Damien O’Connor Criticises Budget 2026 as ‘Miserable’ for Rural New Zealand
A miserable budget that didn’t deliver much for anyone.
He says the changes being proposed around environmental issues will put NZ's export growth at risk. "NZ relies on its sustainability credentials for its exports and this policy puts that in jeopardy," he says.
O'Connor says many of the policies in the document are not new but have simply been rolled into a document. He adds that the reason central government has taken a lead in setting national environmental standards was to remove any ambiguity and inconsistency at a local level.
The ACT Party's spokesperson on Primary Industries, Mark Cameron, gave the National policy a 6 out of 10 rating. He claims it says the right things but has too much compromise and a glaring omission of policy on He Waka Eke Noa (HWEN) and protecting property rights from Significant Natural Areas (SNAs).
"ACT has the policy that will bring about real change for farmers. They can't just water down Labour and the Greens' anti-farming policies. They need to be scrapped entirely," he says.
Cameron says doubling the RSE cap is nice, but ACT believes the sensible policy change would be to remove the cap on the number of RSEs completely, like Australia's scheme.
"It's good they have adopted ACT's position on live animal exports. It is a $500m industry that the country needs, and I have a Member's Bill ready to go," he says.
