Mark Cameron Steps Down, Reflects on Farmers' Voice
When Northland farmer Mark Cameron entered parliament six years ago, the Beehive was a lonely place.
The comments come just two weeks after Stats NZ announced grocery food prices rose 7.5%.
“Rabobank has warned that rising costs on-farm will flow into higher costs for consumers, while slimmer margins for farmers will also mean less spending within rural communities,” Cameron says.
“They have also described farmer confidence as being the lowest on record since the pandemic began.”
He says that while some cost increases are due to global issues, the deluge of regulations from the Government has had a compounding effect which he describes as “unnecessary”.
“Freshwater reforms, winter grazing rules, Zero Carbon Act, limiting migrant workers, other ideological climate policies, Significant Natural Areas, taxes on utes… the list goes on. Farmers have taken a hammering from this government,” Cameron says.
“As a dairy farmer myself, I know that farmers are best environmentalists around. We kept the economy going through COVID. It’s time the Government gave us a break.”
He says the ACT Party is calling on Environment Minister to extend the 1 November deadline for farm environment plans, something industry groups like Beef + Lamb New Zealand have also called for.
“The Government needs to remember that the more expensive and tough it is for farmers to produce, the higher prices will be at the checkout.”
