The ACT Party has kicked off its rural campaign with a vow to “make farming fun again”.
The party has released a series of commitments to farmers, should it be part of government again after 7 November.
Many are policies ACT has already said it would campaign on, including removing Te Mana o te Wai from resource consenting, and scrapping the Zero Carbon Act.
ACT’s agriculture spokesperson Andrew Hoggard said the party wanted to keep Wellington out of farming.
“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,” he said.
Hoggard said successive governments had “piled on the rules”, but the current government had done things like replace the Resource Management Act and end He Waka Eke Noa.
He said ACT would fight for a National Policy Direction and National Standards under the new planning system that were grounded in property rights.
He also said ACT would allow targeted grazing on suitable DOC land, end Net Zero targets, increase police patrol hours in rural areas, and introduce a Rural Workforce Visa for workers needed by farms and rural businesses.
ACT also reiterated it was “prepared to reconsider” New Zealand’s participation in the Paris Agreement if the country could not secure a fair international climate deal.
New Zealand First has already promised to pull New Zealand out, while National has stood firm and made the country’s continued participation a bottom line in any coalition negotiations.