Politicians pitch for rural vote

This year, the theme of politics and trade was picked up by the leaders of the Labour and National Party, who were the first two speakers at the two-day conference.

If you were expecting a vigorous or rowdy debate you would have been disappointed; the perceived battle between Hipkins and Luxon was a bit of a fizzer.

Only Labour and National leaders were invited to speak. The potential coalition partners and the gaggle of political nobodies were left off the programme. To have ACT there might have been something of an embarrassment anyway given former president Andrew Hoggard's defection to ACT.

Hipkins noted that many rural people were hurting for a variety of reasons, including adverse weather events.

He said he recognises their frustrations and acknowledged that his government had not always got things right. However, Hipkins said NZ still had to move fast to respnd to signals from our export markets that sustainability and climate change are profoundly changing consumer behaviour.

He talked mainly trade and the success of his recent China trade mission, and the importance of trade agreements to NZ. He promised to make trade a priority and said he'd like to lead more trade missions.

Meanwhile, Luxon's pitch was one that he's given at just about every farmer meeting he's attended in recent times and there was no sign of any policy initiatives in the wind. Maybe a missed opportunity in not having something big to announce to a largely sympathetic audience.

However, his message about cutting red tape, dropping the ute tax and stopping Wellington running rural NZ certainly resonated with farmers.