Farmers have had a torrid six years under Labour. They’ve had to put up with an avalanche of regulation and red tape from out of touch Wellington bureaucrats, and the Government has tried to sacrifice them to the climate gods by implementing an emissions-pricing scheme that would only send production to less efficient countries.
Freshwater regulations, winter grazing rules, limiting migrant workers, Significant Natural Areas, taxes on utes, and the threat of unfair taxes on emissions have caused farmer confidence to plummet. These misguided policies affect all of us, as the harder it is for people to produce food, the more expensive it is going to be to purchase.
ACT opposed He Waka Eke Noa from day one. We understand that New Zealand farmers are the most emissions efficient in the world, and we are committed to developing a system which reduces the emission intensity of our products while ensuring production is not driven offshore.
We would take freshwater regulations out of the hands of Wellington bureaucrats and hand them back to regional councils and local communities.
ACT were the only party to oppose the Zero Carbon Act and we are the only party proposing to repeal it.
We would dump Three Waters - we've proposed a different Water Infrastructure Plan which returns water assets to local councils while enabling needed investments in infrastructure.
Significant Natural Areas would be scrapped, restoring private property rights.
ACT would repeal the ute tax.
