Tuesday, 28 May 2024 09:55

Labour eyes rural votes

Written by  Sudesh Kissun
Labour’s ag spokeswoman Jo Luxton with Waikato Federated Farmers president Keith Holmes at the provincial annual meeting this month. Labour’s ag spokeswoman Jo Luxton with Waikato Federated Farmers president Keith Holmes at the provincial annual meeting this month.

Labour Party agriculture spokesperson Jo Luxton is on a mission to win back rural sector votes.

The Labour list MP admits that her party needs to put in the hard yards to win back the confidence of farmers and growers.

On the policy front, Luxton wants to start with a clean slate and is keen to talk to farmers before helping the party formulate its agriculture sector policies.

To this end, the party is organising a two-day event in July for some caucus members to meet industry stakeholders and visit farms. Luxton says the party is working closely with Federated Farmers to organise the event.

At the Feds Waikato branch annual meeting this month, Luxton told farmers that the party got the message "loud and clear" at the last general election.

She noted that over the past few years there has been "a lot of headbutting and locking of horns".

"That's something I'm keenly aware of," she says. "Farmers have told me that they didn't feel heard in the last few years, but I recognise the need to have good relationships with the primary sector.

"So my job is to build relationships, get to hear from you and understand what's important for you."

At the last general election, Labour lost a slew of regional seats it had won from National three years earlier. This included Luxton's Rangitata seat.

The party lost the rural vote based on backlash around a flurry of environmental laws which many farmers claim were rammed through without proper consultation.

Luxton told Dairy News that she's hearing from farmers that Labour "did too much, too fast" during its last term in government.

She says most farmers agreed with the direction of the legislation, but some had concerns about the speed at which it was being implemented.

"I know this caused a lot of anxiety among farmers."

Luxton says she's keen to rebuild relationships and already enjoys a good rapport with Federated Farmers leaders.

More like this

Cunning plan!

OPINION: Leader of the Labour Party and His Majesty's Loyal Opposition, Chris Hipkins, has formulated a bold strategy to regain power that his rivals won't have predicted.

Full-court press

OPINION: After a testy six years between Labour and farming, followed by a sound trouncing in all the rural electorates in the last election, Labour has been doing a full-court charm offensive, trying to build relationships with the various agri leadership groups – rebuilding bridges burned to the waterline during their term in power, when they and the Greens were extremely antagonistic towards farmers.

Editorial: Building Bridges

OPINION: After Jacinda Ardern and Labour were asked to form the government following the 2017 elections, Federated Farmers sent an email out to its executives asking if any of them had a working relationship with any Labour MPs. The answer was no one did.

Code Red for National?

OPINION: Recently several Labour MPs, including leader Chris Hipkins and deputy leader Carmel Sepuloni spent two days in Waikato with representatives of DairyNZ, Beef+Lamb NZ, Federated Farmers, Groundswell and Rural Women NZ among others.

Featured

Massey Research Field Day attracts huge interest

More than 200 people turned out on Thursday, November 21 to see what progress has been made on one of NZ's biggest and most comprehensive agriculture research programmes on regenerative agriculture.

Expo set to wow again

Stellar speakers, top-notch trade sites, innovation, technology and connections are all on offer at the 2025 East Coast Farming Expo being once again hosted in Wairoa in February.

A year of global challenges

As a guest of the Italian Trade Association, Rural News Group Machinery Editor Mark Daniel took the opportunity to make an early November dash to Bologna to the 46th EIMA exhibition.

National

OSPRI's costly software upgrade

Animal disease management agency OSPRI has announced sweeping governance changes as it seeks to recover from the expensive failure of…

Machinery & Products

BA Pumps expand

Cambridge based BA Pumps & Sprayers, specialists in New Zealand-made spraying equipment, has acquired Tokoroa Engineering’s product range, including the…

Entries open for innovation award

Fieldays and its renowned Innovation Awards are celebrating their 57th year, marking a longstanding tradition in the agricultural calendar, with…

» Latest Print Issues Online

Milking It

Chinese strategy

OPINION: Fonterra may have sold its dairy farms in China but the appetite for collaboration with the country remains strong.

Not fair

OPINION: The Listener's latest piece on winter grazing among Southland dairy farmers leaves much to be desired.

» Connect with Dairy News

» eNewsletter

Subscribe to our weekly newsletter