ACT New Zealand rural spokesman Owen Jennings said today that there is widespread concern among farmers about the hidden levy incorporated in ear tags which farmers are required to purchase for all stock.

"The Animal Health Board needs to clarify the situation, making it transparent what amount of the cost of the ear tag is being collected as a levy. Farmers are concerned that they are paying a levy that has not been properly authorised or established with proper consultation. Calf rearers found themselves in the difficult position of having to ear tag young calves when ear tags were not available on the market. This delay caused considerably difficulty for those farmers who wanted to sell their calves at an early stage.

"It appears that the Board jumped the gun in requiring young calves to be ear tagged when they were not available.

"It is vital that the Board operates a transparent and practical operation in their pursuit of TB elimination," Mr Jennings said.

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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>>