Editorial: War's over
OPINION: In recent years farmers have been crying foul of unworkable and expensive regulations.
His comments follow the passage of the Dairy Industry Restructuring Amendment (DIRA) Bill which passed its committee stage in Parliament last night without the support of the Labour Party.
"National refused to support a Labour amendment to the bill that would have put in place a legislative limit of 23% on the investment fund size under the Trading Among Farmers (TAF) proposals," O'Connor says
"Fonterra proposed a 23% legislative cap on the fund so that Labour might support the bill, prior to the vote on TAF.
"Labour has negotiated the 23% limit with Fonterra over the last two months and the National Government was fully aware of Fonterra's proposal in order to guarantee Labour's support for the legislation," O'Connor says.
"This legislative cap gives reassurance to farmers and provides flexibility for Fonterra in circumstances where the fund size might go beyond the 20% that they have proposed as a maximum fund size.
"The National Government voted this proposal down, which unfortunately leads to the conclusion that they want to remove all legislative protection for farmer shareholders, our single biggest New Zealand-owned company.
"Fonterra themselves have said the fund size is critical, and Labour believes a limit is needed to protect the company from the influence of outside investors who want a greater share of the most successful international dairy cooperative.
"The problem now for the Fonterra Shareholders' Council is that the 20% limit, as proposed by Fonterra, will not be in place prior to the issuing of unit securities later this year," O'Connor says.
