increase font size
Act Party primary industries spokesman Mark Cameron.
The Act Party is asking the Government to be transparent and clear with farmers regarding the potential for an outbreak of Foot and Mouth Disease (FMD) in Australia.
“The party that subjected Kiwis to a daily broadcast from the podium of truth through Covid owes it to farmers to tell them the plan for Foot-and-Mouth,” says Act’s primary industries spokesperson Mark Cameron.
“The primary sector is our economic powerhouse, it accounts for $52.2 billion in export revenue, 81.8% of our trade, 11.1% of GDP, and employs hundreds of thousands of people,” he says.
Cameron says an outbreak of FMD in New Zealand would cripple the nation.
“It would shut the export industry down for months, or even years. The livelihoods of many hard-working farmers would go up in smoke and our wider economy would take a hit that is estimated to be around $15 billion,” he says.
“As the risk of incursion increases, the Government needs to be ready to pull out all the stops, and farmers need to know what the plan is.”
Cameron says he has heard from farmers across New Zealand who say that FMD would be “the straw that broke the camel’s back.
“They’ve already piggybacked our economy through Covid, any incursion would do lasting damage to our prosperity that would take decades to recover from.
“As the disease is rampaging across many tourist hotspots, our biosecurity system is our sole line of defence. All practical measures need to be in place to provide reassurance to rural New Zealand.
“No one will begrudge biosecurity officials for conducting stricter scrutiny at the border, the stakes are too high not to.
“Getting this wrong, almost doesn’t bare thinking about.”
Six industry organisations, including DairyNZ and the Dairy Companies Association (DCANZ) have signed an agreement with the Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI) to prepare the country for a potential foot and mouth outbreak.
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:
Six livestock industry groups have signed a new agreement with the Government on how to prepare for, and respond to, a possible outbreak of Foot and Mouth Disease.
Sheep and beef farmers have voted to approve Beef + Lamb New Zealand signing an operational agreement between the agricultural sector and the Government on foot and mouth disease readiness and response.
OPINION: The good fight against "banking wokery" continues with a draft bill to scrap the red tape forcing banks and financial institutions to make climate-related disclosures, by repealing Part 7A of the Financial Markets Conduct Act 2013.
A technical lab manager for Apata, Phoebe Scherer, has won the Bay of Plenty 2025 Young Grower regional title.
Following heavy rain which caused flooding in parts of Nelson-Tasman and sewerage overflows in Marlborough, the Insurance & Financial Services Ombudsman Scheme (IFSO Scheme) is urging homeowners and tenants to be cautious when cleaning up and to take the right steps to support claims.
Newly elected Federated Farmers meat and wool group chair Richard Dawkins says he will continue the great work done his predecessor Toby Williams.
Hosted by ginger dynamo Te Radar, the Fieldays Innovation Award Winners Event put the spotlight on the agricultural industry's most promising ideas.
According to DairyNZ's latest Econ Tracker update, there has been a rise in the forecast breakeven milk price for the 2025/26 season.
Despite the rain and a liberal coating of mud, engines roared, and the 50th Fieldays Tractor Pull Competition drew crowds of spectators across the four days of the annual event.
