Editorial: Sensible move
OPINION: The Government's decision to rule out changes to Fringe Benefit Tax (FBT) that would cost every farmer thousands of dollars annually, is sensible.
The goal is to form a united front and advocate strongly for farmers on emissions pricing. The leaders of DairyNZ, Beef+Lamb New Zealand (B+LNZ) and Federate Farmers have met to discuss emissions pricing and reaffirmed a common position between the three organisations. The farming groups claim it will enable them to move forward together and advocate strongly on behalf of farmers.
DairyNZ chair Jim van der Poel says a united voice on emissions pricing is the best way to ensure positive policy outcomes for farmers.
"All three organisations have reaffirmed nine core principles that we will all be raising in our submissions and through the He Waka Eke Noa (HWEN) partnership," he says.
Effectively the Government will be receiving three submissions from each of the organisations: One through HWEN, a joint one from the gang of three, plus each organisation will make a separate submission dealing with issues that directly affect their members.
Feds Andrew Hoggard has already stated that “it will go hard”, while van der Poel has made it clear that “no deal is better than a bad deal” and that only a fair and reasonable system will be accepted for farmers.
Van der Poel says DairyNZ is committed to securing a fair pricing system for farmers and would like to see the Government revert to the HWEN recommendations put forward in May. He claims HWEN was designed as a whole farm system approach to reduce emissions, meet targets and give fair recognition and reward for planting farmers have done on their farms.
“We believe the Government’s significant and unnecessary changes have undermined farmer confidence in the process and needlessly put the finely balanced, cross-sector consensus at risk,” he says.
“The Government’s suggestion it has given the sector what we asked for – with ‘small tweaks’ – is incorrect. The changes are significant and cut to the very core of the He Waka Eke Noa partnership.”
Van der Poel says NZ must reduce its emissions but it can’t drive blindly toward targets at all costs.
“We have to remember why we’re doing this in the first place. The Paris Agreement is about reducing global emissions, not just New Zealands.”
Nine core principles will be raised directly with the Government, which include stating that the current methane targets are wrong and need to be reviewed and that targets should be science- based, not political, and look to prevent additional warming.
