the voters more credit

Because Jacinda Ardern is not your stereotype old white male Prime Minister and is in cohort with an old, wily campaigner and some seasoned greenhorns, the media seem to have taken the view that we have less confidence in this Government than the previous. People grow into their jobs; Nick Smith, Hekia Parata and Gerry Brownlee certainly outsized theirs.

Voters have more nous than you give them credit for. Our previous two elected prime ministers have been the best we have had. There is no reason to believe the public got it wrong this time either.

Ross Campbell