Kerre Woodham: The wool directive has to be a win for everyone

Good news for the wool industry. Wasn't such good news in December of last year when Kainga Ora, the country's largest landlord, put out tenders for new carpet and underlay, and specifically said wool suppliers need not apply.

So that was in December of 2024 then in January 2025, the agency opened its tender process to wool carpet suppliers, allowing a direct price and offering comparison. Remember when the representative for the wool industry said that wool suppliers, wool carpet suppliers, hadn't even been able to tender? For more than a decade, Kainga Ora had been using nylon and that was that. You weren't even allowed to say, look, actually, we can give you a really good price. It was just thanks, but no thanks.