The Country
  • The Country home
  • Latest news
  • Audio & podcasts
  • Opinion
  • Dairy farming
  • Sheep & beef farming
  • Rural business
  • Rural technology
  • Rural life
  • Listen on iHeart radio

Subscriptions

  • Herald Premium
  • Viva Premium
  • The Listener
  • BusinessDesk

Sections

  • Latest news
  • Coast & Country News
  • Opinion
  • Dairy farming
  • Sheep & beef farming
  • Horticulture
  • Animal health
  • Rural business
  • Rural technology
  • Rural life

Media

  • Podcasts
  • Video

Weather

  • Kaitaia
  • Whāngarei
  • Dargaville
  • Auckland
  • Thames
  • Tauranga
  • Hamilton
  • Whakatāne
  • Rotorua
  • Tokoroa
  • Te Kuiti
  • Taumurunui
  • Taupō
  • Gisborne
  • New Plymouth
  • Napier
  • Hastings
  • Dannevirke
  • Whanganui
  • Palmerston North
  • Levin
  • Paraparaumu
  • Masterton
  • Wellington
  • Motueka
  • Nelson
  • Blenheim
  • Westport
  • Reefton
  • Kaikōura
  • Greymouth
  • Hokitika
  • Christchurch
  • Ashburton
  • Timaru
  • Wānaka
  • Oamaru
  • Queenstown
  • Dunedin
  • Gore
  • Invercargill

NZME Network

  • Advertise with NZME
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • BusinessDesk
  • Newstalk ZB
  • What the Actual
  • Sunlive
  • ZM
  • The Hits
  • Coast
  • Radio Hauraki
  • The Alternative Commentary Collective
  • Gold
  • Flava
  • iHeart Radio
  • Hokonui
  • Radio Wanaka
  • iHeartCountry New Zealand
  • Restaurant Hub
  • NZME Events

SubscribeSign In
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Home / The Country

Pete Fitz-Herbert: He Waka Eke Noa - science fiction or non-fiction?

The Country
15 Sep, 2022 05:00 PM3 mins to read

Subscribe to listen

Access to Herald Premium articles require a Premium subscription. Subscribe now to listen.
Already a subscriber?  Sign in here

Listening to articles is free for open-access content—explore other articles or learn more about text-to-speech.
‌
Save

    Share this article

Photo / Unsplash / Agnieszka Kowalczyk

Photo / Unsplash / Agnieszka Kowalczyk

Opinion: Manawatū farmer Pete Fitz-Herbert likens He Waka Eke Noa's primary industry representatives to death row inmates discussing their future, as rural New Zealanders are slowly turned into Ewoks while waiting for the Rebel Alliance. Bear with him.

Imagine if death row inmates were allowed to form a committee, to discuss their future.

A committee that also contained people best described as "victims' rights campaigners".

People whose agenda involved ensuring that future is as brief and as painful as logistically possible.

A committee that wasn't allowed to discuss guilt, the death penalty, or even when the execution was to proceed.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

The committee was only there to discuss and present a possibility of different options to change the gauge of the needle and its length, for better comfort in the final moments, as the sodium pentobarbital is injected at execution - or maybe death by gas chamber would be more appropriate for this example.

But hey – at least they were consulted, right?

Sounds a bit pointless to me.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Also sounds very similar to He Waka Eke Noa.

If you're involved in New Zealand agriculture and are yet to hear of this great waka, then your execution will be swift.

The committee is looking on as the destruction of agriculture in New Zealand is planned and (through well-understood but apparently unintended consequences) put on the path of Zimbabwe - from the first to the third world - from food basket to basket case.

Or, are the same book-bound geniuses that designed the Emissions Trading Scheme and He Waka Eke Noa actually fans of Star Wars and planning on using He Waka to turn rural New Zealanders into Ewoks?

Ungroomed primitive communities living in tree huts, off the grid, while a totally different and dislocated civilisation whips around in space-age electric wakas, demanding reasonable prices for the last of the naturally-produced protein on earth.

Science fiction or non-fiction? I forget the difference and unfortunately, I think some politicians do too.

They are keen on offering up New Zealand as a sacrifice on the universal altar for the world to see in the fight against carbon dioxide - even though we contribute less than a fart in the global trade winds!

Much like death row, not everyone will be guilty, but the executions will proceed because of "unintended" consequences and poorly designed but well-intentioned systems.

I'm sure sheep/beef and deer farmers will be asking if we really are all in this together as we march into the executioner's chamber, to a standing ovation from the rest of the country forming a guard of honour, with a slowly-contracting mob forcing the last stragglers in for the greater good.

Is this a far-fetched fairy tale, or the start of a story for the future to be told in a distant galaxy far-far away?

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Maybe we need a Rebel Alliance before it is too late!

And if that alliance needs a leader - might I suggest Jedi Jane, with assistance from the Groundswellians?

The great irony is that I don't actually know that much about Stars Wars, but even I reckon this government is a bit of a Death Star.

Save

    Share this article

Latest from The Country

The Country

Mother of all dairy cows inducted into 'Hall of Fame'

10 May 10:30 PM
The Country

Kiwifruit leather and earthworm DNA soil test among Fieldays Innovations

10 May 07:00 PM
The Country

Meet the woman who peels 20kg of horseradish a day

10 May 05:00 PM

One tiny baby’s fight to survive

sponsored
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Latest from The Country

Mother of all dairy cows inducted into 'Hall of Fame'

Mother of all dairy cows inducted into 'Hall of Fame'

10 May 10:30 PM

“This award recognises April’s extraordinary contribution to our sector."

Kiwifruit leather and earthworm DNA soil test among Fieldays Innovations

Kiwifruit leather and earthworm DNA soil test among Fieldays Innovations

10 May 07:00 PM
Meet the woman who peels 20kg of horseradish a day

Meet the woman who peels 20kg of horseradish a day

10 May 05:00 PM
Jessica Cameron’s journey from student to shepherd

Jessica Cameron’s journey from student to shepherd

10 May 05:00 PM
Connected workers are safer workers 
sponsored

Connected workers are safer workers 

NZ Herald
  • About NZ Herald
  • Meet the journalists
  • Newsletters
  • Classifieds
  • Help & support
  • Contact us
  • House rules
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of use
  • Competition terms & conditions
  • Our use of AI
Subscriber Services
  • NZ Herald e-editions
  • Daily puzzles & quizzes
  • Manage your digital subscription
  • Manage your print subscription
  • Subscribe to the NZ Herald newspaper
  • Subscribe to Herald Premium
  • Gift a subscription
  • Subscriber FAQs
  • Subscription terms & conditions
  • Promotions and subscriber benefits
NZME Network
  • The New Zealand Herald
  • The Northland Age
  • The Northern Advocate
  • Waikato Herald
  • Bay of Plenty Times
  • Rotorua Daily Post
  • Hawke's Bay Today
  • Whanganui Chronicle
  • Viva
  • NZ Listener
  • What the Actual
  • Newstalk ZB
  • BusinessDesk
  • OneRoof
  • Driven CarGuide
  • iHeart Radio
  • Restaurant Hub
NZME
  • About NZME
  • NZME careers
  • Advertise with NZME
  • Digital self-service advertising
  • Book your classified ad
  • Photo sales
  • NZME Events
  • © Copyright 2025 NZME Publishing Limited
TOP