It’s extremely sad to see the demise of strawberry growing at Perry’s Berrys in Auckland.
It’s not like we didn’t see this coming. It’s not like the horticulture industry hasn’t been crying out for pickers for months and asking the government to help out.
But with so many months of their pleas falling on deaf ears, and so little help offered, what choice do some growers have but to shut up shop?
Australia pipped us at the post here of course – they let in seasonal workers from the Pacific, put special plans in place to make it happen, they made sure their horticulture industry didn’t get hung out to dry. All while we seemed happy to let fruit rot on the ground.
I remember interviewing growers late last year on this; they were forecasting the inevitable doom ahead, and begging the government to step in. I asked what they’d heard back from the government in terms of any relief coming their way. They’d heard nothing. The government hadn’t even gotten back to them, so you can imagine how that felt for them.
I notice Horticulture NZ, who’ve been agitating for months on this, is again asking the government to allow quarantine-free travel for workers from Covid-free Pacific Island countries. They’re saying, according to one report, that ‘business will die otherwise’.
The government let in 2,000 workers at the end of last year, but that was a drop in the ocean, the industry says it needs more like 10,000 seasonal workers.
The stress these businesses must be under, trying to keep themselves afloat, all the while doing it with zero assistance and a limited workforce, must be super frustrating when the solutions are obvious and right in front of you. When the problem can easily be solved. And when you’ve been extremely vocal about that problem – and its solutions – for months on end.
It must be how a lot of tourism businesses are feeling currently. Cast adrift without much hope of a life raft.
Hopefully that’s all changing soon – hopefully we’ll be getting a trans-Tasman bubble opening shortly.  Fingers crossed there’ll be an announcement today, if not at some stage this week.
And once that happens, I get the feeling cooped up Kiwis will head across the ditch in their drove, but I just hope Australians come here in their droves too. God knows we need them.
We need business as usual, we need foot traffic, full hotels and motels, we need seasonal workers, we need international students. We need all the things that make an economy tick, and we need them desperately. Let’s hope today’s the day we get the green light on getting that trans-Tasman love flowing.

Officials are hopeful a review of primary school staffing will start on a blank page.
The primary teachers union NZEI has commissioned the review, looking into perceived under-resourcing.
The independent panel chaired by former Education Minister Steve Maharey will hear 12 submissions today.
NZEI national executive member Lynda Stuart says it's important the board hears from a range of different perspectives.
"Not only educators but parents, boards of trustees and other thought leaders about the best way forward in these issues."
NZEI national executive member Lynda Stuart hopes the panel addresses long standing issues.
"To come out, to capture the views of people across the nation, and actually make the change or affect the change that needs to happen."
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Officials are hopeful a review of primary school staffing will start on a blank page.
The primary teachers union NZEI has commissioned the review, looking into perceived under-resourcing.
The independent panel chaired by former Education Minister Steve Maharey will hear 12 submissions today.
NZEI national executive member Lynda Stuart says it's important the board hears from a range of different perspectives.
"Not only educators but parents, boards of trustees and other thought leaders about the best way forward in these issues."
NZEI national executive member Lynda Stuart hopes the panel addresses long standing issues.
"To come out, to capture the views of people across the nation, and actually make the change or affect the change that needs to happen."
LISTEN ABOVE

New Zealand ski racer Alice Robinson has saved her best for last with a stunning Giant Slalom victory at the World Cup Finals in Lenzerheide in Switzerland overnight.
The 19-year-old has beaten the world's best to win gold in her final race of the season.
She set down a scorching second run to surge from fourth to first and claim her third career World Cup victory and first of what has been a challenging season for the young Kiwi.
"I am just so happy and relieved that I got my plan right and I just really attacked on the second run like I know I can, and I have been missing that feeling most of the season, so I am really happy," Robinson said.
Robinson sat fourth after clocking 1:11.85 in her first run. She was .70 of a second slower than Olympic champion Mikaela Shiffrin who was .10 of a second quicker than Italian Marta Bassino and Slovenia Meta Hrovat.
Conditions were tough for the first run held on one of the steepest courses on the circuit. It was overcast and difficult to see and Robinson who was flying on the upper sections, made a mistake with a redirect slide half-way down instead of arching and it cost her time.
However, as she did with the second run in her last World Cup race in Jasna in Slovakia two weeks ago, Robinson surged in the second run, posting the quickest time, 1:07.63, more than a second faster than Shiffrin. Her combined time of 2:19.48 saw Robinson top the podium, .28 of a second clear of the American and .48 of a second ahead of Hrovat in third.
Robinson who struggled in the early part of the season to find her best skiing with some inconsistent results, ended in the form that saw her win two World Cup races last season.
She finished fourth in the GS at last month's World Championships in Cortina in Italy and second in the World Cup race in Jasna in Slovakia a fortnight ago, and this result was coming.
"I have been working so hard this year and it's been a bit of a mission with how Covid has impacted my season being away from home for so long (She left for Europe last August) not seeing any family and I am glad the sacrifices have paid off and have some success today," Robinson said.
The 19-year-old is at least four or five years younger than her major rivals and looms as a huge medal chance in Giant Slalom at the Beijing Winter Olympics next February.
She has finished the season ranked eighth in the Giant Slalom standings but has shown when she's skiing her best few skiers can match her.
1990's Kiwi star Claudia Riegler told the Herald last week Robinson has the fastest turn of any skier on the circuit, and she showed that today, powering down the course in the second run and as one commentator remarked, showed the course no respect.
"Second run I just didn't want to get to the bottom and feel that I could have done more, so I just gave it everything I had and got to the bottom and it was enough, so it was a good feeling. It was a really cool run, but my fastest runs in skiing never feel amazing, it always feels a bit crazy and a bit rush, but I felt like I was pushing as hard as I could."
Riegler watched Robinson race from her home in France and described her second run as like a 'gladiator, so courageous and strong."
"When Alice is in the flow, she is by far the best. She pushes the turn to the limit to get the extra acceleration," Riegler commented.
Robinson's rise to the top has been rapid and remarkable. She won two World Cup GS races last season before Covid-19 hit, following on from the previous season where she clocked the second fastest second run at the 2019 World Championships before winning the World Junior Championships GS and finishing second in the World Cup Final that year as a 17-year-old.
Robinson will spend the next couple of weeks training in Europe before she finally returns home to take up a place in managed isolation early next month.
One of the pleasing aspects for the young Kiwi...

Countries across Europe resumed vaccinations with the AstraZeneca shot on Friday, as leaders sought to reassure their populations it is safe following brief suspensions that cast doubt on a vaccine that is critical to ending the coronavirus pandemic.
The British and French prime ministers rolled up their sleeves, as did a handful of other senior politicians across the continent where inoculation drives have repeatedly stumbled and several countries are now re-imposing lockdowns as infections rise in many places.
Britain is a notable exception: The outbreak there has receded, and the country has been widely praised for its vaccination campaign, though this week it announced that it, too, would be hit by supply shortages. The U.K. also never stopped using AstraZeneca. European Union countries, by contrast, have struggled to quickly roll out vaccines, and the pause of the vaccine by many this week only added to those troubles.
The suspensions came after reports of blood clots in some recipients of the vaccine, even though international health agencies urged governments to press ahead with the shot, saying the benefits outweighed the risks. On Thursday, the European Medicines Agency said that the vaccine doesn't increase the overall incidence of blood clots, though it could not rule out a link to a small number of rare clots.
The move paved the way for a slew of European countries including Italy, France and Germany to begin using the vaccine again.
"It's clear that the revocation of the suspension is for us a great relief because we have to strongly accelerate the vaccination campaign," said Dr. Giovanni Rezza, the head of prevention at the Italian Health Ministry.
Rezza told reporters in Rome that Italy only reluctantly halted the campaign out of an abundance of caution, but needed to ramp it back up quickly to make up for lost time now.
He said Italy needed to more than double the 200,000 vaccinations per day the country had reached before the suspension to reach its goal of inoculating 80% of the population by September.
Health experts have expressed concern that even though the suspensions were brief, they could still damage confidence in the vaccine at a time when many people are already hesitant to take a shot that was developed so quickly. While many EU countries have struggled with such reluctance, it's even more of a worry in developing nations that may not have any other choice of vaccine. AstraZeneca, which is cheaper and easier to store than many rival products, is the linchpin in vaccination drives in many poorer countries.
Amid these concerns, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson got an AstraZeneca jab at St. Thomas' Hospital in south London, where he was treated in intensive care last April for COVID-19.
"I literally did not feel a thing and so it was very good, very quick and I cannot recommend it too highly," Johnson, 56, said on leaving the hospital after his jab. "Everybody, when you get your notification for a jab please go and get it. It is the best thing for you, the best thing for your family and for everybody else."
Others who got the shot Friday included French Prime Minister Jean Castex, Slovenia's President Borut Pahor and Prime Minister Janez Jansa, and a German state governor. Italian Premier Mario Draghi said he would get the AstraZeneca shot when it's time for his age group, and said his grown son had received it in London.
"Therefore, there is absolutely no doubt" about its safety, Draghi, 73, told a news conference.
Castex, 55, said he stepped up because he wanted to show full confidence in the shot, even though he is not yet eligible under France's rules. The former director of the Pasteur Institute, Patrick Berche, told BFMTV the move was "a very beautiful gesture."
France restarted the vaccine with some restrictions that seemed aimed at reducing the risk of potential side effects even further.
Other countries that...

An Auckland councillor is calling on TVNZ to scrap the reality show Police Ten 7 over what he says are racist stereotypes.
The show, which airs on Thursday nights, has run for 28 seasons. But Efeso Collins says it feeds on stereotypes - particularly of young brown men being brutish.
"I think if you look across the world, the fact that the US has dropped shows like Cops, which are all these chewing gum TV shows, that do nothing but you chew on something, get some flavour out of them, and then you spit them out.
"I think it's high time that a chewing gum show like Police Ten 7 was spat out of the New Zealand TV vernacular, because there's absolutely no need for it any more."
Collins tweeted that a recent ad for the show was edited to prominently show "young brown people".
He directed his criticism at TVNZ, saying: "This stuff ... feeds on racial stereotypes, and it's time you acted as responsible broadcaster and cut it."
The US show Cops, easily recognisable for its opening "Bad Boy's" tune, epitomised what became a wider police ride-along television genre. It has been criticised for "media collusion" in telling one-sided stories in favour of the police perspective, and invading people's privacy in deeply personal moments of crisis.
Spinoff parents editor Emily Writes says the US show was' about "police aggression, toxic masculinity disguised as service, and the removal of dignity of people facing some of the worst moments of their lives."
Cops was cancelled last year, and The Spinoff commentator called for the New Zealand show to also be canned, saying it builds television around vulnerable communities, and provides a privileged platform to police.
In 2007 then-TVNZ boss Rick Ellis was slammed for including Police Ten 7 in a list of the station's programmes that included Māori representation], while speaking to the Māori Affairs Select Committee.
At the time, Māori party co-leader Pita Sharples said Ellis' inclusion of the show in his list was "degrading".
Recently, accusations of racial profiling have been levelled at the police after RNZ revealed a series of rangatahi who had done nothing wrong were photographed by officers.
Police have now launched a long-term research project into unconscious racial bias, with criminal justice advocate Kim Workman, and Waikato University.
TVNZ has been approached for comment.
Text from RNZ

The lead organiser of New Zealand's Rugby World Cup says the benefits of major sporting events outweigh the negatives.
The Government's offered $5 million to Team New Zealand to keep the next America's Cup here.
Rugby World Cup 2011 chief executive Martin Snedden told Kate Hawkesby the deadline of large scale events often becomes a catalyst for fast-tracking new projects.
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Ashley Bloomfield could soon be in charge of deciding whether there's fluoride in our water.
There's currently a bill before Parliament, to shift the decision-making responsibility from city and district councils, to DHBs.
But the Government now wants to give the power to the Director General of Health.
Dental expert Jonathan Broadbent told Kate Hawkesby it's a good idea that will provide consistency across the country.
He says fluoridation is geographically inconsistent, just like access to dentists.
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A former National leader is defending his decision to stick up for the Wiggles, and their efforts to wiggle their way into the country.
The Australian children's entertainers start their New Zealand tour in Invercargill today.
Simon Bridges has come under fire for standing by them, when they controversially took up spots in MIQ hotels at a time of unprecedented demand.
He told Kate Hawkesby entertainers should be able to come here, without objection from the public.
Bridges says if the Government improved the MIQ process, more New Zealanders would be able to come home safely.
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So are we getting a trans tasman bubble announcement this coming Monday?
The jungle drums are certainly beating that way and it would be great timing for the government.
They’d save face after being shown up by Scott Morrison, it would help the PM’s cred after that 15 point drop in the latest preferred PM poll, and it would take the glare off that shocking GDP figure out yesterday.
There’s never been a better time for some good PR for a govt that loves good PR.
 If we do get the announcement Monday, word is it will be mid to late April that the bubble opens up.
That will be a huge relief for tourist operators, hotels, hospo businesses, not to mention families and friends separated for so long by a pricey and inaccessible quarantine system. It will also, crucially, give us a back a sense of normality, of progress, a bit of hope of some optimism of looming prosperity. And for a country now in a recession, we badly need normality and a sense of progress and prosperity.
The fact it’s taken this long and the government’s had to be practically bullied into it, do you think that'll all be forgotten and forgiven once the bubble opens? The shaming by ScoMo, the agitation from business, and airport CEO's, and petitioning by National. There's been so much push and pressure on the government to get this going.
Act's David Seymour says it's all a bit late and a bit slow, that  too many businesses have already unnecessarily closed.. too many jobs have been lost due to the inaction. Act doesn’t believe the government deserves any praise or thanks for finally getting quarantine free travel going, it says the government’s been ‘a needless obstruction’ to it happening for too long.
But I think much of the scorn sent the government’s way over the delay on this will be a distant memory once people are back reuniting with family, or experiencing Australian dollars being spent here. And that’s the goal. Business as usual.
Which begs the question, how many people will actually be ready to travel again as normal?
There’re still those riddled with fear of Covid, after having had the fear message drummed into us for so long, there’ll be those in the business world who’ve adjusted to a new Zoom way of life.. and maybe cut back on all that trans Tasman travel which they may now deem unnecessary.
There will be some who’ve done it so tough through lockdowns that they simply can’t afford those trans-Tasman excursions anymore. More importantly though, we need Australians to come here. To go to Queenstown, and the West Coast, to come to our ski fields, to spend up large on activities, eat at our restaurants and bars, stay in our Hotels, hire our rental cars, buy from our retailers, and get themselves around this country splashing some cash. We’ve put a lot of hope and expectation into this bubble, hopefully we see some tangible benefits of it, real soon.