Author: Ani O'Brien
Ani O'Brien
Ani O'Brien is a women's rights advocate and political commentator. She has worked previously for the Leader of the Opposition (National) and is a council member of the Free Speech Union.
Opinion: Ani O’Brien. Note: I was a vegetarian for 10 years and previously worked at the SPCA. I am a believer in high animal welfare standards and think that many animal welfare groups do a great deal of good work. Many of them are a bit nuts though. There I was, scrolling the apps, when a familiar Kiwi farmer’s face appeared with a message that sounded quite good. I halted in my tracks and bestowed a view on the video’s tally. The gist was that our imported farming products should live up to our national animal welfare standards. Fair enough,…
Opinion: Ani O’Brien. TOP isn’t above Left and Right. It’s just the Left in better packaging. Every election cycle, like clockwork, Opportunity (TOP) reappears. It refreshes its branding, gets a new leader, rolls out a new slate of candidates, and the media, just as predictably, froths over them. Since Gareth Morgan founded the party in 2016, this has become a familiar ritual in New Zealand politics. TOP is treated less like the minor party polling at less than 1% and fighting for relevance, and more like a recurring idea of the sensible alternative, the one that might break through this…