Apparently Nathan Guy gave Landcorp Farming’s chairwoman Traci Houpapa bugger-all notice that his party was planning to unveil the policy to sell goodly numbers of the state-owned farmer’s properties. It seems Guy told Houpapa only four hours before the news broke. In response to written questions from business publication NBR, Houpapa confirmed that Landcorp had “no prior notice of the policy announcement”. She also conceded that Landcorp had not analysed what the policy “means for our business”. It sounds like policy on the hoof to this old mutt.
Your old mate understands that National’s big agricultural announcement during the election campaign – about helping more young families onto their first farms by allowing them a lease-to-buy deal on Landcorp land – was a rush for all concerned.
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