Sutton Must Outline The Fine Print To Dairy Farmers

Agriculture Minister Jim Sutton's letter to farmers outlining the regulatory package for GlobalCo misses the point, ACT MP and dairy farmer MP Penny Webster said today.

"In writing to farmers, Mr Sutton had an opportunity to address concerns about the complexity of 'sign-out' legislation, and to clarify the traps hidden within the GlobalCo proposal's fine print.

"I wrote to the Minister a week ago, outlining concerns from ACT MP and former top commercial lawyer Stephen Franks.

"I have called on the Minister to answer questions regarding the farmers' right to a fair value on exit, and to a potential choice of milk buyers.

"Mr Sutton must guarantee farmers that if the fine print of the GlobalCo deal is found to subvert the deal, he will not go ahead with implementation. He must make that guarantee now, before farmers waste their vote.

"In missing the opportunity to outline clear dangers to farmers, Mr Sutton has missed an opportunity for level-headed dialogue, and has fallen prey to internal dairy politicking," Penny Webster said.

Ends

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Gordon Campbell: On the Sony cyber attack

Given the layers of meta-irony involved, the saga of the Sony cyber attack seemed at the outset more like a snarky European art film than a popcorn entry at the multiplex.

Yet now with (a) President Barack Obama weighing in on the side of artistic freedom and calling for the US to make a ‘proportionate response’quickly followed by (b) North Korea’s entire Internet service going down, and with both these events being followed by (c) Sony deciding to backtrack and release The Interview film that had made it a target for the dastardly North Koreans in the first place, then ay caramba…the whole world will now be watching how this affair pans out. More>>