Patterson: Rural NZ Faces a "Massive" Infrastructure Deficit
The Minister for Rural Communities, Mark Patterson, says there's a massive infrastructure deficit in rural areas.
She says there needs to be cross party support that stretches out over thirty years to get an idea of the spend and bring some certainty.
"Hopefully the emergency management legislation which is now before parliament will not suffer from political interference," she told Rural News.
"Those rural people who live at the end of the shingle road, across a bridge or up in the ranges need to feel connected to our society and supported like those of us who live close to towns," she says.
Faulkner says while there is fierce competition for road funding and other forms of infrastructure such as telecommunications, she believes that decision makers should think about where the export dollars come from - namely the folks that live in rural communities.
"In terms of connectivity, farmers run multimillion dollar businesses up in these areas and are required to do much of the so-called 'paperwork' electronically. For example, animal declarations, traceability for our animals and most of our accounting systems are cloud-based," she says.
But Faulkner says most important of all is having reliable connectivity when there is an adverse weather event such as recent floods in Wairarapa.
She says it's most important that families are able to reach out at critical times to those individuals or organisations that can offer assistance.
"That human connection is something that I cannot emphasise enough. You will see from Fed Farmers a real focus on making sure that those channels of communication are operating well and they cope with whatever mother nature throws them," she says.
Focus On Reforms
Faulkner says certainty and a clear understanding of the particular needs of rural communities is a critical outcome in the series of government reforms that are taking place at present.
She says the massive reforms now going through parliament will see the abolition of regional councils, RMA reform and changes to the rules around fresh water.
She says Federated Farmers is working through the implications of the local government changes to ensure that rural issues such as pest management and flood control are properly met in the changes.
"These are generational legislative changes and will determine how our children and grandchildren farm in the future. I cannot overstate how important it is to get this right now," she says.
