Jamie Mackay: The Country host on Dr Mike Joy apologising after calling for dairy industry leaders to be hanged

A Victoria University academic has apologised after making public comments suggesting dairy industry leaders should be hanged. 

Dr Mike Joy, a senior research fellow at the Wellington university and freshwater advocate, made a LinkedIn post suggesting the dairy industry was putting people at risk nitrate contamination of drinking and groundwater.

The Country's Jamie Mackay explained further.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:01):
The Rural Report on hither due to see.

Speaker 2 (00:04):
Alan Drive, Jamie mcpie, Host of the Countries with us
Alo Jamie.

Speaker 1 (00:08):
Hello, Ever is your flash ponsonbi villa with the swimming
pool going to be shaved? Not at all?

Speaker 2 (00:13):
Not checked it out. I'm on single, single story actually,
thanks very much for asking. But it comes to the downside, Tony.

Speaker 1 (00:18):
I was worried for a moment.

Speaker 2 (00:20):
It comes to the it's because it's special character. But
that means I can't just change the windows or you know,
like put up a fence, like I can't do anything,
but nobody else can as well, so you know, swings
and roundabouts now, Mike Joey, it seems to me Mike
Joy did not want to have to say he's sorry,
but was forced to say he's sorry by Victoria University
of Wellington.

Speaker 1 (00:38):
What do you think, Well, I think it's what you
call a slap over the wrist with a very wet
bus ticket from Victoria University. And I see the feeds
have just put out a press release demanding a meeting
with Vice Chancellor Nick Smith, who also apologized. He said
the university had a proud tradition of activism, lawful protest,

(00:59):
and freedom of Ressian But Mike Joey went too far,
and he did go too far. It was a stupid
comment from a bloke who's got a dubious reputation to
say the least with the farming communities, suggesting or likening
dairy farmers and dairy farm executives to Minnie Dean, who
was famous, of course for killing children in the eighteen nineties,

(01:22):
and he's claiming that dairy farmers and by association, the
chief executives are doing the same. It was a really
poor choice of words. He yesterday he said the comments
were tongue in cheek and he was happy the way
he had phrased it, or comfortable the way he had
phrased it. By this morning, he'd taken to LinkedIn to apologize,

(01:45):
saying his words weren't wise or whatever. Bit of a
hollow apology. If you ask me, what's your thoughts?

Speaker 2 (01:50):
I mean, should he have to lose his job over this?

Speaker 1 (01:54):
Oh? No? To be fair, look, professionally, I haven't really
got much time for the bloke, but I've met him
in a social setting. He's been in my studio in Dunedin,
and I don't hold anything against him as a person,
But I just think he's he's well, I know he
is an activist, that's the word for it. And I
think this was extreme activism and just poorly chosen. I

(02:18):
don't think he'll lose his I know he won't lose
his job over this. Victoria University have only given a
half as sort of apology themselves, so I no doubt
they'll meet with the Feds and they'll sort something out.
But should he lose his job over one comment? No, Yeah,
I got in mind book.

Speaker 2 (02:36):
Hey listen, is Buttergate going to die in natural death?

Speaker 1 (02:39):
Well? It might because the Globaldairy Trade auction. I was
going to mention this to you on Tuesday. Actually I
didn't get a chance to because the futures market was
picking two or three percent drop. In the end, we
got four point three across the board. Whole milk powder,
of the most important ingredient, was down five point three,
skim milk even worse five point eight. So this is
quite big drop, not unusual at this time of the

(03:02):
year when the volumes start to ramp up. On the
Global Dairy Trade auction, butter incidentally found less than whole
milk powder and skim milk powder down two point five percent.
But I did speak to one dairy farm or your
dairy industry executive, one of the ones that Mike Joy
wanted to do bad things too, probably, And he did

(03:23):
say to me. He said to me a month or
so ago, the season's going to start strong, but it
could get sticky in the second half of the season.
I hope he's wrong, and I hope the ten bucks
or the ten dollars fifteen that Fonterra's currently forecasting can
hang in there. But we do live in a trouble world.
You only need to look at what's happening or being
happening in Beijing in recent days to see that. So

(03:47):
he's hoping the dairy price can hang in there. Maybe
there could be some relief at the supermarket counter with
a drop in the price of butter. Yeah.

Speaker 2 (03:55):
Maybe, Jamie, Thanks very much. We'll talk to you again
next week. Look After Yourself, Jamie McKay, Host of the Country.
For More or from Hither Duplessy Allen Drive.

Speaker 1 (04:02):
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