by frog
Sue B, in conjunction with Economic Development Minister Trevor Mallard, this morning announced $11.5 million of Budget funding for the Greens’ Buy Kiwi Made campaign, which is exciting news.
The announcement has been greeted with lots of support, especially from Unions, and some disjointed and actually quite humourous dissent. I think Rodney should stick to dancing.
Published in Economy, Work, & Welfare | Society & Culture by frog on Mon, May 15th, 2006
Tags: environment
on the trolls and those who are unable to keep on topic
Good on Sue B and all involved.
A great step in a positive direction towards independence from exploited slave labour driving down standards all round.
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interesting that Sue said “We are sure that many who want to buy New Zealand-made products or purchase New Zealand services are frustrated by not knowing where to look for them.” so consequently “One aspect of the Buy Kiwi-Made campaign will be to provide the information needed by consumers to buy local”.
how does this square with the government refusing to back country of origin labelling? So rather than forcing manufacturers to provide the info, the taxpayer is going to have to pay for the info to be researched and published. Wouldn’t it be cheaper for the manufacturers to just provide the info? Wouldn’t it be more convienent and likely to be utilised if the info was on a label rather than on a website or in a library?
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yeah, I agree and add that not only should country of origin labeling be compulsory, so should ge / gmo products and animal testing, battery hens etc.
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Stuey and James – I concur. Why the hell are we still not allowed that information? If the freedom of the market is so important, why are we not free to decide according to the country of origin, GMOs, etc? If we did have that freedom, we would more easily vote with our dollars, and the manufacturers and importers would soon get the idea.
It guts me that NZ labelling laws are so damn lax.
Thats one spleen vented. Sorry about the mess. I`ll clean it up shortly.
Peace.
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Quite what is the point of a Buy Kiwi-made campaign, especially given that there is effectively zero unemployment in NZ?
What is the point in squandering resources here making things that be made more efficiently abroad?
And maybe I lack the xenophobe gene, but why on earth are you advocating that I discriminate against people who just happen to be born in one location rather than another?
I could not care less who makes the stuff I buy, though quite obviously there are many dreadfully poor people in the world who benefit far more from my custom than any comparatively rich Kiwi.
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Buying Kiwi Made is something that hardly needs pushing. Whatever is better to buy that way, I already do. And what is lame or unavailable, I don’t. So my food is made here, but my car is not.
Patriotism is all very well for harmless spectator sports. In most other ways it’s a way of turning off thought. If it’s Kiwi Made and good, I’ll buy it. If it’s Kiwi Made and crap, or too expensive, I won’t, and no amount of propaganda is going to make me change my mind about that.
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well I buy powdered milk, of the two brands available at my local supermarket, 1 (pams) is made in australia, the other (anchor) doesn’t say where its made. peanut butter is no longer made here , its either australia, china, or unlabled.
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Frankly if you’re a NZ business and you can’t be bothered using your own money to market “buy NZ made” you deserve to go out of business. Why should those that do subsidise those that don’t? You don’t need labelling laws, if people care about buying local they will buy products that are explicit about it, if they don’t care (and many don’t), the other products win. Most people have an element of patriotism about buying local, but wont buy expensive locally made poorer quality goods – nor should they. You may as well say “hire NZ born labour” instead of people born overseas.
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If the product is what the market wants, and at the price the market wants to pay, then people will buy it. No amount of labelling is going to make me buy Chinese, US, UK, Australian, New Zealand, or anything else.
This initiative may stir a little feel-good patriotism, but will mean zero when customer X is choosing between over-priced, poorly made product A and lower priced, well made product B.
Want to really help us producers? Lower the damn tax!
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Is the Green Party aware – or anyone, for that matter – that December this year will mark the 75th Anniversary of the first known walk across the length of New Zealand, on Dec. 3rd 1931? Wouldn’t it be great to re-enact it, if anyone today has the stamina?
The walker was a woman – Esther James. And the purpose of the walk? To promote, during the depression, the sale of entirely NZ made foods and clothing, etc.
I just can’t imagine why the Green Party doesn’t welcome this anniversary, happening at just the right time for them, and get behind it. It was, I think, the very first attempt to promote exclusively NZ made goods. It involved very many press-items and talks, including Esther broadcasting over every radio station in the country (eight of them). During the walk Esther wore and used only products of NZ; something which I too would like to emulate, in view of the shocking human rights issues in China regarding the Falun Gong. But I doubt very much whether anyone will actually DO anything about the anniversary!
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Hi John
Get in touch with your local Greens – make this a reality.
The Green Party is not some amorphous entity, it is a collection of individuals who feel strongly aboout issues such as the environment, trade, jobs etc. I’m sure you’ll find someone who could see the real and PR benefits from celebrating this anniversary.
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