Source: ACT Party
ACT MP Hon Andrew Hoggard
Federated Farmers Rural Advocacy Hub Speaking Engagement
Wednesday 11 June, 11:30 am
Good morning, everyone.
It’s great to be back, and thank you for the opportunity to speak here today.
I’d like to start by acknowledging the significant effort that’s gone into organising this year’s Fieldays Rural Advocacy Hub. These events don’t happen without a lot of hard work behind the scenes, and it shows.
I also want to acknowledge Federated Farmers and the many other farmer-led organisations who work tirelessly to support and advocate for the sector.
As a dairy farmer and a former President of Federated Farmers, I know firsthand how important your work is. Whether it’s in the regions or on the national stage, you give voice to rural communities, bring practical solutions to the table, and stand up for the interests of farmers and growers across New Zealand.
This Government is firmly committed to backing you—by reducing costs, cutting unnecessary red tape, and strengthening frontline support.
When I spoke at Fieldays last year, interest rates were a massive challenge for rural New Zealand. Make no mistake, that was Wellington’s fault. It was the hangover from a Labour-led pandemic response that pumped out easy money without a productivity boost to match.
Now we’ve reined in waste, got inflation back to the target range, and farmers are finally seeing real interest rates relief. We need to do more to cut the waste in Wellington, because the less resource the Government sucks up, the more is left over for people like you out in the real world trying to grow things.
Over the past year, we’ve made real progress on red tape. We’ve started delivering on our promise to fix the resource management system and reduce the regulatory burden.
Amending intensive winter grazing and stock exclusion rules. Pausing the rollout of freshwater farm plans while we make them more practical and affordable, and halting the identification of new Significant Natural Areas.
Right now, we’re consulting on a package of proposals aimed at streamlining or removing regulations that are holding the primary sector back.
Most critically, we are consulting on changes to the NPS Freshwater 2020. There are several options being put forward. Now, if I remove my Minister hat and put on my ACT Party hat, we need to be bold. By that I mean Te Mana o te Wai needs to go. Worrying about the Paris Accord, whilst still a concern, is a sideshow compared to the hard calls we need to make with regards to RMA reform and the NPS Freshwater.
Make no mistake, as a Party we have no interest in taxing the most carbon efficient farmers in the world, having methane targets far in excess of what is needed to play our part, sending billions offshore to be carbon neutral, or turning the lights off in homes or businesses through misguided energy policies.
But if you ask me what area of policy scares me the most for the future of New Zealand farming, it is resource management and freshwater policy.
Te Mana o te Wai has caused confusion amongst councils, and I see that if left in place its current trajectory will likely lead towards co-governance for regional councils, not just in policy but consenting as well, and policies that are based on vague spiritual concepts, not clear and simple water science balanced with societal needs.
This debate will undoubtedly be noisy, but farming groups need to advocate strongly for clear unambiguous language in the NPS, individual farmers need to submit on what they are seeing and the stress this concept has caused many of them with regards to consenting.
At the Treaty Principles Bill second reading debate many coalition party MPs stated that the Bill was too general, too broad-brushed, and that we should just focus on ensuring that we don’t have unclear language and vague concepts in future bills and policies. Well I would suggest that this NPS Freshwater is a good test for those statements. You will see plenty of MPs here for the next few days playing farmer dress up, make sure you let them know you expect them to keep their word.
Now, while I’m being a staunch ACT MP I also want to give a shout out to the Regulatory Standards Bill, for many of you undoubtedly are thinking, why should I care about something that sounds that boring.
Real simple. If this Bill had been in place during my Feds presidency it would have made the job so much easier, as it would have highlighted some of the more impractical and stupid regulations that were dreamed up. Even if it didn’t make the politicians think twice, at least the system would have shone a spotlight on the issues. We are so lucky that Bernadette Hunt got on the Hosking show and was able to show up some of the more daft parts of the winter grazing regs and they got changed within days, but they shouldn’t have got that far. That’s what the Regulatory Standards Bill will hopefully show up.
But also, government doesn’t just take away your hard-earned dollars through its fiscal policies. It also can take away your property rights through its regulatory policies, so this Bill will ensure that if those property rights are taken away then compensation should be forthcoming. This whole concept has complete distaste from the Left, and some lukewarm reception from everyone else but ACT. So, if more protection for property rights is something you want to see, make sure you put your case forward for it.
Okay, back to being a Minister, if I can just highlight some of the other Government work that is going on that is relevant for farming.
In the health and safety space, we’ve got Brooke van Velden leading reforms to get rid of over compliance, reduce paperwork, and make WorkSafe helpful, not harmful. I’m especially pleased about her work to protect landowners from liability when they allow recreational activities like horse trekking, hunting, or hiking on their land. It’s about a shift from fear to freedom, opening up land for maximum enjoyment and enhancing the Kiwi way of life.
We’re also keen to empower farmers on the conservation front. I believe farmers are natural environmentalists. We live off the land, so we have every incentive to care for it. Many of us work to maintain stands of native bush or wetland on our land. For too long, the approach has been to punish this work, with councils looking at your land and saying, “that looks pretty, in fact that natural area looks ‘significant’ and you’re going to lose your property rights over that.” It’s all stick and no carrot. I think farmers deserve real credit for their contributions to biodiversity, and I’ll have more to say about that at the Beef + Lamb stall tomorrow.
In this year’s Budget, we announced a 20% funding increase to tackle the spread of wilding pines—a major win for our landscapes and productive land.
Another important change in this year’s Budget is Investment Boost—a major new tax incentive to encourage business investment, support economic growth, and lift wages.
If you’re a farmer, tradie, manufacturer, or run any business, this matters to you.
When you invest in new equipment, machinery, tools, vehicles, or technology—you’ll now be able to deduct 20% of that cost immediately from your taxable income.
It’s a straightforward way to help reduce your tax bill and support decisions that lift productivity and grow your business.
To put it simply, we’re backing your success.
We want to see a thriving primary sector that’s not weighed down by complexity, but supported to innovate, grow, and lead.
I want to thank Federated Farmers, and many of you here, for the constructive role you’ve played in helping shape these changes. Your feedback is vital to making sure the final rules are workable, sensible, and fit for purpose.
Thank you again for the chance to be here, and for everything you do to keep this sector moving forward.
All the best for a successful and enjoyable Fieldays.
Thank you.