April 14, 2025 • 10 mins
We find Labour’s trade spokesman on the West Coast, where farming conditions are looking good for a strong end to the dairy season. We preview Pāmu’s open day on bobby calf management, look at the global response to tariffs, and update negotiations with India.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
But joining me now is Labor Trades books person Damian O'Connor.
Good afternoon, Damien.
Speaker 2 (00:05):
In Good afternoon, Cairo Verena.
Speaker 1 (00:07):
Now you're on the west coast at the moment, Damien.
How is that looking?
Speaker 2 (00:12):
Well? Pretty good? It's wet and actually the vast majority
of farmers down here welcoming a bit of rain, and
she's been pretty tough and dry summer or dry coming
into autumn, and they've needed some rain. So it will
hopefully give them some good growth into leading up into winter.
But other than that, always magic down here.
Speaker 1 (00:33):
Yeah, yeah, of course. Hey you're off to a palmer
field day tomorrow. What's that all about?
Speaker 2 (00:40):
Well, the interesting part we're putting on a field day
about managing bobby calves. And I think they as I
understand that we're going to keep the bobby calves on
the properties and grow them through, you know, I know
there's a veal trade emerging, you know, growing them up
until about nine months I think, and then flicking them
on into the veal mar you know, and then growing
(01:01):
them through into beefies. And I guess so they'll be
interesting to see what the ideas are because there is
pressure coming on internationally around management of bobby calves. We
just have to incorporate them into our farming systems and
so Palmer as they should be kind of leading away
with some trials and being fully open and transparent to
(01:22):
the wide of farming community. That's why government owns it
in my view, so that they can try these things
and share their knowledge. You know, it might not work
all the time, but unless it's given them a go
and farmers to seeing what the good and bad points
about it.
Speaker 1 (01:37):
Yeah, you do raise a good point there. You know,
people are looking to New Zealand what are we doing
with those bobby calves and stuff. It's not a conversation
that's a new one. That kind of questioning has been
around for a while and we are yet to see
a definitive way that we can deal with them as
part of that farming system.
Speaker 2 (01:54):
Absolutely, and I know there are one or two of
the supermarket chains in the UK looking only to take
animals and meat from farming systems that keep the bobby
calves on the cows for I think it's up to
three months or something, but it's kind of it's an
evolving area of animal welfare and farm management and we
just we should be, you know, ahead of the pack,
(02:16):
and if we're going to promote our pastoral systems and
good animal management and welfare, then you know, we have
to learn from each other and share that knowledge and
tell the world of course, so that we can get
market access in some cases, but a premium hopefully over time.
Speaker 1 (02:32):
Now, your labour's trade spokesperson, it's been a very interesting
couple of weeks in the trade world. What are you
making of Trump's announcement and where tariffs are going and
that kind of back and forth. Awe, but with a
few shots fired between America and China.
Speaker 2 (02:50):
Well you kind of wake up every morning and see
what's next. And it has literally been shifting sands every day.
Trump makes a pronouncement, tweets from the Oval Office, and
you know, the world jumps in and there's a lot
of uncertainty. And I think that's the major problem here.
No one knows where things will settle. You know, some
(03:12):
views that you know, the world needs protein. The US
market is short on beef, and so we should be Okay,
the dollars come back, which offsets some of the maybe
the tariff impact in the short term, but it's what
happens to other markets around the world as people shift
product from one place to another, or you know, cut
their prices or do whatever. I don't think anyone knows
(03:37):
where we'll be in one month's time, probably not a
week's time, really, the way that Trump has been behaving,
and it's unfortunately undermining faith in democracy, undermining faith in
the global trading system and the individual markets that we
deal in.
Speaker 1 (03:55):
A lot of questions coming through around maybe Trump is
manipulating markets for gain as well, you know, short changing
stocks and things like that. Do you subscribe to that?
Have you seen anything like this before? Though?
Speaker 2 (04:08):
Well there was a little a social media you've got
to you know, take it allver to punch of salt.
But he was quite proud of a couple of mates
who are in the Oval office with him. You know,
one had made one point well, he said, one had
made one point nine billion dollars in the day's trading.
There will be people who are exploiting and manipulating the
opportunities as stocks go up and down, and you know,
(04:31):
whether they are mates or whatever, who knows. But there's
a bit of tension emerging among those billionaires, among the
people who some of whom will be making a lot
of money and some might be losing. So again, where
that will pan out, no one quite knows. You've got
the Foreign Minister in New Zealand, Winston Peters, and the
Prime Minister kind of two different opinions as to how
(04:54):
they approached us. To my view, we should always be open,
honest and express our views whose that's what we're known for,
and so kind of tiptoeing around at this time probably
won't serve us well when the rest of the world
is really concerned.
Speaker 1 (05:09):
It's a wild time to be in politics, no matter
which way you look at it. Willie Jackson made some
comments around labor potentially having missed a trick by not
removing GST on meat. What an absolute logistical nightmare that
would have been though, But how do you feel on
this Did you miss a trick on that front?
Speaker 2 (05:29):
No, Willy's wrong. You know. Look, the GST system is simple.
It runs right across you know, the whole economy. It
is a bit regressive. People who spent a large portion
of your income on food and goods, you know, pay
that for GST. So it's not always fear as a tax,
(05:50):
but it is a simple one. And playing around with
what is meat isn't what's food and vegetables as we
kind of saw, and my views, not the smart way forward.
There are other ways of trying to reduce the costs,
trying to make it fearer for people and have affordable
food for them, But playing around with one particular food
(06:13):
type with GC just create a mess. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (06:16):
I'll certainly be trying to remove the GST from my
mate this weekend up in the Mania Tito there. But
my goodness, the cost of ammunition has gone up quite markedly,
so I think Damien will be making sure each shot
counts there and.
Speaker 2 (06:32):
Make sure you have plenty of character so that you
know your eyesight's good.
Speaker 1 (06:35):
Yeah, exactly, exactly. Hey, look where are we at with Andrea.
I know you've continued to work on that front.
Speaker 2 (06:42):
Look, you know the government's gone, the Prime Minisse has
gone over there and trade mission and you know I've
taken one in government as well. We're building those relationships
that started negotiation and you know, any progress in that
area we welcome and will endorse. And we've been speaking
with with the leader Chris Hipkins and the group of
(07:03):
US met with Indian business leaders in Auckland just to
reassure them that we'll continue to progress in trade arrangements,
whether it's a free trade agreement or a close economic
partnership or whatever. Building partnerships over time with India is
a good way forward, particularly when we are seeing the
chaos out of the US.
Speaker 1 (07:22):
What else have you been up to, Damien, What's on
the cards for you for the next week other than
the Palmufield day.
Speaker 2 (07:29):
Well, I look through the West Coast and it's been
good to catch up for Graymouth here at the moment,
they're still on the boil water notice. Now, the council
wasn't very enthusiastic about our three waters proposals, so I
guess the absence of any real alternative from this coalition
government means that there are many councils like Gray District
(07:52):
who will be grappling with how they pay for secure
water supplies into the future. And at the moment people
are having to boil the water. Ridiculous situation in the
West Coast when people think we've probably always got more
than enough order, Well.
Speaker 1 (08:06):
I guess it does rain a lot more than expected
in the West Coast, so yeah, thinking of everyone over there,
I guess, yeah, it is just a challenging situation. Anything
else on the cards for you? When do you go
back to parliament?
Speaker 2 (08:18):
Well, is it another couple of weeks of recessor obviously
after ans out day, of course the week after that
will be back in parliament. But it's an opportunity for
MPs to get around and I'll certainly be right through
the South Island just keeping an eye on things, meeting people,
listening as we kind of work through the policy process
of putting up an alternative at the next election from
(08:40):
the current coalition government.
Speaker 1 (08:42):
Yeah, do you reckon we'll see any When will we
see some ad policy Damien?
Speaker 2 (08:47):
Well, you know, we'll just you know, see where things
are at. I think that there's a growing number of
people across agriculture, farmers who are a bit confused about
what's coming from this government. We see messages from the
market around things like you know, around labor, around barb
(09:11):
and of course always nitrates, environmental management, all of that stuff,
but you know government is saying don't worry about it.
So there are companies on the you know, on the
front foot. You have Fonterra, you have Silver Foond Farms
talking about better practice on farm that we can tell
the world. It has to be supported by government, all
(09:32):
government agencies that are moving in the same direction. At
the moment, the directions are a bit confused.
Speaker 1 (09:37):
Well, at least everyone's enjoying good returns at the moment.
And in terms of.
Speaker 2 (09:42):
Certainly yeah, and I heard a comment from a dairy
farmer the other day saying, you know, if people are
aren't doing really well with the current payouts, then you've
got to look at the system that you're running, either
on your farm or across the industry. And there are
some legitimate questions in that area, and I think we
just have to work through those carefully.
Speaker 1 (10:00):
Damien O'Connor, Labour Trade spokesposts an interesting time in that
trade space, But really appreciate your time on the country.
Go enjoy the rest of the West Coast for a
couple of weeks.
Speaker 2 (10:10):
Oh well, thank you very much for
But joining me now is Labor Trades books person Damian O'Connor.
Good afternoon, Damien.
Speaker 2 (00:05):
In Good afternoon, Cairo Verena.
Speaker 1 (00:07):
Now you're on the west coast at the moment, Damien.
How is that looking?
Speaker 2 (00:12):
Well? Pretty good? It's wet and actually the vast majority
of farmers down here welcoming a bit of rain, and
she's been pretty tough and dry summer or dry coming
into autumn, and they've needed some rain. So it will
hopefully give them some good growth into leading up into winter.
But other than that, always magic down here.
Speaker 1 (00:33):
Yeah, yeah, of course. Hey you're off to a palmer
field day tomorrow. What's that all about?
Speaker 2 (00:40):
Well, the interesting part we're putting on a field day
about managing bobby calves. And I think they as I
understand that we're going to keep the bobby calves on
the properties and grow them through, you know, I know
there's a veal trade emerging, you know, growing them up
until about nine months I think, and then flicking them
on into the veal mar you know, and then growing
(01:01):
them through into beefies. And I guess so they'll be
interesting to see what the ideas are because there is
pressure coming on internationally around management of bobby calves. We
just have to incorporate them into our farming systems and
so Palmer as they should be kind of leading away
with some trials and being fully open and transparent to
(01:22):
the wide of farming community. That's why government owns it
in my view, so that they can try these things
and share their knowledge. You know, it might not work
all the time, but unless it's given them a go
and farmers to seeing what the good and bad points
about it.
Speaker 1 (01:37):
Yeah, you do raise a good point there. You know,
people are looking to New Zealand what are we doing
with those bobby calves and stuff. It's not a conversation
that's a new one. That kind of questioning has been
around for a while and we are yet to see
a definitive way that we can deal with them as
part of that farming system.
Speaker 2 (01:54):
Absolutely, and I know there are one or two of
the supermarket chains in the UK looking only to take
animals and meat from farming systems that keep the bobby
calves on the cows for I think it's up to
three months or something, but it's kind of it's an
evolving area of animal welfare and farm management and we
just we should be, you know, ahead of the pack,
(02:16):
and if we're going to promote our pastoral systems and
good animal management and welfare, then you know, we have
to learn from each other and share that knowledge and
tell the world of course, so that we can get
market access in some cases, but a premium hopefully over time.
Speaker 1 (02:32):
Now, your labour's trade spokesperson, it's been a very interesting
couple of weeks in the trade world. What are you
making of Trump's announcement and where tariffs are going and
that kind of back and forth. Awe, but with a
few shots fired between America and China.
Speaker 2 (02:50):
Well you kind of wake up every morning and see
what's next. And it has literally been shifting sands every day.
Trump makes a pronouncement, tweets from the Oval Office, and
you know, the world jumps in and there's a lot
of uncertainty. And I think that's the major problem here.
No one knows where things will settle. You know, some
(03:12):
views that you know, the world needs protein. The US
market is short on beef, and so we should be Okay,
the dollars come back, which offsets some of the maybe
the tariff impact in the short term, but it's what
happens to other markets around the world as people shift
product from one place to another, or you know, cut
their prices or do whatever. I don't think anyone knows
(03:37):
where we'll be in one month's time, probably not a
week's time, really, the way that Trump has been behaving,
and it's unfortunately undermining faith in democracy, undermining faith in
the global trading system and the individual markets that we
deal in.
Speaker 1 (03:55):
A lot of questions coming through around maybe Trump is
manipulating markets for gain as well, you know, short changing
stocks and things like that. Do you subscribe to that?
Have you seen anything like this before? Though?
Speaker 2 (04:08):
Well there was a little a social media you've got
to you know, take it allver to punch of salt.
But he was quite proud of a couple of mates
who are in the Oval office with him. You know,
one had made one point well, he said, one had
made one point nine billion dollars in the day's trading.
There will be people who are exploiting and manipulating the
opportunities as stocks go up and down, and you know,
(04:31):
whether they are mates or whatever, who knows. But there's
a bit of tension emerging among those billionaires, among the
people who some of whom will be making a lot
of money and some might be losing. So again, where
that will pan out, no one quite knows. You've got
the Foreign Minister in New Zealand, Winston Peters, and the
Prime Minister kind of two different opinions as to how
(04:54):
they approached us. To my view, we should always be open,
honest and express our views whose that's what we're known for,
and so kind of tiptoeing around at this time probably
won't serve us well when the rest of the world
is really concerned.
Speaker 1 (05:09):
It's a wild time to be in politics, no matter
which way you look at it. Willie Jackson made some
comments around labor potentially having missed a trick by not
removing GST on meat. What an absolute logistical nightmare that
would have been though, But how do you feel on
this Did you miss a trick on that front?
Speaker 2 (05:29):
No, Willy's wrong. You know. Look, the GST system is simple.
It runs right across you know, the whole economy. It
is a bit regressive. People who spent a large portion
of your income on food and goods, you know, pay
that for GST. So it's not always fear as a tax,
(05:50):
but it is a simple one. And playing around with
what is meat isn't what's food and vegetables as we
kind of saw, and my views, not the smart way forward.
There are other ways of trying to reduce the costs,
trying to make it fearer for people and have affordable
food for them, But playing around with one particular food
(06:13):
type with GC just create a mess. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (06:16):
I'll certainly be trying to remove the GST from my
mate this weekend up in the Mania Tito there. But
my goodness, the cost of ammunition has gone up quite markedly,
so I think Damien will be making sure each shot
counts there and.
Speaker 2 (06:32):
Make sure you have plenty of character so that you
know your eyesight's good.
Speaker 1 (06:35):
Yeah, exactly, exactly. Hey, look where are we at with Andrea.
I know you've continued to work on that front.
Speaker 2 (06:42):
Look, you know the government's gone, the Prime Minisse has
gone over there and trade mission and you know I've
taken one in government as well. We're building those relationships
that started negotiation and you know, any progress in that
area we welcome and will endorse. And we've been speaking
with with the leader Chris Hipkins and the group of
(07:03):
US met with Indian business leaders in Auckland just to
reassure them that we'll continue to progress in trade arrangements,
whether it's a free trade agreement or a close economic
partnership or whatever. Building partnerships over time with India is
a good way forward, particularly when we are seeing the
chaos out of the US.
Speaker 1 (07:22):
What else have you been up to, Damien, What's on
the cards for you for the next week other than
the Palmufield day.
Speaker 2 (07:29):
Well, I look through the West Coast and it's been
good to catch up for Graymouth here at the moment,
they're still on the boil water notice. Now, the council
wasn't very enthusiastic about our three waters proposals, so I
guess the absence of any real alternative from this coalition
government means that there are many councils like Gray District
(07:52):
who will be grappling with how they pay for secure
water supplies into the future. And at the moment people
are having to boil the water. Ridiculous situation in the
West Coast when people think we've probably always got more
than enough order, Well.
Speaker 1 (08:06):
I guess it does rain a lot more than expected
in the West Coast, so yeah, thinking of everyone over there,
I guess, yeah, it is just a challenging situation. Anything
else on the cards for you? When do you go
back to parliament?
Speaker 2 (08:18):
Well, is it another couple of weeks of recessor obviously
after ans out day, of course the week after that
will be back in parliament. But it's an opportunity for
MPs to get around and I'll certainly be right through
the South Island just keeping an eye on things, meeting people,
listening as we kind of work through the policy process
of putting up an alternative at the next election from
(08:40):
the current coalition government.
Speaker 1 (08:42):
Yeah, do you reckon we'll see any When will we
see some ad policy Damien?
Speaker 2 (08:47):
Well, you know, we'll just you know, see where things
are at. I think that there's a growing number of
people across agriculture, farmers who are a bit confused about
what's coming from this government. We see messages from the
market around things like you know, around labor, around barb
(09:11):
and of course always nitrates, environmental management, all of that stuff,
but you know government is saying don't worry about it.
So there are companies on the you know, on the
front foot. You have Fonterra, you have Silver Foond Farms
talking about better practice on farm that we can tell
the world. It has to be supported by government, all
(09:32):
government agencies that are moving in the same direction. At
the moment, the directions are a bit confused.
Speaker 1 (09:37):
Well, at least everyone's enjoying good returns at the moment.
And in terms of.
Speaker 2 (09:42):
Certainly yeah, and I heard a comment from a dairy
farmer the other day saying, you know, if people are
aren't doing really well with the current payouts, then you've
got to look at the system that you're running, either
on your farm or across the industry. And there are
some legitimate questions in that area, and I think we
just have to work through those carefully.
Speaker 1 (10:00):
Damien O'Connor, Labour Trade spokesposts an interesting time in that
trade space, But really appreciate your time on the country.
Go enjoy the rest of the West Coast for a
couple of weeks.
Speaker 2 (10:10):
Oh well, thank you very much for
Popular Podcasts
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com
On Purpose with Jay Shetty
I’m Jay Shetty host of On Purpose the worlds #1 Mental Health podcast and I’m so grateful you found us. I started this podcast 5 years ago to invite you into conversations and workshops that are designed to help make you happier, healthier and more healed. I believe that when you (yes you) feel seen, heard and understood you’re able to deal with relationship struggles, work challenges and life’s ups and downs with more ease and grace. I interview experts, celebrities, thought leaders and athletes so that we can grow our mindset, build better habits and uncover a side of them we’ve never seen before. New episodes every Monday and Friday. Your support means the world to me and I don’t take it for granted — click the follow button and leave a review to help us spread the love with On Purpose. I can’t wait for you to listen to your first or 500th episode!