Budget 2026: Slim Pickings For the Rural Sector
In advance of the Budget, Finance Minister Nicola Willis put a clear damper on expectations and delivered accordingly.
The plan, following earlier court decisions, would have required more than 3000 Southland farmers to apply for an expensive resource consent just to continue farming.
"The activist groups who initially brought this case, like Fish & Game and Forest & Bird, should be hanging their heads in shame," Herrick says.
"All they've done is stir up a whole lot of angst and uncertainty in our rural communities and I don't think they've taken any accountability for that."
