Rai, te dinau roi pa rata'n zelaidu te m"! A zelaidu zelaidu te m! A tyntu te da! Rai pa i a p! A pa i tu ta i a napiazai& Mae an Taga mahi te pas balema A kui minu maha stori Ma'i rau te rai A kui Rai i te ba maha i te kira A mahi te pa mahi te pa sa mahi te pa sa Maia jia mahi te ta a pala mahi te blessu Maia jia mahi te ka maia te ba maia jia mahi te ba maia mahi te ba maia jei mahi te lau I feel like I've had a funny old career path to the job which I think surely is one of the most interesting jobs a lawyer can have in this country and it's certainly turning out to be that. What I'll talk about is something of that career path and how I got to where I got to and my role in my life as a public servant. I'm really proud to be a public servant. I think it's such an important calling to be a public servant in New Zealand. And then I'll talk about my role as Solicitor General. What does it mean? What do I do? What is the function? I hope we'll have time for questions. I will and you might have to remind me to weave it in or maybe I'll weave it in but I will talk to you about the GCSP. Because that year was one of the most significant years for me yet and what I learned about myself actually not what I learned about the intelligence agencies but we'll get there. So I didn't want to be a lawyer. I went to law school. I don't really remember why but probably I was no good at maths and science and I could talk the legs off a table and I was good at debating in English. And my family expectation was that I would go to university so all of those things played into sort of pretty obvious calculus. Do a law degree. My brother did a law degree too so that made some sense. But I thought what lawyers did when you finished law school was what I saw lawyers on television doing, working too hard, drinking too much, having sex with each other in the office. That was sort of like what it seemed to me was the public available version of lawyering, something I wasn't very interested in. And also the idea, no, maybe that came later but the idea that you worked for somebody else's bottom line, not sure if I had that quite so clearly as a young person that I didn't want to do that. But anyway, so I finished law school and I went around all the law firms in Wellington looking for a job and unsurprisingly they didn't want me and I didn't want them back and that was probably obvious in the interview. So that was like whuh, didn't get any of those jobs. I don't think I would have thrived in a private sector firm but we never know or maybe it's not too late, never say never. I think I would do differently now. But anyway, one of my friends said, oh this agency of public service agency is recruiting, why don't you go and see them? So I went along to the Ministry of Consumer Affairs and got a job. And my job then was to answer the telephone, oh 800 numbers, they still exist, toll free phone calls to my desk and a few others of us from people who had consumer problems. You didn't have to be a lawyer to do this job and it was a bit like the Citizens Advice Bureau sort of advice line but government used to run it. And we used to do some great things in that job, people who needed help, who didn't know how to get help, who didn't understand the law, who didn't understand they were being ripped off and buying rubbish cars on punishing high purchase and illegal credit deals. I really enjoyed that work and I realised that my lawyering could actually do something useful and I didn't have to be like the lawyers that I saw on television but actually I was something else. I was really helping and it gave me a great buzz to help individuals in that way. Also I had some very dreary times in that job, one of my sort of famous or maybe famously recorded or recounted stories is that I had a phone call from a woman who said, I've got a complaint, yes, my husband and I are counting the matches in a box of matches. Yes, having a good day. And there are only 49 in the box but the box says a prox 50. I wonder if I should be doing something different with my law degree. But I knew that I was really enjoying other aspects of this, helping these people that needed help. And I moved over into the policy function of my agency of consumer affairs. And that was when I realised that actually being involved in how government makes rules to help everybody and I didn't just have to do this one on one thing. I could be involved in law reform in a way that meant that I felt like I was doing something good kind of like for the community or for the society involved in consumer affairs, sorry consumer law reform, high purchase reform. In fact I think that's when I came across you May and high purchase law reform. In fact I remember May finding my approach to the Official Information Act refreshing because she would ring me up and ask me for something and I would send it to her. It was shocked. So always been my approach to the Official Information Act because that's how it should work but anyway it gets complicated sometimes. So that was a really great experience and also the experience of, I'm only three or four years out of law school, being in the House of Representatives, sitting with the Minister just before the line where the Minister sits above the line and you sit below it. When he, in that case, he was in the chair leading this legislation through the House and questions would come up or proposals for amendment would be made on the floor of the House and the Minister would turn to you, the lawyer, for assistance about can we do that, how can we do that. You'd scurry off and talk to the drafters. We were making law like really in the moment, it was really exciting and a very exciting new idea for me that that's what lawyers could do. Probably after a couple of years, or maybe not two years in that job, I thought, now do I want to be a policy adviser or do I want to be a lawyer proper? Like I still had this idea that there was a proper lawyer that you might be. So I applied for a job at the Ministry of Fisheries and got that as a solicitor. And that was, boy, working in fisheries was fantastic. It was so interesting again. I was involved in, of course, fisheries law and sort of the animal husbandry regulatory framework around fishing, but also treaty settlements, also devolution of fishing, non-commercial fishing rights to iwi, drafting up the regulatory framework that would support that. It was really a huge range of things that we did in an agency that you might have thought was a bit narrow, fisheries. But a couple of things also started to happen to me. When I was at Consumer Affairs, I was asked to manage a small team and then I was asked to manage a slightly larger team. When I was at Fisheries, I came in not as a manager and then was soon asked to manage the legal team. And I also realised that I had something of a propensity for managing people and process, and I quite like that too. So now I'm collecting up ideas that this thing that I thought was a lawyer is wrong and I can be a lawyer in my own way as a manager of people, of a legal adviser as I was. And then I started to watch in those days fisheries was highly contested as fishing quota was allocated based on fishing history and it was all very contested and there was a lot of litigation. And I used to go along and sit in the back of the courtroom and watch Crown lawyers represent the Ministry of Fisheries and that started to key into my old habit of drama and acting that I'd done all through school. I thought that looks pretty cool. Excuse me, and could I do that? I wasn't sure that I could, but I applied for a job. I got a job at the Crown Law Office in 2002 as a Crown counsel. And I thought stop this management business, be a proper lawyer. Stop getting involved in management which takes you away from lawyering. And sure enough soon I was asked to manage a small team at Crown Law and I finally stopped resisting that part of my skill set which was about dealing with people. And I should, well I'll come to it now because I might forget. I think one of the critical things about lawyering is that you need to be good with people. To be an effective lawyer you need to be able to be clear to somebody you're talking to, you need to be able to work with them, they need to be able to see that you can understand their context, that you can understand their business priorities or their risk tolerances. If you're only good with books, you might not be so good with people and that is a skill you should think about working on and developing. In my view that makes you an effective lawyer when you're good with people. So I stopped resisting this idea that I was good with people and flung myself at also management roles. So I became a team leader in Crown Law, the Deputy Solicitor-General. It was about then that I started to think, well, I think it was before I became the Deputy I started to be sort of clear about this. Until now I hadn't really thought I wanted to do this, then this, then that. I had just done jobs that I thought were interesting and I thought I wanted to be challenged in my jobs. I didn't really particularly care where I ended up. My interest was in, perhaps in a slightly shallow way, having a good life where I did something that I thought was valuable and important and I never wanted to give up my whole life to my work. So a couple of sort of strong values for me that led me to take different roles. But at Crown Law I thought maybe I could be the Deputy Solicitor-General. I started to think in a career planning way. The Deputy then was Matthew Palmer, now Justice Palmer. He was a great mentor to me about helping me be a bit more structured about thinking about what did I want, what did I want to do and then what gaps might I have that I needed to fill. So he was very good to me about making me work through a process of thinking. Was it leadership? Was it management? Was it different law? What about the private sector? Did I want to think about that? Anyway, I became the Deputy Solicitor-General after a process. At some point in there I thought, well, if I'm going to aim to be the Deputy, why not aim to be the Solicitor-General? And even now I feel like that's slightly embarrassing that I thought that because certainly then I thought that I shouldn't tell anybody else that because they would think, well, you know, what sort of a dickhead are you that you think that you can become the Solicitor-General? So I kept that really quiet for a long, long time and it was part of my own kind of lessons about myself that needed some courage for myself to say, I'm going to try for that. And I set my sights at thinking one day I want to be a credible applicant.  And that was sort of how high I set my standard then. So Mike Heron was the Solicitor-General when I was the Deputy. He's a barrister here in Auckland, QC here in Auckland now. And he was another great mentor to me about helping me kind of undo this crazy view that I had of myself that I wasn't capable of doing what he was doing. And he was very, very good and very generous with his time and we cooked up this plan together that I needed to find a way to go out and do something different. I'd come up through the Public Service, as you've just heard. I've been at Crown Law since 2002. Everybody was telling me, well, not everybody, but the Public Service kind of centre, the State Services Commission, the Leadership Development Program that I was doing, was saying, you need to do something else. Show us that you're capable of something a bit more broad because people often think that lawyers have a very narrow skill set. It's absolutely wrong, but that can be of you, especially if you have just come up in a certain line of lawyering. That was the plan that I would look for an opportunity to show that I had a bigger skill set. And I went along... Ah, this... It's a common opportunity came up where the DPMC, Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet, who has an intelligence function, wanted somebody, they said they wanted a senior public servant to work with intelligence agencies to determine what the intelligence agencies might strive for if they wanted to be an agile, joined-up intelligence community. And they wanted sort of a think-piece. I thought, well, I can do that. And it hits a few things for me, senior public service, sort of centre role, being exposed to a wider range of senior public servants, showing I can do something other than lawyering. Best of all, it was an eight-week gig. And I really liked my job as Deputy Solicitor-General and I didn't really want to do this thing to show I had breadth. I have got breadth and I like it here. I don't want to go and do something different. So the eight-weeks was very attractive. So I went and did that piece of work. It was great. It was really interesting. I wasn't being a lawyer. I realised I had other skills. It was great. Best of all, eight-weeks pass, and I was heading back to the Deputy Solicitor-General role. When somebody said to me, the director of the GCSB role has just become vacant and we're looking for a short-term secondi, are you interested? And I thought at the time I was interested because, even though I wasn't interested, I thought it was a good opportunity to say, I hope nobody, you know, sensible in power watches this video. But anyway, I thought I should say, you know, show willing. Like, yeah, okay, I'm interested. So I said, yeah, I was interested. And I was very shocked and slightly horrified when I came down to, Yesuna, could you please be the director of the GCSB? What was I thinking? I thought I... You know, I'm a lawyer. What was I thinking? I was very anxious. And I won't bore you about that, although one of my lessons is that if you have this internal narrative, and you should listen to it, that tells you that you are not good enough or that you're not able to do this or that somebody else should do that because you might muck it up, ignore it if you can. You know, like, I'm a confident person and I've always been a confident person. It took me until I was about 46 in that job, and I realised that I also had a really unhealthy internal narrative that was telling me I wasn't capable of stuff. When I said being in the Bureau was the biggest year of my life, it was realising that. So I go along to the Bureau. I'm incredibly anxious, just anxiety and sort of worrying about whether I was going to be any good. It was all very well to now have a gig where I was going to show people what I was capable of, but, you know, like, the opposite was possible too, right? That this was going to be the end of my career. And I would really muck things up. And I had just been on a course. I think it was called Leading for Strategic Success and it was a really great course and it revealed one thing to me, what revealed a few things to me, the one thing it really revealed to me was that my approach to life was that if I didn't know what was happening, if I didn't know what was coming next, I didn't like it. I felt nervous and anxious about not knowing what came next. And as they often do in these courses, they got me to write to myself. What was the revelation that you've had and what is the thing you're going to do differently? And three months later, they sent it to you. And it just so happened that my letter arrived the day before I started at the Bureau and it was such a relief to read in my own handwriting that I had learnt this blessing. I had forgotten it, of course, instantly in all the fuss and anxiety that, ah, you're worried because you don't know what's going to happen. Just don't worry about it. And for some reason it just made me utterly calm and off I went. In the first week in that job, the litigations came out in the media. So, ah, OK. Good, oh. But, you know, I know about preparing for litigation.  So it was a real baptism of fire and I learnt that I had to rely on my skills, that I had some, that I wasn't just a lawyer. Actually, I was also eloquent. I was smart. I was tough. You know, I learnt all these things about myself in that year. And to answer the person's question about what else did I learn in the Bureau, what I learnt was the Bureau is full of really dedicated public servants who work for the government like any other public servant. And just because we can't always see what goes on below the radar, they're working to government priorities. They're working according to law and the oversight that the Bureau and the SIS have over them was then and is now more so stronger than any other public servant. They've got the Ombudsman, the Privacy Commissioner, the Auditor-General, like everybody else. The Courts, like everybody else. They've also got the Inspector-General of Intelligence and Security who has complete power to come in, look at anything, ask for anything. I think her powers have actually just been increased in the new legislation although I'm not as familiar with that. She had the past to the building and she could and did walk in to anything at any time. You know, that doesn't always mean she can't see everything, but actually just like having an awareness that a judge is looking over your shoulder when you're an administrative decision maker thinking about how do I do things, having the Inspector-General on the other shoulder was a really good discipline. So what I learnt was that what we needed to do about that those agencies was talk to people. I spent most of that year out in a different advocacy role talking to people, regular people talking to select committees, going on the radio going on the television, talking about what does the agency do that I can tell you you have to trust us that there's stuff you can't see but the Inspector-General can see it and the select committee of Parliament can see it Ministers and the Prime Minister see it and authorise it through a warranting process you should trust that process. The other thing I learnt there was that I was a really good leader Anyway whether it was a surprise to me or not I don't know but I ended up in a job for a year it was supposed to be for two months it ended up just on a year running an organisation where I pretty much knew nothing about the subject matter I had said in my job interview for that temporary role that I did know something about the Bureau which I did I had been a lawyer for the Bureau in the SAS before but was only when I got there that I realised I actually know nothing about what goes on here what my job was to lead people was to make sure that the right people were making the right decisions, the right advice to me if I had to make a decision and so on. Another point about that agency was that the Snowden revelations spying on Kim.com unlawfully those had been huge hits to that agency's kind of sense of its own place in the world and the SAS had always been under the radar and they liked it that way the cultural change of coming out into the open in a way that had never been before was a really uncomfortable thing for lots of those intelligence practitioners and so I thought that it was part of my function to really push that helping them see that openness was a strength and helping the community see as much as they could and that was a strength for us so that's what I learnt from the Bureau when then Michael Herron a couple of times in my career and I know this is not very helpful career advice luck played a part and I don't say that in a disrespectful way to myself because I've worked hard and I'm here because I'm the right person to be here now but going into the Bureau it happened that the director left out of sort of sequence so the system wasn't ready with the new set of people to consider and I was lucky to be really at a place in time with a career development plan that said do something different so career plans can be useful even though I haven't had one thinking about what is it that I might want to do next in those last few years when I've had that it has served me well the other bit of luck was that Michael Herron left slightly also out of sequence so when I was coming to the end of my year in the Bureau and thinking what do I do now do I really go back to being the Deputy Solicitor General or do I want to apply for the permanent director of the Bureau role and it was really clear to me just in how I felt about that that my passion job was the one he had just left I really like my time in the Bureau it was a really cool job I actually want that one it was really powerfully clear in me and so I learnt all this stuff about myself all these insights into myself and I felt much better prepared ah those people were right all along and I needed a bit of breadth and a bit of distance from what I had done for the last 12 years to kind of really draw out of myself what I needed to be the Solicitor General so I went through that process I hadn't cracked the you know don't be anxious I was very anxious you know and still am from time to time about what the things I have to do but we'll get to the bit that we all know that I was appointed into that role at the beginning of last year and so now if I may I'm going to segue on to talking about what that role is all about so there's several functions in the Solicitor General you probably know or maybe you don't that the Solicitor General is something called the Junior Law Officer of the Crown and the Senior Law Officer of the Crown is the Attorney General the Attorney General currently the Honourable Christopher Finlayson, Attorney General Politician, Junior Law Officer Public Servant and this Law Officer concept is the idea that successive governments in a democracy like ours will always operate according to law and part of their part of government's credibility and legitimacy is that they govern according to law and it is the law officers function to make sure that that happens so subject only to what the Attorney says the Solicitor General's view on what the Crown's view of the law is authoritative and determinative as within the Crown so to the Solicitor General's view of how the Crown needs to behave and argue in the courts I'll come to that advisory role in a minute I'll just run through what the other functions of the Law Officer are oversight of all prosecutions so the Crown of course is the prosecutor of crime through the Crown Solicitor's Network the Crown Solicitor's are private sector lawyers 16 of them in firms all around the country who act on warrant and under Solicitor General guidelines to conduct prosecute crimes so violence, murder, sexual violence those big tariff crimes are the ones that the Crown prosecute through Crown Solicitor's also in the Crown's prosecution function are regulatory crimes if you like public prosecutions so MPI, breaching fishing rules say or discharging water where you shouldn't those sorts of regulatory crimes are also done by prosecutors and the Solicitor it's actually the Attorney General who constitutionally has that function of oversight and responsibility for all prosecutions but because of the fact that that person in our system and has been for the last 180 something years been a politician it tends to get left to the independent public servant and there's a couple of things there that you might think are intention you know how can a minister who presumably has responsibility collectively for advancing government's policy interests have the independent function to be able to say how you can't do that the law says you can't do that or you need to do that in a different way in practice it gets left to the Solicitor General not because I think any attorney, not just this one but not because I think necessarily that they won't be able to think independently in their law officer function but partly because it might look like they can't think part of our country's constitutional framework sort of constitutional credibility is about people being able to see the frameworks and that people can see, oh right I don't have to think I can't think New Zealand is a corrupt place or that government is corrupt and just does what it likes and it rides over laws and it doesn't care if they can see the functionaries who are there to say this is what the law should be I'm one of those functionaries it's a pretty exciting and demanding role for me obviously I don't do it myself I have a whole office of people who assist me in that and more than that we now operate very much as a network throughout the government lawyer profession being a lawyer in government now, much more so than when I started where you'd be a departmental lawyer your loyalty would be to that department is trying to assist that department achieve what it needed to achieve we are now working in a very much more networked way so that we are making the best use of some 800 lawyers that work in core government if you add Crown entities, about 1200 lawyers and you know the idea that in-house lawyers bring this particular benefit to lawyering which is that they in-house firm you're employed in the business that you're advising the in-house advantage is that you understand the context, you understand that business or agencies objectives you understand what risks they are prepared to take lawfully and you understand what opportunities they'd like to pursue so the Crown's in-house council cohort is 8 or 1200 lawyers and we have to harness that to make sure that the Crown through executive government what each individual government wants to achieve but also bears in mind the Crown's long-term interests and obligations and it is critical that we have that wider view that we don't get caught up too readily in transactional arrangements to make sure that I'll help you achieve that and I'll help you achieve this my brother is a lawyer he was just sworn in as a high court judge yesterday and he'll be sitting here in Auckland from Monday but he was a lawyer and he was telling me one day that when he was in practice he was arguing for a point for a client X arguing this point he argued the opposite of that same point for a different client a few weeks later and it just seems so bizarre to me that the Crown can never do that even if just using examples even if the Ministry of Primary Industries wants to win this case and by arguing that point my function is to make sure that it will not be allowed if that point is not something that serves the Crown's long-term interests and obligations it's quite challenging and this idea that you come I often say to people Crown Law and the Solicitor General we're your worst kind of lawyers because you have to come to us on lots of things since 1950 there have been a set of rules called the Cabinet Directions for the conduct of Crown legal business certain types of things if a department needs lawyers to help it outside of its own cohort of lawyers it has to come to the Solicitor General and it's things like the criminal law revenue, exercise of power most litigation you have to come through the Solicitor General and it's not that we do it all ourselves but it's that supervisory function that's so important so that we do have this view about the Crown and what it's up to so I say to people we're your worst kind of lawyers because we have to come to us on certain things and when you do we might not do what you want us to do because we might say you can't argue that point even though in your moment you might win because either the Crown's already decided the right view of the law is something different or for another long-term reason we don't think that's right and the best example slightly related point I think is easier to explain in the prosecution function now there's this expression that the Crown enjoys no victories and suffers no losses and I used to think that we just said that to ourselves to make ourselves feel better when we've lost a case and certainly we do say that but actually it means something else the Crown's interest is different from any particular individual decision makers immediate interests in the moment take prosecutions for example the function of the prosecutor is not to win the function of the prosecutor is not to get a conviction the function of the prosecutor for the Crown is to make sure trials are fairly held and conducted that defendants have fair process applied to them as they are brought before the court for the court to determine what happens in the application of the criminal law and we do our job well when we recognise that the Crown has a particular function there and yes of course we can argue well and forcefully for a particular conviction or a particular outcome we don't have to be supine about it but unlike the defense lawyer the function is to avoid the prosecution for their client our client is and this might sound a little bit knobby actually the people of New Zealand our client is the Crown our client is this bigger interest not just the individual agency that's in front of us that's a real you know that's a great thrill what a crazy mad job it is that that is my function but it's also a real burden too and I've said this before and you might have heard me say that and a huge privilege it's a huge privilege to be continuing my public service career in this job which is just absolutely about how does this country continue to have legitimate government and an obvious constitutional structure that people can trust and it's a burden in that as I've said sometimes we get to say to people yeah I disagree and we're not going to argue that point or you can't take that point and as ever how we go about that how we discharge that burden is critical to me anyway and a successful tenure for me as Solicitor General because what I need to be is influential and called upon and if every day I'm saying to people no you can't do that and oh the rule of law says you can't do that people are going to stop calling me and so it's this real tension of being a good practical and being able to identify where is the line that I need to make sure that nobody goes past it's sort of really quite easy to say it to you today it's actually really hard to achieve in practice and I will not get it right every time in some ways the litigation part of that is easier because there is somebody else there who determines what is the meaning of the law the court of course gets to determine what is the meaning of the law in some ways it's the advisory function because like that old saying you know the real character of a person by what they do when no one is watching I think the real strength of the of my what's the word of my allegiance to the rule of law is what we advise and how we can achieve rule of law compliant decisions by successive governments when no one challenges it I have had an example where a person said when I was saying well you can't you know you actually can't do this that way we can help you find a different way the answer came back well it doesn't really matter because by the time anyone finds out that it's not right it'll be too late saying it's too late I've already found out and you can't do it and most times I must say they are pretty rare you know ministers do not want to break the law ministers and governments also legitimacy that comes to them from operating according to law but sometimes they need help and vigilance to spot where is the line where is it coming and as we see I was talking to another group of people this morning saying we haven't seen the New Zealand Bill of Rights completely flex its muscle yet I don't think we are anywhere near through seeing how far the Bill of Rights will take us in what we will understand to be the legal framework and so some things that the Crown does and argues are may seem unpopular they may seem strange and that is when the Solicitor General should be turning up in the courts to explain why the Crown is taking an argument that you know people might argue up hill and down dale about whether or not it's right and one thing you'll have learned as law students and lawyers is that the law is contestable right you can always find somebody who will argue the other point maybe successfully and it's so obvious when you're in litigation that you might persuade one person the High Court judge that to go with you you might not be able to persuade all three at the next level and that might go the other way and you can have another crack perhaps at the next five and you might get a different result we were counting up recently a case what's been in the newspaper the Minister of Conservation Ru'utanawha Dam Challenge went right from the High Court to the Supreme Court when we counted up which judges went which way I think we had five judges that overall agreed with the Crown's position four judges that agreed with the Crown's position and now the law is that the Crown's position was wrong but I think it's useful for us to think about that because sometimes the Crown will have to put points push points argue for an extension of the law argue for things that might not seem attractive if you see them in the newspaper and we've got to have the kind of internal fortitude to know why we're arguing it what purpose we're serving and make sure that when the Court is dealing with it they get everything from the Crown and they get to determine what the law is and then if it's a change then that is the law and we comply with the law and on we go so my functions are advisory advocacy appearing in the courts and running the Crown Law Office as the Chief Executive but also being the professional head of those 800 or 1200 depending how you cut it lawyers that we have working government and the really exciting thing for me and then I'll stop in a moment and you can ask me some questions the really exciting thing for me is being able to harness that whole Crown capability I mentioned before you might sort of think there's a bit of attention here about politician, senior law officer and maybe even public servant junior law officer have we really got the independence that we need for law officers to look at what's going on I'm not appointed into my role I hold it at the Government General's pleasure so I can't be sacked or promoted by Government I don't get paid by Government I get paid by the Independent Remuneration Authority well that's who sets my salary and I don't sit within the usual structure of Chief Executive performance pay and I don't get paid by the Government so these are the features that make sure that the role holder is independent and can fearlessly advise Governments that is the critical, that ability to fearlessly advise Governments I think it's a huge advantage that I sit right within the system of public service lawyers because it means that people have access directly to the solicitor and I think that's a real advantage in other jurisdictions Australia for example the solicitor's general there are ones for every state and then a Commonwealth one they are private sector lawyers I'm at the bar usually sometimes in firms who act on instruction and I think this is just my own view distance that ability to not ask the law officer a question might not be a great advantage because I don't have to wait to be asked a question and I do and people find it annoying I know poke my nose in where I know or think that I need to be either informed or there's risk arising that's not being managed or as I was saying to Amai and Andrew before listening to the radio in the morning is now sort of like a health hazard because you listen to the radio and you think I need to know about that and you can and you are entitled just to go in and I think that's a great advantage for our system so is that a good place to see if there are any questions all right? Let me ask you a question about your vision so you just started in this role so it's a hugely important role and you know sometimes crown law can appear just to be the ambulance at the bottom of the case it's interesting to hear you talk about your advisory role but quite a lot of times you know before it comes to you and it's a mess and you end up in court and that's what you do and I just wondered if part of the vision that you had for crown law going forward was to think more about how these amazing lawyers that you've got it's a huge resource just think about how different that is to private practice I mean the difficulty for private practitioners is that your clients never have the money to be able to, I mean even listening to the sorts of general talking about oh well you know take it to the high court and then you can always go to the court of appeal most private sector clients if you can't get there on the high court that's it, I mean they've spent all their money there isn't any more so I'm just wondering whether there's a vision on your part to have more of a proactive role in problem solving Yes you would think that was a patsy question that it asked me to ask me because I've got an answer to that but I didn't ask you to ask me that but I absolutely, I didn't bring my A3 of my vision but we absolutely have a really clear vision about what we're doing when I started in the Crown Office my pitch to the agent, to the place that was doing the first of all the shortlisting and then the interviewing and then to the minister was to say my vision is that the Solicitor General has to be able to harness the capability of all of the lawyers in the Crown in order to allow the Crown and through executive government to do what it wants to achieve its policy aims lawfully with a view to the future and in a way that means that you're not constantly having to battle backwards through the courts to achieve what you want to do and if I put it on a bumper sticker it would say lawyers, ask us early because if you wait till the end and ask lawyers to help yes of course lawyers can help and we can say oh yeah you've gone terribly wrong and we can help you and you know it's pretty like nice Superman complex to be able to help but actually if we can show that we can help or if you start us here then if you come when things have gone wrong all the better and we're all on the one Crown I mean as madness that we would wait till the end so when I got into the Crown law office I started to ask this question what is the Crown law that New Zealand needs and we had never asked that question before we had often thought why we're here and what are we about and we served the rule of law and we served the Crown actually if you went out to suburbs in Auckland, Cambridge where I grew up and said we're a department and we served the rule of law and we served the Crown like they have no idea what we did so we started to ask what is the Crown law that New Zealand needs and we came up with three outcomes that we are now entirely focused on the first, demonstrably better Government decisions we argued long and hard with each other about whether or not we should be saying what we wanted was to achieve better Government process we think nah bugger that we want actually better decisions out of Government and yes process is a big part of it but you can conduct a process that looks nice and that you might not have a decision that's compliant with the law or that actually advances us in all sorts of important areas like recognising rights of the Bill of Rights like advancing the Crown Maori relationship all these big questions for New Zealand as a society might not be answered by good process we think we're about one of our outcomes we don't control these outcomes, lots of people contribute to them demonstrably better Government decision increasing the credibility or enhancing the credibility of the rule of law now my bumper sticker version of that as I said to the Chief Justice the other day is making the rule of law cool again she looked a bit anxious but when lawyers come around this is maybe from my own history of being in the Crown law for a long time when lawyers come around and say the rule of law says you can't do that actually most ministers and other decision makers think what a load of bosh I want to do that and you're not helping me by talking about this thing that I don't understand we must make sure that people understand that the rule of law is a benefit, it is not a burden it is a huge benefit if people can see that that is how this country runs we can see democracy right, it happens right in front of us can we see the rule of law? I don't know, I want and so in my role one of my visions is that the Crown speaks more about what it's doing and why and in the past it's always been very much we don't talk about what's going on often we can't because it's in front of the courts and I think we owe it to people to say the reason that that decision perhaps for agreeing that we won't proceed with the murder charge but that we would accept to please a manslaughter was for these reasons you might recognise that story from last year where we did come out and say why that had happened the third thing we're doing is contributing to better criminal justice outcomes as I said before making sure that we understand our critical role in the criminal justice system being a fair process by which we hold offenders to account Please join me in thanking the solicitor for speaking to him Thank you


We'll have a very good one. Thank you. Will you permit Ambassador Stone to meet with representatives of the letters? For once. And we'll see. When's Ambassador to meet with that little ace? He's near enough. He's ready. He's ready. He'll be fine about it. And you're safe. I'm not about anything. He feels safe. All right. Never GD, silent. Right now. No, I... I... I'm not... Because they said it's a picture. No, I'm not. I'm carrying this still. You'd be surprised if this story tells. What do you guys think? First for you, this is... This is Carol. Dr. Carol Harris. Hello there. This is Mrs. Gibson. This is Mrs. Gibson. Hello. This is Captain Gibson. This is our... This is our... This is our... This is our... This is our... I am honored to meet both of you. Why are you running over there? Why don't we get a big shot? That's when I would get a shot of these cards. Really represent who we wanted. And from a... Say it was my team. Modernization, revitalization. I'm not very honored to... Say how you want me to... Let me spend a while and let you get a picture of the flip. Let me do the same thing. Okay, thank you. Now, why haven't we... The proper husband and the proper wife? Yes. Yes. All right. The President also has a master's degree. He has a law degree. He's a practicing lawyer. He has a wife, has a Ph.D. of sociology, and works in social health and sensitivity. So you see, our traffic controllers are pretty well educated. Pretty good. That was just great. Thank you. Thank you for not taking them out. Thank you. Thank you so much. Thank you so much. Oh. For your reaction. Oh. What does it feel like when a repeller starts to come through the side of the plane? Well, it was a few moments there that I wouldn't want to repeat, sir. It was exciting. With the help of the crew, we got under control. Everybody did a fine job. I just want to express my appreciation to all the professionals in the system, the air traffic control system, and such honor to meet Craig and the tremendous job he did. It just gives one a good feeling to work with the professionals. Well, listen, you both were professionals. You showed your capacities in the highest order at that time. Now, I don't know there's much about it, but I read it was the number four engine. Yes, sir. Now, in my view, that would be the one furthest out. Yes. On the right side. As the controls were jammed, when the park came off as present, it came through the lower part of the fuselage, jammed flight control and its engine controls. So, he was in a unique situation of having no control of flying it through the autopilot, and when he came in to try to land, he had no control of the power, so he ended up having to literally shut the engine off and land it on the runway dead stick. Of all the things that have come across my dust, I've been there three hours. I'm really impressed with it. This was one of those three hours. And what he did with the air traffic was he piled it down and he'd treat it down with the smoke. 33,000 feet out of the runway, 11 in the half minutes. I have to say to you, there are other controls that contributed to that, and I'm a little embarrassed by the passengers who did it to me, because they've done quite a bit of that rescue work as well. Apparently, the pilot found what he was hearing very reassuring. Well, we thank you very much for your time on the present. Thank you, sir. Just souvenirs of having been a member. Very nice to meet you, sir. Thank you very much. There have been some moments in here when, and if you think about it in the future, you might just crawl up and reassure me. You don't have to worry about the air traffic. I just meant that sometimes I think I'm going down in flames. Thank you very much. Thank you very much. Thank you, sir.  I've made it clear myself that I believe the strong, the strong Japanese and U.S. ties are critical to the welfare of the United States, our people, and the both countries. And I know that you will approach relations with that in mind. Together, I think our two countries can achieve miracles. The partnership offers the world a model of stability and strength and hope. Societies unlock the mysteries of the Silicon ship, and I think surely between us we can generate the skill and foresight and cooperation to resolve some of the problems in our partnership and outside of the world.  I know that of Prime Minister. We developed our friendship. We became a bird when we captured all of us. I think now the time has come for me to leave you for all of you to get to work. Thank you very much, Mr. President. The time we know how busy your day is and we hope we can make some contributions to be helpful and part of our relationship. Well, I know you will. I'm in good hands. Thank you all. I think we will be signing on. With the benefit of the media, a few remarks to commemorate this particular case. I'm glad to take the first step for what will be Americans in the proud and glorious moment. Celebration of the 25th anniversary of Alaska's statehood. Alaska visited the Union on January 3rd, 1959, and I think it has now was then a treasure house of natural resources and a state of undisturbed vistas and incomparable beauty. In many ways, the story of Alaska is the story of our country. The struggle of courageous men and women in a wild and boundious frontier. Today, the state reminds us of that rich heritage in our continuing efforts toward developing a nation while seeking to preserve every place of beauty and resources. The resolution which I am about to sign speaks of Alaska's material wealth. One fifth of the nation's gold. No, one eighth of the nation's gold. One fifth of the nation's oil. Two fifths of its harvested fish. Alaska possesses 10 of the 16 vital materials that are needed for the nation's security. And as a result of the national treasury collecting, I shouldn't say this in front of the general, collecting $3 for every $1 of federal money that is spent in that position. As the resolution notes, the United States has reaped economic rewards from Alaska many times greater than its original $7 million investment. But Alaska's contribution to our nation goes far beyond this. All Americans benefit from the commitment and courage, the vitality and the frontier spirit of the people of Alaska. Alaskans in Alaska remain an inspiration to all Americans and a reminder of the richness, diversity and beauty of our heritage. Today with the sponsors of this resolution Senator Stevens and Murkowski and Congressman Young, I call on all Americans and all levels of government to join with me in celebrating the statehood today with appropriate ceremonies and recognition. And I shall now sign the resolution into law making sure that I use all these names. One second. Thank you very much. Thank you very much. George, it's nice of you to come. I appreciate it. Thank you very much. Not many.


Welcome to Toffy TV, it is the Everton News Daily. Everton are interested in signing Llyw Wrightbach, Zech i Celec, according to LeCoupe in France. Everton have been tracking him for, seems like about two years now, the Turkish Wrightbach. He's obviously won the league this season with Llyw being in excellent form. Everton were quoted 17 million forum last summer, have continued to watch him this summer and it's thought that the Turkish Wrightbach wants to move to the Premier League. Everton, apparently one of the favourites to get him spares all so monitoring his actions at the moment and what he wants to do, but Llyw obviously, like I said, has just picked PSG to the league title over the weekend. So, again fits the profile, I guess, for Everton. Clearly looking for that right back position, Max Arends has been heavily linked with Everton, Ridley Back, who's another one who's been linked to Emerson. Also a Railbertish Beanlink and Celecs, they seem to be the forefront runners for Everton's right back spot, so see how that one goes. Everton again today linked with Phil Cattinio, that's according to Sky Sports today. It says Everton the National are tracking the 29-year-old Barcelona player. He is surplus to requirements at the new camp and the story says that Carlo Ancelotti wants to bring him in to Everton. He's very, very talented, there is no question about that, but a 29-year-old player who's had injuries this season, is it really what we want to be doing? Who knows? Or is it just Sky putting out transfer links? It is the silly season and these, I must stress, are just stories that are in the press and we're just collating them for you on the news daily. Everton, apparently watching Arneth Danjuma, the Bournemouth striker, he's scored 17 goals and got eight assists this season, but Bournemouth, as the charity's got to the playoffs in the championship, didn't get up. Everton, apparently watching him to Marshall Brands, credited with an interest in him because he's Dutch. Other clubs watching him as well, Wolves from Westam have watched him on a number of occasions this season and Everton have been credited with an interest in him. Finally, Everton have offered Nathan Broadhead a new deal, his contract due to expire at the end of next month. A 23-year-old got in to the Everton faith team squad towards the end of the season, got on a pitch in the 0-0 draw of Brighton, remember? He's been in excellent form for David Underwood under 23 side this season and it's thought that Everton have offered him a new two-year deal and it looks like he will be staying. And Everton also expecting young defender Jo Anderson to sign a new one-year deal with the club. His contract also up at the end of next month, the 20-year-old left-footed centre-back looks like he may stay for another 12 months. That is it for us, give us a thumbs up, subscribe if you haven't and if you want more videos, join us over on Patreon. See you later.


Climate change is projected to cause significant changes in river flow regimes around the world, which could have serious implications for freshwater ecosystems. These changes include decreased low flows, increased high flows, and delayed peak flows. Additionally, climate change is expected to exacerbate existing flow alterations caused by human activities, such as dams and water withdrawals. This means that climate change could lead to further degradation of freshwater ecosystems if appropriate measures are not taken to mitigate its effects. This article was authored by P. Dahl and J. Zhang.


Okay, now we've got to make a decision. We're always going to have to roll and come out. Okay, you start circling. So we can pair in the head and start choking up on his arm. It doesn't feel good to me. It might feel good to some of you guys. I don't know. Lay in there. To me, I want to circle. That's me. You guys might find a combination that works good for the opposite side. Good? So partners, that I'm seeing. And then start cheating. You have to stand straight up and cheat the wrong things. We ain't training for that guy.  Every time you get to their leg, talk to them. Alright? Go!


Yeah, we're at the track covering the sport of Kings coming up in this week's show The start of Jamaica's road to the Triple Crown series wins for the Philip Bannadura and the hotline steaks and the cold allegiance in the Sir Howard steaks former TNT Dabu winner Soka Harman is set for her Guyana debut this weekend in Port Morant and a steaks double for Barbadian trainer Safi Joseph Jr. at Florida's Tampa Bay Downs Plus the usual checking on Caribbean success on the North American continent our opening story from Jamaica on a Saturday Sunday weekend of Racing at Kimannas Park the since Cecilia Cup run in honor of the two-time horse of the air and holder of the Kimannas Park record 14 wins in a row was the weekend's richest event the Houston stables desert of Malibu with Radish Roman aboard for trainer Garry Sabrati the heavy odds-on favorite for the six and a half furlong run There's the field number two further and beyond who won the 2022 since Cecilia Cup is a 13 to 1 bet 1 to 9 for The favorite desert of Malibu in the three box the only other entries with notable betting support number 5 divine force at 3 to 1 7 Madeleine sunshine at 13 to 1 and a 9 Boutilicious at 11 to 1 mid-race Brand Rickman picks up the call with a favorite on a gate to wire bid desert of Malibu is in charge under Radish Roman He's looking for his fourth win on the card there goes on the outside a Boutilicious Madeleine sunshine is in a handy spot if good enough a gift from Ben finds a run against the rail further and beyond Racing back in behind them then emperor of the cats press conference Rainsville and divine force to the mountain to climb but desert of Malibu not messing about will arrive at the 3 16 4 with a good-looking lead on the rider now becomes a busy man changing his hold and desert of Malibu responds by Opening the lead inside now the final furlong its desert of Malibu here is further and beyond now asked to close a 405 Namecap but desert of Malibu is swift on the legs and desert of Malibu will take the sense to see luck up by maybe three Jockey Radish Roman closing a four-timer here as desert of Malibu rebounds impressive leave from her surprise loss in last month's Regga Trophy race over five furlongs straight as a heavy one-to-nine favorite the Houston stables desert of Malibu wins Saturday since the Celia with authority by three lengths over former winner further and beyond clocking 1 minute 19 and four-fifths for the Six and a half furlong trip for trainer Gary Sabrati also Saturday the hotline stakes honoring the 1975 champion two-year-old and 1976 horse of the era the first important prep for the Phyllis Guinness watch the two-to-one second favorite Banadoura with Robert Halladine aboard in the red silks chasing in second as the leaders come racing away toward the final three Crypto girl out in front Banadoura in hot pursuit three parts of a link down a gap of five or six lengths opens up to Narissa's angel miss cherry in between horses oh so smart and blue sensation asked to make ground as they come Thundering into the top of the lane they leave the quarter pole behind crypto girl battling and holding that lead Banadoura continues to attack on the outside their eye to eye as they drive to the furlong pole Banadoura in the red now points the nose in front crypto girl continues the battle on the rail It's a Banadoura driven to the max crypto girl trying to close the gap once again But Banadoura begins to slip away from Crypto girl. It's a Banadoura coming away a double for the connections First start as a three-year-old Banadoura workmen like in a satisfying victory rebounding from her on-place Jamaica Two-year-old stakes effort in December Jockey Robert Halladine who had won three consecutive sense of senior races with nipster further and beyond and am Fred But did not have a ride in this year's edition gets the job done here for owner miller design and champion trainer Jason The Costa Banadoura two-to-one odds by three lengths over crypto girl and come home to me clocking one minute 15 and three-fifths for the six furlong trip the hotline stakes fulfill is this closing a double for Jockey Halladine and Trainer de Costa 24 hours later six goals for the early 2000 Guinness prep the sir Howard steaks run in honor of the 1983 horse of the year the top three betting choices including the even money favorite Teflon Don on the front end here in a wide open event heading for the home turn Teflon Don Attempting to escape pursuit goes on by a length and a half World surprise pushed down into second J. Speeth right there in third cutting the corner of the rail as they leave the third Spoilings ground needs to find four or more play fair now warmed up on the outside and allegiance also needs to find possibly five as They come thundering into the top of the lane in the 30th running of the sir Howard steaks and up front J. Speeth has now come through to snatch that lead world surprise a danger on the outside Teflon Don has faded back to board the center of horses and allegiance asked to run on on the rail But it is a J. Speeth inside the final furlong here is allegiance now wound up with a kick down against the fence It is J. Speeth driven to the max allegiance now budding to the boil on the rail and allegiance is traveling strong and Allegiance will win the 30th running of the sir Howard steaks the unfancy the allegiance closing stoutly here under champion Jockey Ryan Lewis on the rail to snatch the narrow win over the favorite J. Speeth with leading Jockey Tevin foster aboard Lewis inactive in recent months due to injury but cops a big one here with the fine rail run aboard Allegiance giving trainer Antonin Eunice his third sir Howard Trampton four years having scored also in 2021 with calculus and last year With L a fortune auto at 91 odds the Yardestables allegiance snatches the win by a half length over the four to five favorite J. Speeth with world surprise third at three to one the winning time 116 and 1 5th for the six furlong sprint one of three wins on the afternoon to for trainer newness To Florida now where the Barbadian trainer sappet Joseph junior is closing in on 100 steaks wins in North America He's now at 92 following a pair of added money successes at Tampa Bay downs on the weekend The first of his two one hundred ten thousand dollar wins coming in the Stonehenge farm south sophomore Phyllis steaks His mystic lake a heavy favorite on the top jock edgard's ass and there was hardly a threat in the gate to wire run They come into the lane and mystic lake kicks away now Mystic lake and Ed guards is by the eighth pole in front by three and a half or four now Grimmins princess up to a clear-cut second hopes and dreams down on the inside miss Saley trying to battle back for third But inside the final 16th a very professional easy win here for mystic lake mystic lake by three and a half lengths chased by the night to one-bed Grimmins princess clocking 123.37 for the seven furlong run back-to-back steaks wins this for mystic lake who had won the gasparilla steaks in mid January also at Tampa Bay downs an hour later added money win number two on the afternoon for sappet Joseph junior just as Comfortably as well his even money bet and miss taking control coming off the final bend and that settled it Mish and Sammy Camacho to the top of the stretch suddenly to in front of zydeco If not for luck Dean delivers gonna queue toward the far outside for his run They have a final furlong left to go Mish is in front by three Zydeco if not for luck Dean delivers down the far outside, but a final 16 to go and it's all Mish Mish gonna lead him here Mish late run from if not for luck up to second But Mish wins the Nairo bet sprint Sammy Camacho in the saddle for this win by three and a quarter lengths Mish clear of the 12 to one shot if not for luck and stops the clock at 109 82 for six furlongs sappet Joseph who has had as many as six wins coming at Gulfstream Park in Tampa Bay downs since our last show now eight wins away from 100 steaks victories in North America And I can tell you before we go that the 2022 Trinidad a Tobago daba winner soka harmony makes her Guyana debut this weekend in the Easter Cup feature at the Port Moran turf club bought recently by the KP Jagd here racing Stables soka harmony boasts a solid TNT career coming off wins last year in the Stewart's Cup and Caribbean champion stakes and TNT jock Rika Hernandez is in for the ride She won spring races And she's a very good Philly and as we can see we're taking our time at half and hope for the best on Sunday Jockey Rika Hernandez there so all the best to him and a soka harmony in Guyana or usual week Italia wins now for Caribbean racing men in the USA before we go in the past week since our last show I've caught it 21 victories among them a Barbadian combo at aqueduct in New York Jockey Elijah Greenwich winning for trainer Ricardo legal The extra maker champion Jockey Anthony Thomas won at Gulfstream Park this week And there were two wins at Charleston for the Barbadian Jockey Richard Lachman We've been at the track covering top stories and exciting races in the sport of Kings Check us out again next week


Good day to you viewers and welcome to the program, agriculture on the move. My name is Philip Sidney. Today we are continuing the segment as we move towards World Food Day and we're looking again at our tagline in the ministry, Eat Fresh St. Lucia's Best. Today with me is Cheryan Smith who is our food safety specialist in the Department of Agriculture and she's attached to the marketing unit in that said ministry. Welcome to the program ma'am. Thank you Mr Sidney. In food safety, lots of St. Lucia do not know what is that. People think they can continue doing the things, they can eat what they want, how they want, they can produce it how they want and they can sell it how they want. Give us a definition of food safety and quality. Okay. First of all, thank you for inviting me to your show. In food safety, what it does is that it controls the hazard to the consumers. A foodborne hazard would be things like microorganisms, biological, chemical, physical properties that are found in your food that are not supposed to be in your food and these things are on fit for eating. So when I say biological, we're referring to things like virus, bacteria, these things have no place in food. When I say chemical, things like pesticide, they have no place in food. Veterinary drugs, residues, they're not supposed to be in food. Things like stone, wood, all these things find their place in food and they're not supposed to be in food. On the other hand, food quality refers to the sensory attributes that are attached to food. So how does the food sound? How does it taste? How does it smell? The appearance? And when I say how does food sound, say for example, if you open a packet of plantain chips, you expect to hear a crunchy sound, a cracking sound. So food safety and quality, they go hand in hand and the objective of food safety is to consume foods that is not going to be detrimental or affect your health in any way. Wholesome. Wholesome. Great. Let's go back to the primary production of food, which is from the farmer's source. Tell us what is expected from the farmer's point of view, from the seed to the plant. Okay. So we are the Ministry of Agriculture and the unit that I work with, we work with the farmers directly. So we provide training to the farmers for what we call good agricultural practices. Now good agricultural practices are a set of practices that we expect the farmers to follow to ensure the food that reaches your table is safe for consumption. So we deal with the soil, we deal with the seeds, we deal with the water, we deal with irrigation, the chemicals, how you harvest it, your packaging, your storage, your everything. So we provide training from seed to until it gets to the supermarket shelf. Okay. Let's go back again and tell us what is expected from the farmer, from all of the things you mentioned. So you go on the farmer's farm and then is it from the extension officer's standpoint looking at agronomy or would you visit him, say, on his farm and look at food safety? Okay. So from the extension point of view, what the extension officer does, the extension officer acts as the link from the ministry and the farmer. So the extension officer is the one that provides the information from the farmer to the extension officer. However, in my job, what we do is we work directly with the farmers. So we provide training, like I said, we fill visits that would look at his soil quality, soil testing, water testing and that kind of stuff. Okay. Now the farmer, say he has dogs or animals on the farm, pets. You also have other livestock, maybe have his goats roaming around. The goats excrete and the dogs excrete everywhere. You're planting vegetable, leafy vegetables like lettuce and cabbage and stuff like this. Unknowingly, the dog would excrete anywhere on the farm, okay? Is that acceptable and what do you do? How do you explain that to the farmer? Because you can get the spillage, it rains, there's excrete there, right? All the droplets on the bits of soil ends up on the lettuce. Now you know lettuce is leafy, you don't have to boil it. So at the end of the day, you get all your qualiforms and how do you handle that? So fencing would be a great way to go, but of course we know fencing could be expensive, tying his dog would be another method of dealing with that. But of course definitely animal feces on your farm is a hazard to your crops and we would advise like I said fencing, tying your animals to avoid such incidents. In terms of storage for his chemicals and also his fertilizers, what is expected of him? Good agricultural practices, they're different measures or rules and regulations that are supposed to be followed where storage, for example water, a lot of the farmers, they harvest rainwater, rainwater in itself could be a hazard. So if you're using your rainwater directly from your barrels to water your crops, especially your leafy vegetables, that itself could be a hazard because we may have materials from the zinc, for example zinc in itself, heavy metals, all these unwanted contaminants finding it place on the leafy vegetables and consuming those leafy vegetables could be in itself dangerous if I should say if one consumed them. Okay now let's look at livestock. From a livestock farmer's standpoint, what do you consider good agricultural practices in terms of where his pen is built, where his waste goes? Some people as you know they like to build their pigry next to a river source and they drop their waste in the river and now you know what can happen. What is, if you're referring to good agricultural practices, what should he do? Of course we advise the farmers that they're not supposed to in any way have their pens built close to river sources because of the high level of contaminants that we're seeing. So what we do is to try to deter them from using or building their pens close to those animal or river sources. You know we do for our first break when we come back we'll continue to discuss the way the farmers are supposed to prepare when they have SSS crop. After watching agriculture in the move, stay tuned, we'll be back soon. When you're out at sea, there are no service stations along the way or supermarkets for a quick stop if you need something. It is essential that everything you will need while at sea is on the boat before you leave. That's why pre-sea checks are so important. Checks should be carried out by more than one person to ensure that all essentials are on board. Pre-sea checks should include food stores, extra water and fuel, navigational equipment, safety gear and communication equipment. Before heading out to sea, always ensure that all equipment is in working order. You are stocked up on food and also extra fuel. Call the lighthouse to inform them of your voyage plan and inform someone responsible of your departure time and estimate the time of arrival back on shore. For more information on obtaining a license to fish, contact the Department of Fisheries at 468-4143. Welcome back to the program, Agriculture on the Move. And with me is Cherian Smith who is our Food Safety and Quality Officer in the Department of Agriculture. Cherian, we're continuing. Let us look at irrigation water. And just a while ago, we also mentioned, before we talk about harvesting, we mentioned about animal feces getting into the water and contaminating the water. And if, of course, you use that irrigation water, what can happen? So tell us exactly what do you consider good water for irrigation? Okay. So most of the farmers, they get the water from the crops from two sources. They get it from the river, actually three sources. They get it from the river. They get it from potable water, which is pipe water, and they also get it from rainwater that is harvested from their rooftops. What we are seeing with the rainwater that is harvested from the rooftop, it may contain contaminants that could be injurious to the plants or harmful to the plants. And if consumed, it can affect the consumers as well. So what we do, if you're harvesting rainwater, we advise the farmers to use drip irrigation instead. So if you use drip irrigation, the water, it filters through the soil and it doesn't necessarily or directly get on the plant, especially if we're dealing with leafy vegetables. Because you know, these things, you just wash and eat. It's not cooked. You do not have to cook it. There's no cooking time. There's no heat. Most of these vegetables, they consume raw. So we do advise them to use drip irrigation. Also if you're going to use rainwater, which is harvested, we advise the farmers to use, most of the barrels that we use these days are about 55 gallons. So you could use maybe an ounce of bleach, household bleach, in your water and you allow it to dissipate for about 24 hours. You must allow it to dissipate because the chlorine in the water could affect the plants as well. So you allow that to dissipate and you can use it on your crops. But we do not advise it for other purposes on the farm like drinking, washing, cooking food. We do not advise rainwater harvesting. Okay. And then from the river standpoint now, what would you? For the river water, we recommend that testing, testing, water testing be done and that is done through CAFA. CAFA provides testing of course at a fee and normally they would tell you what contaminants are in your water and if it's suitable for crop production and how do you take it from there? Yeah, because you don't know the person higher, what it is they're doing, the activities upstream because they can be throwing all their waste from the pig ring into the river. And not only for irrigation purposes, but also for consumption and also for giving animals water too. And that too, I think you have to be very concerned about too and normally people live in the river also. So water testing I think is important. We recommend what it is. Definitely. The other thing I want to bring to the fore which is very, very important is chemical use. People, consumers now are very, very concerned about what they eat and traceability is key. There are a lot of people who tell you, I can say it's true, that they rather buy the imported vegetables as opposed to the local one because they tell you our farmers have not been trained to the level of knowing exactly how to use chemicals on them. What can you say? Okay, so of late we've been hearing of increased cases in cancers and all kinds of other related chronic diseases. At this point we do not know whether there is a link between pesticides, pesticide use and cancers. Unfortunately for us in St. Lucia we do not have a lab where we could actually test for pesticide residues at this time. But we're hoping with our newly diagnostic facility, which should be open sometime this year, that we could test for those pesticide residues the maximum level that is acceptable and of course how we move forward with pesticides. Also, we do a lot of training to the farmers how to use it correctly. Of course, observing the wait time for the harvesting the produce because what we see a lot is farmers, they spray today and then harvest tomorrow. Normally there's a wait time period, you're supposed to wait, there's a two-week interval that you're supposed to wait before you can actually harvest the produce. But the farmers, they spray today and harvest tomorrow and that too can cause the food to be, that could be a hazard, unhealthy and like we said, cancers and all these kinds of things. And there's one thing too that is very, very critical, the question of previous last year, again you find the farmer would spray and then two days afterwards the guy's still an opportunity to sell and then of course he would harvest unknowingly that it was sprayed. So then now people have to be very aware or would they buy those things from? Yeah, that's what I'm going to. They have to be aware. Yeah, because right now it takes us to what they call the registration of farmers. Okay? And I don't know whether you can speak to that because it'll be good for me to say, okay, before I buy, let me see your ID to see where you come from. If anything happened to me, I can come back to you. So tell us about your registration. So the Ministry of Agriculture, we provide, there's something called registration and certification. Registration is different from certification. The Bureau of Standards, they don't want to be responsible for certifying the farmer. And if a farmer is certified, that means his farm is 100% safe. His produce is safe and we're expecting that every produce that comes from his farm is safe. Our registration program at the Ministry, what it does, it provides the farmers with a series of training. We now have a seven crop project that you are aware that is going on right now. So in that project, the farmers receive, in the registration project, the program, they receive a series of training, good manufacturing practices, food safety and quality, food handling, post-havis technology, they receive all that before they can become registered farmers. And to become a registered farmer, you have to go for your extension officer and the fee is $25, you come here and you get it done. Good. We do for our second break.  We have lots of interesting discussion to come. I am life. I am home to millions. And I sustain millions more. My abundance brings prosperity while my scarcity can be deadly. I cover much of the earth and my influence extends far beyond. I have been around for longer than you can imagine, but my world is threatened. People need to take notice and do more to secure my future because I am worth protecting.  Your life lies on mine and plants, I... After hurricane, sustaining life and health is most important. We should take heed. Don't drink from any stagnant ponds and pools or directly from drums and outside storage containers. If however no other choice is available and you must drink this water, use eight drops of bleach in each gallon of clear water or boil your drinking water for about 10 minutes. Use food that require little to no cooking or refrigeration such as salted biscuits and canned foods. Use preservation methods for keeping refrigerated food safe to eat by salting, curing and drying. Discard all perishable foods that have been in the refrigerator for more than two hours. And remember, once in doubt, throw out. This is the hurricane season and we should be prepared. A message brought to you by the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries, Physical Planning, Natural Resources and Cooperatives. Welcome back to the program. Sheridan, very, very important too is that I know, yes, we're doing registration for farmers. Certification is not there yet, but one of the prerequisites I'm hearing, even now, even for farmer registration, you must have toilets on your farm. And that is key because one of the days when the farmer decided you want to just run there and drop this thing out there or whatever it is, and you can understand the problems that can arise from that because if the area is contaminated, obviously the food can be contaminated, especially leafy vegetables.  So all of that comes under good agricultural practices. You must, every farmer must have a toilet, even though it's a peat toilet, but I see a lot of the farmers now are using flushing toilet, but they use peat toilets. Again, hygiene, if hygiene is key, if we, the whole, the farmer's appearance, you don't expect to have a farm and you could just go and use your bowels all around the place. This is again a hazard because this contains, the fecal matter contains all kinds of... Hazardous. Right. So we try to deter them from using the bush and having the peat toilets, which is safe. So from there now, let us look at it. We're going to harvesting, okay? And that is where I believe it is very, very important because that goes to the consumer. Okay, tell us about harvesting. How should the farmer harvest his produce? And we're talking about vegetables. And how should he get it packaged before it is taken to the market? Okay, so every vegetable or every crop I should see has its own requirements for storage, for packaging. And speaking about storage and packaging, we do have a newly constructed pack house in Odson. And that pack house, we should see storage. The farmers should be able to store, especially for periods where we have scarce, where we observe scarce, right. So packaging, every step along the value chain is very important. And everyone has a step to play along the value chain. The consumer himself has a step to play along the value chain. Take for example, you go to Massey stores, you buy chicken, for example. You'd expect to leave your chicken at the back of your vehicle for the whole day, drive around St. Lucia and come back and say, okay, well, I bought this from Massey store and it wasn't good. Or you bought your right bananas, left it in the vehicle for the entire day and then say it wasn't good. So everyone has a step to play in ensuring that the food is kept safe. So for the farmers now, they would need to wash it properly. They would need to store it properly, observe temperatures. For example, using the correct crates, the correct boxes, plastic, using perforated plastic so that air can go through. So all of these things has to be taken into consideration where harvesting is concerned. Do you need to get potable water for this or can you use harvested water for the washing of vegetables? Absolutely not. Absolutely, we do not use rainwater that is harvested. Some farmers use it, but it is not good practices. It's not a good practice. We highly 100% recommend potable water for washing vegetables on your farm, for drinking water on your farm, for cooking on your farm. 100% potable water. Now, in terms of his harvesting and his gridding of his fruits, do you all give guidance in that regard? Just in other words, do you have the first, second, and third grid? So it doesn't waste his time to take his produce to the market and then a lot of it is rejected. How would you approach that? Yes, the farmers do have a gridding system, but what we see, especially for marketing boards, we find most of the, when it gets there as well, although the farmer grids it, when it gets to marketing board, there's a food gridding that takes place. So they grade it according to maturity, according to size, according to color. And of course, all of these things would can influence contamination because there's something called effluent gas. If you store ripe banana with green bananas within a few days, all your ripe bananas, all your green bananas would get ripe. So it's grading and sorting is very, very important where food safety is concerned. Okay, the farmer decides to sell at Farmgate, okay? He lives in a community where people would, it's easy for them to come and purchase from him. What do you guide him in terms of preparation, a place that he would need to sell his produce? Okay, so the normal regular, he would need a stall, have his stall with his table, his tray, if he could have a bucket with running water with the hose, washing hands, especially these days with COVID-19 around the place. So washing his hands. You know, if you're the one collecting the money, we do not advise you to be the one selling, et cetera. Okay, so at the end of the day, you expect a wholesome food to leave the farmers holding to the market. But with us at the Ministry of Agriculture, we do not deal with prepared food. Prepared food has its own rules and guidelines. As opposed to produce, we deal with fresh produce. There are different sets of guidelines. So the guidelines that you follow for prepared food are the different guidelines that you follow for fresh produce. So we only deal with fresh produce. Is there any interaction between Department of Agriculture and Health in that regard? Yes. And I say yes, because we do a lot of work with the school feeding program. We work in collaboration with the school feeding program and the school garden. So we find that most of the food that is produced in the school garden, the students would consume it in their school feeding program. So also we work in collaboration to provide training, community outreach. We do a lot of community outreach, a lot of training workshop in collaboration with the Ministry of Health. However, Ministry of Agriculture, we do not have the power of enforcement. Whereas Ministry of Health, they could shut down an organization, we do not have the authority to do so. Okay. Yeah. Final words on you? I would encourage everybody to eat fresh, be mindful of everything that they eat. Also, we need to know as consumers that we play a part in keeping our food safe. Well, thank you for being here, Cherian. I hope that you'll keep on eating what is produced as the one who is the... You advise the farmers, so you too have to eat fresh St. Lucia's best. And at the end of the day, that's why you look so beautiful on camera. Thank you again for being here. You've been watching Agriculture on the Move. I want you to remember agriculture is our business. And eat fresh St. Lucia's best when you consume what is produced locally, is better for your health. And of course, you do not have to go to the doctor frequently. I'm not saying what is coming in is not healthy, but be mindful what is fresh is better for your health. Thank you again for viewing. I'm Philip Sidney saying goodbye and see you again. I recall a movement.


This is one of the most anticipated and tropic supplements of 2021, Alpha Brain Black Label. With its quality compounds and eccentric design, it definitely stands out from the crowd. Alpha Brain Black Label was developed to promote mental processing speed and laser focus to help you achieve extreme productivity. But the question is, is it worth its premium price tag? While I analyzed it, I tested it out for 30 days and compared it to its original Alpha Brain formula, and what I found out was quite shocking. Let's check it out. Hi friends, welcome back to the channel. My name is Greg and I'm a certified brain health professional. If natropics, biohacking and optimizing your brain performance interest to them, subscribe below and join our amazing community. For those of you who aren't familiar with Alpha Brain Black Label, this is a premium natropic supplement developed by Onit, one of the most respected brands in the supplement industry. And Alpha Brain Black Label is their premium solution to help you optimize your focus, attention and support relaxed alertness. Now before I share with you what happened during my 30 day experiment, let's check out its ingredients to see how good this formula actually is. So Alpha Brain Black Label contains 8 natropic compounds, which is honestly less than I expected due to its high price. But let's check out those ingredients more in detail. So the first ingredient in this natropic is mucuna prurians, which is a bean that contains Aldopa, dopamine precursor. And what we know is that Aldopa can increase dopamine levels, which is important for sustaining alertness, for motivation and for learning. And the dosage of 1000 milligrams is quite a high dosage. Then there is 500 milligrams of lion's mane mushroom, a very important mushroom for neurogenesis and neuroprotection. Then we have 250 milligrams of city choline, one of the best choline compounds on the market that can increase acetylcholine levels, which is important for focus, memory and learning. Then there is a very high dosage of phosphatidylserine, 200 milligrams. And phosphatidylserine is a naturally occurring phospholipid that is important for focus and attention, but it can also help with memory. It can slow down cognitive decline and even help with learning. Then there is a combo of caffeine and L-tionine, which is a typical combo for boosting energy levels. Then we have marigold extract, which is important for eye health and vision. And lastly, we have 20 milligrams of Hooper ZF Serata, which contains Hoopers in A, one of the most potent tropics for memory, focus and learning. So what are the pros of this formula? Well first of all, the natropics are well-dosed and they're well-chosen. You can find some of the most potent tropics on the market in this supplement. I especially like to see city choline, which is a compound that was missing in its original formula. And I'm also happy that they use some of the branded compounds such as Serin-8 and Lutomax 2020, which means those ingredients are really high quality and very expensive. But there are a couple of things that I don't like that much. First of all, mucuna purines, which is kind of a main compound, the most important compound of this formula. Here's the thing with mucuna. If your dopamine levels are already high enough, you probably won't get much of the benefit out of taking mucuna purines. But if your dopamine levels are pretty low, or for example, if you suffer from Parkinson's disease, then of course, this compound can be very, very beneficial. And the second thing I don't like about this formula that much is that it contains marigold extract. Now don't get me wrong, there's nothing wrong with this compound, especially if you care about your vision and eye health. Well, I mean, instead of taking this extract, you can just grab a carrot and it is like I do. But if you really care about your focus and attention, then personally I would love to see a very potent adaptogen herb instead of marigold extract, because you would just get better results and effects out of it. And the third problem is its price. But before we talk about that, let's check out what happened during my 30-day experiment. So besides carefully analyzing this formula, I decided to test it for 30 days. I took four capsules per day, five days in a row, but I didn't take this formula during the weekend just to cycle it, because it does contain hooprazin A and hooprazin A needs to be cycled. And here's what happened. So, today is my first day of trying alpha-bram black label. And honestly, I don't have any specific expectations, but yeah, let's try it out and let's see what happens. So yeah, during the first week, I didn't really feel any effects, which was quite surprising to me, honestly. I couldn't even differentiate between the days when I took the capsules and when I didn't take the capsules. And that was quite surprising and unexpected. So it's been about two weeks of experimenting with alpha-brain black label. And the first thing I have to say is that yeah, I definitely feel slightly more focused and I believe I can stay in the flow for a bit longer. So I can work a bit longer and consequently I am slightly more productive. But at the same time, I have to say that I expected a stronger boost of brain power and I expected to be able to stay in the flow for a bit longer. So yeah, I'm kind of a confused and that's why I'm gonna continue taking the capsules for another two weeks or so and then see what's gonna happen. But I do have some ideas of what might happen. So yeah, let's check it out and see what happens. So after more than four weeks of experimenting with alpha-brain black labels, I am kind of confused. So on the one hand, I really love its quality compounds, which are well-dosed and well-chosen. I really like this premium design. But on the other hand, I kind of amiss the positive effects. I honestly expected to feel more, to be more focused, to be more energized, to get a better cognitive boost, which honestly I didn't really get. But before making a conclusion about alpha-brain black label, I decided to compare it to the original alpha-brain naturopics tag. By the way guys, have you ever tried alpha-brain? If you did, did you like it? Let me know in the comments section below. There is no doubt that alpha-brain black label contains better naturopics than the original alpha-brain formula. However, when it comes to actual effects, I still prefer the original formula. Personally, it just gives me a stronger focus boost. Whereas alpha-brain black label, well, I think I just expected a bit too much. But that doesn't mean this is a bad supplement. So before I share my final verdict about alpha-brain black label, here are a couple of more things you need to know about this naturopic supplement. The first one is the recombined daily dosage, which is 4 capsules per day. Personally, I would stick to this dosage because it's kind of like the optimal based on the dosages of each individual naturopic in the supplement. Now when it comes to safety and side effects, personally, I believe this naturopic supplement is very safe, also for long term supplementation, but there are two important things you need to know. The first one is that it contains hoopers in A, and hoopers in A needs to be cycled. So you can take this supplement for five days, and then you need to stay at least two days off, and then you need to repeat this cycle. This is very, very important. And the second one is because this supplement contains mucuna prurians, which contains al-dopa. I suggest you consult your doctor before supplementing it, especially if you take any kind of medications because al-dopa can interfere with certain medications, and I really want you to be on the safe side and not experience any kind of side effects. So here's my final verdict about Alpha Brain Black Label. From the inside and the outside, it definitely screams quality. It has very potent tropics, some really high quality branded ingredients, and as you can see, it comes in a very beautifully designed bottle. And because of that, it definitely stands out. But on the other side, it's a very expensive supplement, so I think it was designed for professionals, CEOs, managers, and other people with higher budgets. So what about the price? So one bottle like this, which contains 80 capsules, costs about $124, and this is enough for about 20 days of supplementation because the recommended dosage are 4 capsules per day. And if you subscribe, you can get an additional discount and you can get this bottle for just below $100. And yes, as I mentioned before, this is pretty expensive, but that's how it is. Now I believe that many will benefit from taking Alpha Brain Black Label, but personally I prefer the original formula, because I just got stronger effects and there's no doubt about it. So if you want to try Alpha Brain Black Label, there are links below and a special discount code, so just check it out. And if you want to check which is my favorite entropic stack of this year, then watch my next video. Thank you guys for watching and I hope to see you soon again. Stay well.