FONTERRA CATCHES THE MAORI SEPARATISM BUG

New Zealand First is accusing Fonterra of catching the Maori separatist bug by employing Tiaki Hunia as its new general manager: Māori strategy and just over a month after Mr Hunia was announced by Minister Flavell as the supposed head of the Maori Land Service.

“Is Tiaki Hunia the world’s shortest employed public servant?” says New Zealand First Leader and Northland MP Rt Hon Winston Peters.

“In six weeks, Mr Hunia has gone from the newly appointed head of the Maori Land Service to Fonterra’s newly minted general manager: Māori strategy.

“It proves what chaos it is under Māori Development Minister Te Ururoa Flavell, who’d appointed Mr Hunia before his Te Ture Whenua Māori Bill had passed. Yet Mr Hunia has done ‘Māori Development’ of his own and could be joining Fonterra’s $500,000 plus club.

“Why on earth is Fonterra going down this Māori separatist rabbit hole?

“Like all farmers, Māori farmers want strong value-add, a high milksolids payout and stonking dividends. They don’t want to hold hands and dance around some bicultural maypole. Fonterra is trying to act like it’s the government for farming when it isn’t.

“This may sound like a good idea in that epicentre of provincial New Zealand called Auckland’s Viaduct Basin, but it reinforces the disconnect between those who own Fonterra and those who are meant to run it for them,” says Mr Peters.

ENDS

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