For Groundswell, this election is a turning point

Friday, 6 October 2023

Jamie McFadden is environmental spokesperson for Groundswell from North Canterbury.

OPINION: What motivates two southern farmers, Bryce McKenzie and Laurie Paterson, to drive tractors the length of New Zealand under the banner Drive 4 Change?

They recognise that the election in October is the most important in their lifetime, not just for rural New Zealand, but for all New Zealand.

At stake is not just the future of farming but our natural environment, iconic landscapes, and way of life.

Do we want a country gobbled up by corporates and overseas investors, covered in pines, and overrun with pests and weeds as farmers are forced off the land?

Or do we want a country where the world’s most emissions-efficient food-producing farming families are valued stewards of the land, biodiversity and cultural values are an asset, and farmers who foster environmental stewardship are acknowledged and supported rather than penalised?

Do we want a country where local decision making and democracy are paramount, with councils given the autonomy to make decisions and implement actions based on their own community’s needs?

Or do we want a country increasingly controlled by the state with unworkable regulations and loss of personal freedoms?

While I have followed politics for many years, I have never been so moved to write about an election publicly. In my various roles in local government, farming groups and now as Groundswell environmental spokesperson, I am aware of the detrimental impacts of existing and future policies stemming from the current Labour/Greens government.

In my work as a conservationist and native restoration business, I see the government policies currently being rolled out delivering devastating outcomes for our natural heritage – the worst since the development subsidies pre-1984.

It pains me to see thousands of hectares of unique native shrublands being lost because of government policies incentivising landowners to clear them and plant in pines.

Groundswell’s main concern is around the unworkable environmental regulations, particularly those impacting our food producers, our farmers. The legislative framework is so broken that the planning and consent system in Canterbury is paralysed, and other regions are following suit.

The Government’s current approach to environmental issues is fragmented and ineffective, with multiple policies in silos that often conflict with each other and are delivering worse outcomes for our environment and country.

While we were aware of livestock farmers exiting the industry, we were shocked to learn last week the same is happening in the major vegetable growing areas around Auckland.

If these trends continue the inevitable will be less food produced in New Zealand and ongoing food price increases.

Faced with this untenable situation we developed the Groundswell Solution as our proposal to address all environmental issues under one integrated legislative framework. No more policies in silos, no more unworkable regulations, significant cost savings for landowners and councils, and a strong focus on positive environmental outcomes.

Our solution proposes a vision, something aspirational and something that all New Zealanders can share in – for New Zealand to be world leaders in environmentally sustainable produced food and fibre.

Central to the success of our solution is fostering landowners and communities as custodians and kaitiaki of our natural environment. Our mission is for all New Zealand farmers and indeed all New Zealanders to join the environmental sustainability journey.

A key feature of the Groundswell Solution is a nationwide advisory and support system that helps farmers and landowners in environmental sustainability through an integrated and holistic approach to farm environmental planning.

Actions to address issues will be coordinated across all aspects of the environment – freshwater, emissions, indigenous biodiversity, cultural and aesthetic values, soils, and weeds and pests.

For the controversial issue of emissions our focus would be emissions efficiency and best practice, rather than a blunt tax on food production.

The public are generally not aware farmers have been paying levies towards emissions research and new technology for the past 20 years. We propose this continue, but with a more strategic, robust, and transparent approach to expenditure and outcomes, with the goal to remain as the world’s most emissions efficient food producers.

With freshwater the priority is to focus actions on the highest value water bodies that are suffering the most degradation. A key policy we propose is that where a regional council identifies a freshwater issue, the community are given first opportunity to address it.

Regional councils will be the regulatory backstop and have a monitoring role to ensure a successful outcome in a realistic timeframe. Regulation would still have a key role but targeted at the critical issues such as water takes, discharges to water and effluent ponds.

For indigenous biodiversity the focus would be on threats to biodiversity, not expensive tick-box significance assessments. Pests and weeds are the biggest threat to indigenous biodiversity and the lack of effective regional and national strategies is failing our natural environment.

This election is a turning point in our history. And while the difference between the major political parties may not seem huge, the outcomes following the election will be.

I do not say it lightly; this election is about the survival of family farming, rural communities, natural heritage, respect for people and property, local decision making and democracy.