Thursday, 31 August 2023 13:55

Chickens are coming home to roost!

Written by  Mark Cameron
ACT agriculture spokesman Mark Cameron. ACT agriculture spokesman Mark Cameron.

OPINION: The Government might not control the Chinese economy and global milk prices, but it can control the regulations and red tape it is imposing on farmers.

It is now more urgent than ever to remove these needless costs. Instead, the Government has piled on red tape and regulatory pressure for little practical gain.

Freshwater Farm Plans have been a costly flop, winter grazing rules have created a massive consenting headache, immigration policy makes it hard to find workers. Meanwhile, changes to workplace relations laws have increased wage bills by around 30-40%. Add on top of this the RMA, SNAs, Ute Tax, uncertainty around emissions pricing… The list goes on.

At a minimum, ACT would cancel the national policy statements on freshwater and biodiversity (including SNAs) – giving the job of local policy back to local government.

We would cancel the Natural and Built Environments Act and Spatial Planning Act, temporarily reinstating the RMA before carrying out property rights-based Resource Management reform. The Ute Tax would be gone and so would the Zero Carbon Act.

These are just the beginning of rolling back the avalanche of regulation Labour has put on farmers.

We would also scrap the Accredited Employer Work Visa (AEWV) that is so restrictive, replacing it with demand-based pricing. This would let employers decide if their need is worth the price instead of clunky bureaucracy.

The chickens have come home to roost on the Government’s barrage of red tape and regulations. The recent 7.4% drop in GDT adds to existing issues that have dramatically pushed up costs on-farm, while wiping a billion and a half dollars off the much-needed export revenue generated by dairy.

Before this drop in prices on-farm inflation was already at a 40 year high and two and a half times the Consumer Price Inflation index. Input costs are steadily increasing while commodity prices are going downwards.

This is the reality for New Zealand’s dairy farmers. Their break-even point is generally considered to be about $8.00 a kg, now many will be getting $7.00 a kg if they’re lucky.

If there was ever a time for a government to take the pressure off an industry, it is now. Every new piece of regulation to comply with, equals more time and more cost, and often for minimal change to result.

There needs to be a microscope put on what regulation is coming out of government, whether it is really necessary, or whether actually forcing farmers to comply is going to have a detrimental effect on the industry.

ACT would address this with a new minister and ministry of regulation. The minister and ministry would ensure new and existing regulations meet tough new standards and put red tape on the chopping block.

Labour’s illogical policies have made life harder for farmers and on October 14 voters can put them out to pasture.

Mark Cameron is ACT’s Primary Industries spokesman

More like this

$10 milk price still on

Whole milk powder prices on Global Dairy Trade (GDT) remains above long run averages and a $10/kgMS milk price for the season remains on the card, says ASB senior economist Chris Tennent-Brown.

'End red tape'

ACT MP and farmer Mark Cameron is calling on Parliament to thank farmers by reinstating provisions within the Resource Management Act that prevent regional councils from factoring climate change into their planning.

Standing up for rural people

Primary production select committee chair and ACT MP Mark Cameron recently contributed to the Resource Management (Freshwater and Other Matters) Amendment Bill - Second Reading in Parliament. Here are excerpts from his speech:

Featured

Farmer input needed to combat FE

Beef + Lamb New Zealand (B+LNZ) is calling on livestock farmers to take part in a survey measuring the financial impact of facial eczema (FE).

Editorial: Escaping Trump's wrath

OPINION: President Donald Trump's bizarre hard line approach to the world of what was once 'rules-based trade' has got New Zealand government officials, politicians and exporters on tenterhooks.

Wool pellets to boost gardens

With wool prices steadily declining and shearing costs on the rise, a Waikato couple began looking for a solution for wool from their 80ha farm.

National

Machinery & Products

Alpego eyes electric power harrow

Distributed by OriginAg in New Zealand, Italian manufacturer Alpego recently showed its three metre Alysium electric power harrow at the…

New seed drill tech coming

Incorporating Vaderstad's latest seed drill technology, the Proceed V 24, is said to improve precision and increase planting efficiencies for…

» Latest Print Issues Online

The Hound

Waffle man

OPINION: Prime Minister Christopher Luxon sometimes can't escape his own corporate instinct for evasion, and in what should have been…

Banks on notice

OPINION: Shane 'Matua' Jones, crusader against all things woke, including "woke banks", couldn't have scripted it better when his NZ…

» Connect with Rural News

» eNewsletter

Subscribe to our weekly newsletter