Ex Don Brash . As I write this I still can't believe this has happened to us. We hear of political interference happening overseas, but today Hobson's Pledge has been the target. Facebook has deleted all of our posts that sent supporters to submit on the Fast Track Approvals Bill including paid advertising we were running.  At first our team thought there must have been an error and attempted to post again. It became clear that anytime we used the link to the Government website to make a submission on the Bill, Facebook either blocked us or removed the post minutes after it went up. As we were aware that the Māori Party were also promoting submitting on the Bill, we checked out one of their posts and found that there we could access the Government submissions page with no problem at all.  This is discrimination and political interference. Will you stand with us against it? For a start Facebook should not be able to block links to the Government website and impede democratic engagement. They certainly shouldn't be able to pick and choose which organisation can help their supporters to access the submissions page. It is nearly impossible to reach an actual person at Facebook to ask what on earth is going on. Are they taking stances on all political issues? Or is this something an individual staff member has taken it upon themselves to do? Maybe it is simply that their systems are vulnerable to bad faith activists overwhelming them? We would love to know.  We will be doing our best to follow up and ensure that this kind of thing doesn't continue to happen. Every New Zealander should be free to encourage submissions and indeed to submit. We would never dream of attempting to prevent Māori Party supporters from having their say. We live in a democracy! Don't let political interference get in the way of you having your say on the Fast Track Approvals Bill and opposing special rights for iwi when it comes to consultation and decision making. CLICK HERE FOR THE BANNED GOVT SUBMISSION PAGE! I cannot overstate how much of a political intrusion this is. Hobson's Pledge already experiences significant hostility from the media and we use emails and social media as a way to go around the patronising so-called fourth estate to reach New Zealanders. For our ability to use social media to be threatened is truly concerning. In today's online world, it is an attack on our right to freely engage in politics.  I will keep you updated on where this goes. If there is any action we can all take, you can expect an email straight away.

Have a read and then what happened next in following E Mail . I have received several emails asking what Elliot and I wrote on behalf of Hobson's Pledge in our submission on the Fast Track Approvals Bill. I thought you might be interested too! It is short and to the point and we will elaborate when we get a chance to speak to the select committee. Submission on the Fast-track Approvals Bill by the Hobson’s Pledge Trust The Hobson’s Pledge Trust was founded in 2016 to promote the fundamental principle that all New Zealanders have equal political rights, as acknowledged in Article III of the Treaty of Waitangi. We named the organisation after Governor Hobson, who is understood to have said, as each chief signed the Treaty, “He iwi tahi tatou” (“We are now one people”).  We are convinced that acknowledging that equality of rights is the only way forward for a peaceful and harmonious New Zealand. From small beginnings, Hobson’s Pledge has grown to the point where some 130,000 people receive our regular emails. As an organisation, we take no position on the need for the Fast-track Approvals Bill. There is no doubt a wide range of strongly felt views on the Bill among our supporters. We respect the effort which the Bill makes to ensure that property rights are respected. But we are dismayed that the Bill gives a much greater priority to the rights of iwi than to the rights of other New Zealanders. The word “iwi” appears 56 times in the Bill, and the proposed four-person panels by which projects are to be evaluated are to include one person nominated by the relevant local authority and one person nominated by the relevant iwi. This apparent equivalence between local authorities and iwi authorities seems to us totally inappropriate, and is likely to result in the concerns of Maori New Zealanders being given much greater weight than the concerns of other New Zealanders. This not only causes us dismay: it also causes us surprise. During the election campaign, both the ACT Party and the New Zealand First Party made much of their commitment to equal citizenship.  In the coalition agreements which both parties signed with the National Party in the process of forming a Government, there were numerous quite specific promises to eliminate the racial preferences which have crept into New Zealand law in recent years.  The National Party’s constitution includes a specific commitment to “equal citizenship”, and of course it too was a party to the two coalition agreements which enabled the formation of the new Government. Clearly, in approving any new investment project under this Fast-track Approvals Bill Ministers must be mindful of the property rights of those New Zealanders who could be affected by the new project. But this principle should surely apply to all New Zealanders, whatever their ethnicity.  As drafted, the Bill fails to acknowledge that principle. We wish to appear before the Committee to present this submission.

Would love to see him crack it for a win one day.

Am sure trainers and owners pissed off that when they win a race Trackside instead of giving them a moment of glory switch over some hick dog meeting in Aussie.. enough is enough .Rise up owners and give these money money  pricks the message.

...and I take it you think it's ok, and good for the integrity of racing that they should have to do that to preserve their own and their horse's safety?

I'd say their persistence with the horse is more emotional than financial.

Based in Wellington?? - must be something big about to 'go down'  Trentham closing down for 3 years too - maybe Hutt Park trots and dogs are going to make a comeback 😇

Another $850 in stakes today - only slightly lower than its average stake earnings per race. Subtract the trainer's cut, the jockey's cut, the riding fee, transport costs and I'm guessing not much left to cover the training costs. The connections not familiar with that Einstein quote!?  

I would suggest that most in management are self interest welfare advocates first .😝

Isn't everyone in management these days?

Fine Cotton affair was in 1984. Get with the program and read the post again if need be🤭  

Pak Star, your comments are appreciated. I think the problem is that in 2024 statements are vetted by public relations consultants.  When they are trying to explain intricate details the public relations people get tied up in their own bullshit which most people use them to peddle. An organization"s credibility is inversely proportional to their spend on public relations.

Was your personal opinion wrapped up in fine cotton?

That's actually a very insulting remark to make about jockeys and their ability to judge for themselves the condition of tracks , often we hear how horses have galloped on tracks the morning of race day or in Ellerslie's case recent  trials were held to access the track , it's riders opinions from these events that are valued , I'm sure they don't go out blindly and just go hard to see who slips over first , they use their skills and judgement to control horses speed , if not comfortable they won't go hard , they are not crash test dummies they are skilled operators .

Would have though economies of scale would have Canterbury Show more sustainable, seems like someone got their numbers wrong

And he's a horse welfare advocate, so I'm hoping he might bring a halt to the crash test dummy approach to testing track safety.

Well they're going to get a test on Saturday , rain over the next 3 days with some heavy , especially Saturday . This is the true test of a strathayr track , will be interesting to see how the surface handles the racing with rain on the day .

Nah nerula PW would never tell a porky...🤣..you must be wrong.😂

Obviously ,in the eyes of interviewers the best candidate. My own personnel opinion is the racing integrity in Queensland has improved immensely  in the last decade. 

Think it cost a lot to run events such as A and p shows in large centers, smaller rural shows probably still fine, or more sustainable.