PM makes first political pitch of Fieldays week with private conservation funding bump to $8.5m
Monday, 8 June 2026
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon has kicked off Fieldays week by announcing the doubling of government funding for the Queen Elizabeth QEII National Trust.
The policy announcement was orchestrated with Federated Farmers, which on Monday morning published an election manifesto calling for a raft of farmer-friendly policies, including raising the funding for the trust.
The QEII National Trust is a registered charity that partners with private landowners who want to create covenants to provide lasting legal protection for portions of their land, allowing them to set it aside for conservation projects such as wetlands and native bush.
Luxon billed the move as “yet another win” for farmers and the rural community, noting the timing of his announcement was just ahead of Wednesday’s opening in Hamilton of Fieldays, the country’s largest rural trade show which each of the major political parties uses to announce rural policies.
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Luxon said the baseline funding for the trust would lift from approximately $4.2 million to approximately $8.5m per year, however, the funding increase was contingent on National forming the next government after November’s election.
The trust had not had a funding increase since 2015, Luxon said.
The trust’s funding increase comes against the backdrop of broad cuts to funding for many services, including food banks and sexual health services, announced in May’s Budget.
But Luxon stressed that the extra money that would go to the trust would be more than equally matched by contributions by farmers.
“QEII is a unique conservation model: voluntary, practical, landowner-led, and offers some of the best-value conservation in the country. Every dollar the Government puts in, farmers match many times over. It’s great bang for buck for both the taxpayer and nature,” Luxon said.
The funding would support landowners with upfront costs like fencing, surveying and legal work, he said.
The Government has been criticised for its record on the environment, including the recent move to disestablish the Ministry for the Environment against the advice of the Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment Simon Upton, and weakening protections for state-owned conservation land.
But in his statement to media, the prime minister made a play of being the “Party for Farmers”.
“We have removed agriculture from the Emissions Trading Scheme, banned full farm-to-forest conversions, and made a huge investment in ridding the country of wilding pines. We have got rid of the Ute Tax and created Investment Boost which gives farmers a 20% upfront tax deduction on new assets,” he said.
“We are replacing the Resource Management Act, so farmers have fewer resource consents, faster processing times and a system that respects property rights.”
Federated Farmers want more policy changes, however, especially in the area of consents.
The farmer lobby group wants the Government to cut rural “red tape” by allowing farmers to undertake certain activities without the need for consents, billing it as a way to bring down food prices.
In its Backing Kiwi Farmers manifesto, Federated Farmers said: “If the next Government really wants to reduce food prices for families, it needs to drastically reduce the need for expensive and uncertain resource consents. The best way to do this is through simple and easy-to-apply national standards that permit everyday farming activities without the need to jump through hoops.”
Luxon is expected to speak at Fieldays in Federated Farmers’ Rural Advocacy Hub at Mystery Creek.
The hub saw about a fifth of all MPs visit Fieldays last year, including Luxon, as parties made policy announcements to woo the rural sector.
Fieldays is home ground for National MPs, according to political polling done by Federated Farmers.
The last time it published one of its political polls was in June last year.
It showed at that time 54% of survey respondents said they would vote national, 19% said they would vote ACT, while 8% would vote NZ First, and 12% were unsure. Labour were backed by 3% of farmers, and the Greens just 2%.