July 22, 2025 • 5 mins
New Zealand red meat exports earned an extra $1.2 billion this year, due to good livestock pricing and tighter supplies.
But the country's $10 billion-plus red meat sector has raised the alarm that it was struggling to get the numbers of livestock needed to satisfy international demand.
The Country's Jamie Mackay explains further.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
So what's happened is that today Michael Riddell has written
a blog. Now, if you know Michael Riddell, he was
a former RB and Z staffer. He writes a pretty
well read blog called Croak and Cassandra. A lot of
people around Wellington and economics read this. He wrote today
that he had had somebody who is an arbien Z's,
a Reserve Bank staffer, had gone touch anonymously and given
(00:22):
him a bunch of information. And what the person had
said is that the reason that Adrian Or eventually quit
was because he had and there's a a bunch of
events happened in the lead up to it. He'd had
a meeting with Treasury on the twenty first of February
and he'd completely lost his call, behaving in a way
that was completely inappropriate and swearing, and that he had
then done exactly the same thing, or roughly the same
(00:43):
thing in a meeting with the Finance Minister, Nichola Willis
on the twenty fourth of February, and then on the
twenty seventh of February, three days later, Neil quickly as
the board chair, sent an email to Adrian Or which
had attached quote statement of concerns outlining quite a specific
range of concrete and specific issues with the governor's behavior
(01:05):
covering several years, and not about funding. Quickly is reported
to have asked Or to respond, this was my correspondence, says,
what triggered Or's resignation. Now, the reason, apparently according to this,
that Neil Quigley can't answer questions about it is because
there was an exit agreement which included gag provisions of
some sort. Now, please do not get the impression that
(01:29):
Neil Quigley is the bad guy in this situation. Very
much Adrian Or is the bad guy in this situation. However,
Neil Quickly's handling of it has definitely left a lot
to be desired. Because it is one thing to go
out there and say, look, I can't talk about it,
I cannot talk about it, I cannot talk about it.
It is quite another thing to misrepresent the situation by
then going it was a personal decision in the way
(01:49):
that every decision that you make to resign is a
personal decision, and we all know it's not actually a
personal decision. If it is, as this correspondent says about
his behavior, it's actually a behavioral decision. Six one Now
Jamie McKay, Host of the Countries with me, Jamie, Hello.
Speaker 2 (02:04):
Good, I Heather cousin, Heather Good to have you back, Hey.
That Michael Radal, by the way, has written, I would say,
a wickedly one sided piece in the Listener on our
best and worst finance ministers since the Second World War.
And I think he's been very tough on Bill English,
who's lumbered down the bottom with Grant Robertson and Robert Muldoon.
(02:25):
And I don't know what his political leanings are, but
all the best finance ministers, according to him, come from
the Labour Party.
Speaker 1 (02:31):
Oh who was the best? Did he say?
Speaker 2 (02:33):
Roger Douglas?
Speaker 1 (02:34):
Well can you can you actually argue against that?
Speaker 2 (02:37):
Jamie? Well, he was. He was a change agent. I'll
give him that. And farmers have a lot to thank
Roger Douglas for, believe it or not. But unfortunately they
stopped for a cup of tea and Roger.
Speaker 1 (02:48):
Not his fault. That was David's fault, because David Good,
David got Frightener was the second best finance minister. Michael Cullen, No.
Speaker 2 (02:56):
He was third best. Walter Nash. Walter Nash, of course
great grandfather of future New Zealand first candidate Stuart Nash.
Speaker 1 (03:04):
Now, well there you go. Okay, listen, talk to me
about the red meat experts. What's going on here? Is
it the US still loving our burgers?
Speaker 2 (03:10):
Yeah? Hey, can I just get a shameless plug? And
I know you're going to cut me off, But Nikola
Willis is currently meeting with Miles Hurrell and I've just
watched the six pm news she got or not she
Miles Hurrell got breathlessly doorstopped by Mikey Sherman from One
News accusing him of or Fonterra, of hiking up the
price of butter, etc. Just want to add some balance
(03:33):
to this story. Open Country Dairy, our second biggest dairy company.
The chief executive, Mark Delatour, was on my show last week.
Here they're building a new butter factory. It's about to
open an August. And the Wyecatto guess what they're doing
with one hundred percent of their butter? What exporting it?
Because they can make more money overseas than they can
(03:54):
here domestically. So we've got to stop barking at cars
on this one and just realize that the high butter
prices as due to international commodity prices, not Fonterra ripping
anybody off. It's not Fonterra's job to subsidize the market.
Speaker 1 (04:08):
Good stuff, Hey Jamie, thanks very much, Jammy Mchaie hosts
The Country by the Way one News. Not only did
they door stop Myles Hurrell as he was walking into
the meeting for the you know, walking to the be
High for the meeting with Nikola Willis, but they also
then went live to Mikey Sherman with one of those
banners underneath her and it said Fonterra meeting underway. Now, Now,
(04:30):
I don't I feel like the Finance Minister will be
wildly regretting having ever told us that she's calling them
in for a Please explain on the price of butter,
because we this thing is being hyped beyond what it
possibly can ever result in. And I'll tell you what
press gallery tomorrow are going to be standing there going
and what are you doing about the price butter? What's changing?
What's changing? What's changing? They're hyping everyone up and you
and I know ain't nothing going to change because the
(04:52):
only way to change it is basically for us to
have the expert price for do we want that?
Speaker 2 (04:56):
No. For more from Heather Duplessy Allen Drive, Listen live
to news Talks it'd be from four pm weekdays, or
follow the podcast on iHeartRadio
So what's happened is that today Michael Riddell has written
a blog. Now, if you know Michael Riddell, he was
a former RB and Z staffer. He writes a pretty
well read blog called Croak and Cassandra. A lot of
people around Wellington and economics read this. He wrote today
that he had had somebody who is an arbien Z's,
a Reserve Bank staffer, had gone touch anonymously and given
(00:22):
him a bunch of information. And what the person had
said is that the reason that Adrian Or eventually quit
was because he had and there's a a bunch of
events happened in the lead up to it. He'd had
a meeting with Treasury on the twenty first of February
and he'd completely lost his call, behaving in a way
that was completely inappropriate and swearing, and that he had
then done exactly the same thing, or roughly the same
(00:43):
thing in a meeting with the Finance Minister, Nichola Willis
on the twenty fourth of February, and then on the
twenty seventh of February, three days later, Neil quickly as
the board chair, sent an email to Adrian Or which
had attached quote statement of concerns outlining quite a specific
range of concrete and specific issues with the governor's behavior
(01:05):
covering several years, and not about funding. Quickly is reported
to have asked Or to respond, this was my correspondence, says,
what triggered Or's resignation. Now, the reason, apparently according to this,
that Neil Quigley can't answer questions about it is because
there was an exit agreement which included gag provisions of
some sort. Now, please do not get the impression that
(01:29):
Neil Quigley is the bad guy in this situation. Very
much Adrian Or is the bad guy in this situation. However,
Neil Quickly's handling of it has definitely left a lot
to be desired. Because it is one thing to go
out there and say, look, I can't talk about it,
I cannot talk about it, I cannot talk about it.
It is quite another thing to misrepresent the situation by
then going it was a personal decision in the way
(01:49):
that every decision that you make to resign is a
personal decision, and we all know it's not actually a
personal decision. If it is, as this correspondent says about
his behavior, it's actually a behavioral decision. Six one Now
Jamie McKay, Host of the Countries with me, Jamie, Hello.
Speaker 2 (02:04):
Good, I Heather cousin, Heather Good to have you back, Hey.
That Michael Radal, by the way, has written, I would say,
a wickedly one sided piece in the Listener on our
best and worst finance ministers since the Second World War.
And I think he's been very tough on Bill English,
who's lumbered down the bottom with Grant Robertson and Robert Muldoon.
(02:25):
And I don't know what his political leanings are, but
all the best finance ministers, according to him, come from
the Labour Party.
Speaker 1 (02:31):
Oh who was the best? Did he say?
Speaker 2 (02:33):
Roger Douglas?
Speaker 1 (02:34):
Well can you can you actually argue against that?
Speaker 2 (02:37):
Jamie? Well, he was. He was a change agent. I'll
give him that. And farmers have a lot to thank
Roger Douglas for, believe it or not. But unfortunately they
stopped for a cup of tea and Roger.
Speaker 1 (02:48):
Not his fault. That was David's fault, because David Good,
David got Frightener was the second best finance minister. Michael Cullen, No.
Speaker 2 (02:56):
He was third best. Walter Nash. Walter Nash, of course
great grandfather of future New Zealand first candidate Stuart Nash.
Speaker 1 (03:04):
Now, well there you go. Okay, listen, talk to me
about the red meat experts. What's going on here? Is
it the US still loving our burgers?
Speaker 2 (03:10):
Yeah? Hey, can I just get a shameless plug? And
I know you're going to cut me off, But Nikola
Willis is currently meeting with Miles Hurrell and I've just
watched the six pm news she got or not she
Miles Hurrell got breathlessly doorstopped by Mikey Sherman from One
News accusing him of or Fonterra, of hiking up the
price of butter, etc. Just want to add some balance
(03:33):
to this story. Open Country Dairy, our second biggest dairy company.
The chief executive, Mark Delatour, was on my show last week.
Here they're building a new butter factory. It's about to
open an August. And the Wyecatto guess what they're doing
with one hundred percent of their butter? What exporting it?
Because they can make more money overseas than they can
(03:54):
here domestically. So we've got to stop barking at cars
on this one and just realize that the high butter
prices as due to international commodity prices, not Fonterra ripping
anybody off. It's not Fonterra's job to subsidize the market.
Speaker 1 (04:08):
Good stuff, Hey Jamie, thanks very much, Jammy Mchaie hosts
The Country by the Way one News. Not only did
they door stop Myles Hurrell as he was walking into
the meeting for the you know, walking to the be
High for the meeting with Nikola Willis, but they also
then went live to Mikey Sherman with one of those
banners underneath her and it said Fonterra meeting underway. Now, Now,
(04:30):
I don't I feel like the Finance Minister will be
wildly regretting having ever told us that she's calling them
in for a Please explain on the price of butter,
because we this thing is being hyped beyond what it
possibly can ever result in. And I'll tell you what
press gallery tomorrow are going to be standing there going
and what are you doing about the price butter? What's changing?
What's changing? What's changing? They're hyping everyone up and you
and I know ain't nothing going to change because the
(04:52):
only way to change it is basically for us to
have the expert price for do we want that?
Speaker 2 (04:56):
No. For more from Heather Duplessy Allen Drive, Listen live
to news Talks it'd be from four pm weekdays, or
follow the podcast on iHeartRadio
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