Don't hold back!
OPINION: ACT MP Mark Cameron isn’t everyone’s cup of tea, but he certainly calls it how he sees it, holding nothing back when ‘climate scientists’ had a crack at Kiwi farmers recently:
ACT Rural Communities spokesman and farmer Mark Cameron says rural New Zealand is no longer being ignored by Wellington.
Speaking from the National Fieldays, which got underway at Mystery Creek in Hamilton this morning, Cameron says when rural New Zealand is free to flourish, all New Zealanders are better off.
“So, this week, the ACT team will be at Fieldays hearing from the growers and innovators who get up at crack of dawn each day to keep our bellies full and our economy humming.
“Like many other farmers, I’ll be looking forward to announcements from my ACT colleagues David Seymour, Brooke van Velden, Nicole McKee, and Andrew Hoggard, who are all working to wind back the rural red tape that has proliferated under successive governments.
“For six years, Wellington ignored rural New Zealand. With ACT in Government, that’s now changed.”
Cameron listed some of the legislation that are being removed or reviewed – replacement of the previous Government’s freshwater regime and the Resource Management Act with new laws centred on private property rights and making freshwater farm plans more cost-effective and pragmatic.
He says the Coalition Government is also “bringing practicality to animal welfare codes’ and removing the rule for new Significant Natural Areas and dealing to existing ones. He also listed the scrapping of ute tax and Three Waters programme.
“I’m confident that, come the end of the week, we'll have added to our list of wins for rural communities.
"Farmers don't tend to mince their words, so I'm looking forward to honest appraisals of the work we're doing to bring an authentically rural voice to Wellington."
On the eve of his departure from Federated Farmers board, Richard McIntyre is thanking farmers for their support and words of encouragement during his stint as a farmer advocate.
A project reducing strains and sprains on farm has won the Innovation category in the New Zealand Workplace Health and Safety Awards 2025.
Beef + Lamb New Zealand (B+LNZ), in partnership with the Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI) and other sector organisations, has launched a national survey to understand better the impact of facial eczema (FE) on farmers.
One of New Zealand's latest and largest agrivoltaics farm Te Herenga o Te Rā is delivering clean renewable energy while preserving the land's agricultural value for sheep grazing under the modules.
Global food company Nestle’s chair Paul Bulcke will step down at its next annual meeting in April 2026.
Brendan Attrill of Caiseal Trust in Taranaki has been announced as the 2025 National Ambassador for Sustainable Farming and Growing and recipient of the Gordon Stephenson Trophy at the National Sustainability Showcase at in Wellington this evening.
OPINION: ACT MP Mark Cameron isn’t everyone’s cup of tea, but he certainly calls it how he sees it, holding…
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