Inequality 'is on the rise'

In a wide-ranging speech, covering both domestic and international pressures and uncertainties, delivered at the DairyNZ Peoples Expo in Ashburton this month, Eaqub noted that data on household spending in New Zealand showed a sharp recent decline in the percentage of households buying fruit and vegetables.

Over the last several decades, 80 to 90% of households would normally buy fruit and vegetable in each week but in 2023, that dropped to just 60%.

"Forty percent of households did not buy fruit and vegetables in each week in 2023. The expansion of poverty that we have seen in New Zealand over the course of the last few years is unprecedented.

"This is not to make you feel guilty, it's for you to understand that his might be your workers, it might be your supplier. It might be people in your community.

"And for a country that prides itself on being a food producer, it's a pretty damn shame that we have people who are hungry and living without good food."

Internationally, Eaqub said persistent inequality has led to current global tensions.

"Whether it's Brexit in Europe, whether it's the rise of the far right in Europe, whether it is the rise of Trump in America, all of these things are part and parcel of this discontent within societies, and I don't think we should assume these things are aberrations."

Eaqub said that "chainsaw Musk" was taking to Amerca's Federal Government but the bigger issue was not the firing of people.

"The bigger issue is that their judiciary is under attack. If the rule of law is under attack, that is the fundamental premise of a strong economy.

"Some of the changes that we're seeing now there might be really quite fundamental in terms of the very fabric of our economy.

"We're probably going to see more risks more often than have been the case. So, we need to really invest in our own people and own businesses to make sure they're resilient, because when those external things happen, we find solace in the stability that we have with them."

New Zealand has benefited massively from a world of consistent rules but uncertainty would rise in coming decades, he said.

Trade routes were at risk, and we could see more instances like the recent Chinese naval activity in the Tasman, he says. Artificial Intelligence (AI) was already more politicised.

"Imagine there is an AI product that's coming out of China. Do you really think the Americans would want to give us security cover if we're using their technology?

"The answer is no. The answer is we're not going to have independence in terms of what technology we use on our farms."