On the go
OPINION: After hopping from one event to another at Fieldays, Associate Agriculture Minister Andrew Hoggard would have been hoping for a rest.
When the Governor-General signed the warrant confirming him as our 41st prime minister, Feds released a statement urging that the policy “reset” Hipkins had talked about should centre on slowing down the legislative rush and prioritising things that will help families and businesses prosper. As it happened, that same day Beef + Lamb NZ and the Meat Industry Association released a policy manifesto that B+LNZ chair Andrew Morrison said should be “compulsory early reading” for the new PM.
In all honesty, if you’d asked any farmer or grower to sit down and write a government action wish list, it would likely look very similar. There is utter exasperation, anger too, with rushed and poorly-consulted on blanket regulations that hamper, rather than help, our environmental and production challenges.
The replacement resource management legislation is shaping up as a dog that will add costs, cumbersome compliance and drawn-out arguments rather than reduce them.
The Feds, B+LNZ and the Meat Industry Assocviation (MIA) highlighted frustration around migrant worker restrictions, the non-science-based methane targets and the pitfalls of the ‘Fair Pay’ Agreements and blanket pine planting.
One we didn’t mention but I’m glad that Beef + Lamb did – the NPSIB. “We strongly urge the Government to pause the National Policy Statement for Indigenous Biodiversity and work with industry on a narrower definition of Significant Natural Area (SNA) that protects our precious biodiversity,” B+LNZ said.
“The Government also urgently needs to carry out an assessment of the cumulative impact of all these policies.
“We’d like to see a pause on any new regulations like biodiversity and RMA reform until this review has been done.” Exactly: the date is now set for the general election – October 14. The ball’s in your court!
