Petition calls for Govt to rethink stance on butcheries

Monday, 23 August 2021

Butchers can deliver but can’t open their shop doors.

Level 4 lockdown has left many butchers upset at having to dump meat and shut up shop, and Retail Meat New Zealand has launched a petition to get butcheries open to the public.

Like last year, butchers that can't operate online and deliver at level 3 and 4 are paddling furiously to keep their fresh food businesses alive.

At level 4 the public can walk into a supermarket or dairy. People that need foodbank support are allowed to go to a local foodbank. Some liquor stores can be open.

But Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern reconfirmed on Saturday that butcheries are closed to the public. They cannot do click and collect trade at level 4 but can at level 3.

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Reuben Sharples, from the Aussie Butcher New Lynn

“That has always been our approach, to reduce as much contact as possible, so you do not end up in a situation like New South Wales,” Ardern said.

Reuben Sharples, from the Aussie Butcher New Lynn, said he was “powerless to help my community”.

“It seems madness that the Government is going to continue to force Kiwis back into supermarkets when we know Delta is so deadly indoors,” Sharples said.

“New Lynn and Green Bay are doing it tough right now, with Delta rife in our community, many are feeling vulnerable and exposed.

“Where my store is based, we have a really great produce shop, fishmonger and bakery next door, all of whom could be servicing the community from their front door; outdoors, safely and socially distanced.”

Beef and Lamb NZ chief executive Kit Arkwright is backing the Retail Meat New Zealand petition to Government.

Wairarapa’s National Party 2020 general election candidate and current Federated Farmers’ Wairarapa meat and wool chair Mike Butterick said the situation was “bloody ridiculous”.

“The Government has had a year to sort this out and clearly had no strategic plan for butchers and green grocers and the situation is illogical,” Butterick said.

“I fail to see why a small butchery is different to a dairy in terms of safety and location issues, yet dairies are open, and I am 100 per cent backing the petition.”

Let us Serve our Communities lead Antoinette Bisset is imploring the Government to change its stance.

“The reality for many of our members is an extended lockdown could sign the death sentence for their businesses,” said Bisset.

“The losses many of them suffered during last years’ lockdown and the wage subsidy although greatly appreciated is only a sticking plaster, we could see an eventuality where many of them don’t open up again.

“The Government has to consider the long-term impacts this will have on food security, particularly for rural and regional communities that rely on their local butchery to keep them fed.”