Winston Peters calls Fonterra vote result 'utter madness'
New Zealand First leader and Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters has blasted Fonterra farmers shareholders for approving the sale of iconic brands to a French company.
The pricing plan was released for consultation earlier this month by Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern, Minister for Agriculture Damien O’Connor and Minister for Climate Change James Shaw.
The policy has resulted in heavy backlash from farmers, politicians and industry bodies alike.
At a speech in Gore yesterday, Peters claimed farming families in the region ere being taken for granted by the Government.
“When Covid hit this country, in early 2020, together with its variants in 2021, and we faced economic hardship, one sector, above all the rest, kept our economy going,” he told the crowd.
He said the Government’s emissions plan was cheating regional communities.
“If you think that in 2022 you are being cheated – then you are right. You are being cheated,” he said.
Peters told the crowd that the real “tragedy” of the Government’s emissions pricing plan would be the reductions of revenue on farm.
He said there would be a more than 25% reduction of revenue on sheep and cattle farms and more than 10% reduction on dairy farms.
“When a highly successful beef farmer confides that he and his professional advisors see this government’s new costs for his farm exceeding $800,000 per annum, we both know that his operation is stuffed.”
Peters said the attempts to be ‘world-first’ were coming at the expense of food production.
“Our farm animals have the lowest carbon footprint in the world,” he said. “Getting rid of our farm animals, in favour of farm animals in other countries with a higher carbon footprint, means the world is going to be worse off.”
“And all the while destroying New Zealand farming families, farming towns, associated employment, and reducing our own food supply, and putting food costs up.”
