The Minister of Agriculuture is a liar, pure and simple. Last May he stated on TV that he did not know about sow stalls. I had already met him in 2005 and briefed him on the issue, together with two others. I wrote a letter to him thanking him for the meeting and enclosing a peer reviewed paper on sow stalls. “Sunday” visited me for an interview and photographed the letter, and my diary entry (though in the end they did not use the footage). The letter was later tabled by Sue Kedgley in Parliament.

The Minister then tells us in May that he has asked for the review of the code of welfare to be treated as a matter of urgency. At a meeting of the pork board he said that MAF had questions over the ethics of those who raided Kay’s factory piggery. I obtained the MAF report and there were no such questions.

The Ministers behaviour reminds me of George Bernard Shaw’s dictum; that anyone who will not hesitate to abuse animals, will certainly not hesitate to lie about it.

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Be fair. I mean, five weeks later is still “a matter of weeks”, and to frame it in the loosest possible language favouring the Minister, so would fifty-two weeks.

And as for this year, did he mean the calendar year or the financial year? And which financial year could he mean? The government one, or the one for everyone else?

In other words, I conclude that the Minister is being far from disingenuous, but rather his words are liberal enough excuse him.

Next time, get a date. Most leaders in private industry are capable enough to give a deadline for a project, I see no reason why Mr. Carter should be unable to do so.

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I won’t be buying or eating a Christmas ham.
John Key also expressed his great concern over the sow-crate issue when Mike King brought it to our attention most recently. What does Key say now?

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sue,

list of free range (pig) farms please..

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