NZ producers not copping it sweet over manuka honey

Our cousins across the ditch might be hospitable — but when it comes to manuka honey, they’re playing dirty, writes Ed Gannon.

A dirty fight over who is entitled to use the name manuka honey is headed to a NZ court. Picture: Supplied

THE kind Kiwis have come to the rescue and will soon let us visit their beautiful country.

What warm and welcoming people, always thinking of others and keen to show us such hospitality.

Don’t be fooled.

Because, away from the glorious scenery and adventure sports, New Zealand can play as rough as anyone.

Just ask Australia’s honey producers, whose fight with their counterparts across the ditch is about to hit a crescendo in a NZ court next week.

And it’s a dirty fight, with the Kiwis making claims over something Australia has as much rights to.

New Zealand says it must have exclusive right to the manuka honey name, arguing it is Maori word that refers to a native NZ tree where bees pollinate and produce their honey.

It’s a preposterous argument because the same plant is native to Australia. In fact, we have more variants of the manuka tree, which is a type of tea-tree, than New Zealand has.

But that hasn’t stopped the Kiwi honey industry from taking us to court to stop Australian honey producers from selling their product under the manuka name.

At stake is a multimillion-dollar industry, mainly driven by the Chinese going crazy for manuka and its reputed medicinal properties.

That’d be the Chinese that New Zealand has gone out of its way not to offend in the same way Australia has. You know, how we have not kowtowed to bullies and human rights abusers.

But that is a minor detail for New Zealand honey producers, which has government backing in its fight against Australia over the manuka name.

Our Government is not much interested, perhaps stung by the silly Chinese accusation that our subsidised farmers were the reason for bans on our barley, wine, beef and timber.

The Federal Government believes New Zealand and Australia should work together to promote manuka honey.

Our industry would be happy with that, but it is the Kiwis who are not willing to play that game.

This is not the only name battle Australia is in. Europe has now added haloumi to its list of products it claims other countries cannot produce. That joins parmesan, champagne and feta on a long list of products the Europeans want to stop Australia producing.

But there is a fair bit of posturing over the looming Australia-Europe free-trade agreement in the haloumi move.

The Kiwis are playing for real. If they win, it will be a travesty.

They have no more claim to the manuka plant - irrespective of what you call it - than Australia does.

So when you do jump on that plane to enter the Kiwi bubble, just remember things are not so sweet across the Tasman as they’d like you to believe.

• Ed Gannon is Editor of The Weekly Times