Editorial: Sensible move
OPINION: The Government's decision to rule out changes to Fringe Benefit Tax (FBT) that would cost every farmer thousands of dollars annually, is sensible.
At a news conference in Wellington last week Feds national president William Rolleston said a special briefing note has been sent to all provincial presidents about the scare and a special advisory has gone to all members.
He told farmers to be vigilant and report anything suspicious and to ensure their milk supplies are secure.
Rolleston says farmers are outraged and angry that anyone could act as stupidly as threatening children’s lives in such a way, putting the whole New Zealand economy at risk.
Chief executive Graham Smith, who also fronted at the news conference, told Rural News the federation has a national network whose thousands of members may hear or have heard something that could lead to the arrest of the blackmailer.
“That’s in part why we wanted to go public, so we could encourage our members, if they knew of anything, to contact the police,” he explained. “We’re saying to our members, ‘don’t hold back’. It may be a piece of information you don’t think is relevant, but pass it on because it might be the one missing piece of the jigsaw puzzle that enables something to happen.”
Smith says the federation’s members are angry and gobsmacked at what’s happened. Now they’ll be thinking about what they might have observed in the past few months to see whether they can join any dots.
The letter to Federated Farmers was addressed to Smith but opened by his executive assistant who passed it on to him. Smith, who has a science background, says when he read the letter he was outraged that somebody would threaten to harm children and their parents in this way.
Rolleston says the letter was then handed to the police. Later they were told that Fonterra had received a similar letter.
Rolleston says the police asked the federation if they suspected anyone of such a threat. The federation gave the police a list of names of people involved in the 1080 debate or who had written to them about the issue.
“Then we got in touch with Fonterra and actually went around some of their plants in December,” Rolleston added. “That was a reassuring experience and we saw that Fonterra had put in place a lot more security than it had before – in fact it was the proverbial Fort Knox.”
Feds back handling of threat
William Rollestion says Federated Farmers is very happy with the way the threat has been handled, including the Government going public when it did.
“If you put yourself in the industry and government shoes; this was a threat targeted for the end of March and an immediate release [in November] might have caused panic.
“Not to have released it at all and let it come out would have suggested that our industry and Government couldn’t be trusted and that’s not where we want to be,” Rolleston explained.
“If you look back over the three episodes we have had – DCD, botulism and this – while it is short-term pain, I think the industry in this country is growing a reputation for being open and honest and transparent about everything that comes across the desk.”
Rolleston believes the long-term international outcome will be positive.
Federated Farmers supports the use of 1080 as a means of controlling bovine Tb, “which if it’s not controlled could have serious consequences for the dairy industry and the country”.
