Farming Leader Katie Milne Steps into Politics for National
Former Federated Farmers president Katie Milne is National’s candidate for the West Coast- Tasman seat in this year’s general election.
National is leaving behind last week’s rough and tumble of beltway politics – and the aftermath of the Jami-Lee Ross scandal – to take the pulse of rural New Zealand.
Simon Bridges has launched the party’s ‘Have Your Say’ listening campaign for Rural New Zealand, describing it as “the next step in National’s 2020 election policy development process”.
“Having the right policies in place to help rural communities thrive is vitally important. So we are keen to hear from the grassroots on issues that may evolve into policies to turbocharge rural and provincial NZ.”
Bridges says National is doing the work in opposition so it will have the plans and policies in place should the party “earn the right to govern again in 2020”.
He accuses the current Government of failing to do this homework and blames this for the “180 working groups, potential new taxes and other rushed policies creating huge uncertainty implemented in the past year”.
Bridges says rural NZers deserve to be heard.
“That is why National has launched an online portal to give them an easy way to share their views. National MPs will also be out in their regions talking directly to rural NZers.”
After 25 years it is the right time to step away, says Colin Glass, the retiring chief executive of New Zealand's largest private corporate dairying company, Dairy Holdings.
Politicians calling for New Zealand to withdraw from the Paris Agreement on climate risk damaging two of our gold-plated free trade deals.
Tickets are now available for the 2026 Arable Awards, set to be held in Christchurch on 20th August.
Environment Southland is calling on residents to be vigilant and check their properties after a new Old Man's Beard site was discovered near Dipton.
Amelia Marsden has secured the 2026 Nelson Young Grower title for the second year running, earning another opportunity to represent the region at the national Young Grower of the Year competition later this year.
Federated Farmers is urging the Government to put a halt to Waikato Regional Council's controversial Plan Change 1 (PC1), warning the regulations will impose significant costs, complexity and duplication on thousands of farmers while major national reforms remain unresolved.

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