Managed Retreats, Land Grabs, and Politics: A Discussion Between Two Kiwis and One Old White-Haired American

I recently had the wonderful opportunity to be a guest on “Green Washed” on Reality Check Radio out of New Zealand. I was interviewed by Jaspreet Boparai and Don Nicolson, two fascinating individuals as these profiles reveal:

Jaspreet is a woman of many talents: a scholar, mother, farmer and now councillor for Southland. She was born in India, holds degrees in both English literature and accounting and previously held senior positions in international banking.

She immigrated to New Zealand with her husband in 2009 to take up large scale farming. After six years in the North Island, they moved to Western Southland in 2015, where today they contract-milk 1200 cows, while Jaspreet juggles her role of mother to two young children with being a “first-time” Southland District Councillor.

Jaspreet is admired for her in-depth knowledge of a wide variety of topics but especially for her work on analysing the UN SDGs (the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals) and their application to New Zealand.

She has her immediate family to thank for piquing her interest on all things United Nations, sustainability and farming. Her father, a Lt Colonel (now retired) and her brother (a Colonel) both served tenures in Africa as part of India's United Nations peacekeeping contingents – Somalia in the 1990’s and Congo in the early 2000’s, respectively.

Don was raised, educated and spent his initial working years in the South Island of New Zealand. In 1982, Don bought a farm in Waimatua, just minutes east of Invercargill. There, he successfully produced meat (lamb and venison), wool and deer velvet, and also established a pine plantation.

In the 1990’s Don became involved in primary sector advocacy, through provincial and national positions within Federated Farmers of New Zealand, culminating in 2008 being elected the 27th National President of the Federation – the first President from Southland.

In 2003 he was considered one of the leaders of the Federation’s successful defeat of the agricultural emissions research levy (commonly described as a “flatulence tax” or “fart tax” – it actually stood for Fight Against Ridiculous Taxes).

Nowadays, Don is involved in breeding and racing thoroughbred horses, and is waiting for his own Champions “Reality Cheque”!

At 66, and after years of farming advocacy and public commitments, Don is now feeling “unshackled”. He still feels a duty to talk about what just doesn’t seem right in our country, so he’ll be joining Jaspreet to co-host “Green Washed.”

I thoroughly enjoyed the conversation and I think many of you will too, although those of you who know me personally will be shocked to see I didn’t always have pure white hair:

Click the image and you’ll be taken to the site and you'll be able to play the whole show, although I'm told by some that it's best to download the interview and then play it.

#GreenWashed #RealityCheckRadio #Jaspreet #Don #NewZealand #Kiwis