New Zealand’s largest farming lobby has published a guide scoring the country’s political parties against its 25 rural policy asks, four days before the general election on 7 November.
Federated Farmers’ Voter Guide sets each party’s position against the 25 policies in its “Backing Kiwi Farmers” platform, which covers tax, pest management, water storage, resource management reform and local government, Rural News reported on 3 November. The platform, launched at National Fieldays in June, groups the policies under five themes: cutting the cost of farming, empowering community conservation, enabling technology and infrastructure, supporting young farmers and fixing local government, according to Inside Government.
NZ First supports all 25 policies, with National and ACT, its partners in the governing coalition led by Prime Minister Christopher Luxon, close behind. Labour’s position is unclear on 15 of the policies, and both Labour and the Greens oppose the federation’s call to reform how local government is run. The Opportunity Party’s stance on resource management reform is unclear.
Federated Farmers president Colin Hurst, elected in June, said the coalition had shown a commitment to cutting red tape, adding: “we haven’t seen that same commitment from Labour, Opportunity, or the Greens.” On local government, he described “a clear ideological difference with the parties on the left.”
Some policies attract support from every party, including help for young farmers, teaching agriculture in rural schools, a review of sharemilking agreement legislation and vocational training. Mr Hurst said these “aren’t particularly contentious or hot-button political issues” and stressed that the federation was not telling farmers how to vote. “Our message to farmers this election is simple – get out and vote,” he said.
Earlier in the campaign, parties set out primary sector pitches to Rural News, with National pointing to a forecast record NZ$64.3 billion in food and fibre exports and a target of doubling export value in ten years, and NZ First proposing to return half of mining royalties to the regions where they are extracted.
For rural communities in the UK and beyond, New Zealand’s vote offers a clear test of how far local government reform, regulatory burden and regional reinvestment can be made into election issues by an organised rural constituency.
