This is Deja vu.
Do you remember the NPS freshwater? How could you forget.Do you remember who was left negotiating with Government on this?Yes, our levy bodies (Dairy NZ & Beef+Lamb NZ), and how did that end up?
Who got shut out of discussions . . . that’s right our subscription based Federated Farmers. We as food producers fought for nearly 2 years to get some of the unworkable sections removed, and we are still fighting!
What is happening right now with He Waka Eke Noa (farming tax)? That’s right, Federated Farmers are no longer part of the discussions. Why? In the words of Andrew Hoggard, President of Federated Farmers, “this is not now what we signed up for”. So why are our levy-collecting bodies still there? Every food producer or supporter of food producers should be asking this question of Dairy NZ & Beef+Lamb NZ.
The last Federated Farmers survey saw 2000 of its members respond, and 70% were against being part of He Waka Eke Noa. Add that to a good proportion of our 100,000 petition signatories who are also levy payers. If they are all saying no, why are our levy bodies still negotiating?!
What do you think when you hear our PM say, “this is what farmers requested”. I certainly didn’t request this. The question has to be asked, what authority have the levy bodies got to be negotiating on our behalf? As far as we can see, they have no authority.
Our supporters have told us that at every so-called consultation meeting they went to, without exception there were people who said they didn’t support the tax on food production.
The people who sit on the boards of our levy groups should be asking themselves who they represent, do you represent food producers to the government, or do you represent government to food producers?
The destruction of our food production is well underway with the carbon forestry on our sheep & beef country. It’s time for the elected members on our levy boards to stand up for the people you are supposed to be representing or resign and let someone take your place who will.
The fight to bring in a farming tax that will rip the heart out of rural NZ and eventually reach every person living here in one way or another, has to be stopped.
