“In Wellington, if there’s a heavy hailstorm, the bureaucrats work from home. On the farm, it could mean you lose a crop and face huge losses.
“We can’t control the weather or foreign commodity prices, but we can stop the Government from causing headaches through pointless rules and red tape.”
Environment
The policy includes scrapping Te Mana o te Wai, a framework for freshwater protections, and “other vague spiritual concepts” and to “ensure those concepts do not simply reappear under another name in the new system”.
Funding for rural catchment groups would be increased by $4.5 million per year.
Penalties for illegal rubbish dumping would be increased under Act and targeted grazing would be allowed on suitable Department of Conservation land to “control weeds, wilding pines and fire fuel”.
The party would also scrap other climate policies it claims add nothing but “cost” to the economy, including the Net Zero Target, and it would abolish the Climate Change Commission. It is also pledging to repeal the Zero Carbon Act and ensure agriculture is never added back to the emissions trading scheme.
Regulation & rural crime
As previously announced, Act would introduce a rural workforce visa for farms to hire workers, increase police patrols in rural areas by 100,000 hours and create a dedicated rural crime unit.
It would strengthen offences for livestock poaching and enable 24-hour e-lockers to make it easier for rural customers to collect medicines.
If elected, the party also promised to cut “unnecessary restrictions” on agricultural drones and introduce an “open seat” rule for rural children catching the school bus – meaning rural children could use spare seats on existing buses where practical.
The party has also vowed to ensure national policy direction and national standards were clear, practical, locally responsive and put “property rights first”.
Farmers were making long-term decisions on machinery, stock and staff and needed “stable prices, lower interest rates and confidence that Government will live within its means and stay out of commercial decisions it has no business making”.
“Farmers do not need another politician telling them how to farm. They need a Government that respects property rights, sets clear rules around genuine environmental harm and otherwise lets them get on with it.”
Julia Gabel is a Wellington-based political reporter. She joined the Herald in 2020 and has most recently focused on data journalism.