Damien O’Connor Criticises Budget 2026 as ‘Miserable’ for Rural New Zealand

That’s how Labour’s former agriculture minister Damien O’Connor described the recent Budget.

He says there was very little in the Budget for any sector and says that the main gain was the news of investing $79 million in new money to tackle the wilding pine problem. But he adds that this money is coming out of the existing budgets of MPI and the Department of Conservation.

“This is a significant amount of money that is coming out of the already squeezed budgets of these departments,” he told Dairy News.

O’Connor says the Minister of Finance seems determined to squeeze out what money she can from departments to pay for the tax cuts and tax breaks that were given earlier in the year.

He says there appeared to be some good education initiatives, but there didn’t appear to be anything for health that specifically targeted the additional challenges of rural health, in particular the distances that people in isolated communities have to travel for such services.

O’Connor says a recent report shows that quality rural infrastructure is a key component to grow our industries. He says while there is money, a large chunk of it is being directed at one project – the Waikato expressway.

“The roading network is critical to all our sectors but it’s under severe stress and degradation and increasing pressure from heavier trucks that the roads were never built for. The problem is compounded by an increasing number of climate events that undermines the integrity of the system,” he says.

According to O’Connor, some of the roads are still basically horse and cart tracks that were built more than 100 years ago.

“As I see it, most people in rural NZ would take a hard look at this Budget and consider it miserable at a time when we need investment, particularly in science research and development,” he says.