Community Hui Enjoyed By Many (watch the video)

Hundreds of people and plenty of tractors arrived at the Town and Country Hui in Invercargill today.

Organised by Federated Farmers and the Southland Chamber of Commerce, the idea was to create a fun community day where people could also learn more about the Government’s new freshwater legislation.

Chamber of Commerce chief executive Sheree Carey said it was quite emotional when the tractors rolled in, but also a pleasant atmosphere overall.

“It just shows the unity of all Southlanders.”

The theme for the day was ‘We all live off the land’ – which related to the new rules around freshwater, and how they would impact the whole community.

Sheree said one of the guest speakers was a local businessman who said the new rules would hurt all retailers.

Southland Federated Farmers vice-president Bernadette Hunt said the event was not a protest and was focused on uniting Southlanders instead of creating division.

“There’s a lot of people that don’t understand what’s going on in the freshwater space but want to and farmers really wanted to get out there and express their concern… so this is an opportunity for those people to come together and show that we all live off the land and we all care about what’s going on.”

Hunt believed Southland’s urban and rural communities already had good communication – but the relationship could be strengthened further.

“There was a great event in Gore yesterday where farmers made a pretty strong statement by taking tractors through Gore, and people from the town were out in droves on the street supporting them, they had placards of support.

“So yeah, there’s already huge unity between town and country in Southland and hopefully today will make that even stronger.”

The community was invited to bring workmates, friends and family along for discussion about the legislation, and was followed by a free community BBQ including live music to end the week.

Story by whatsoninvers.nz and RNZ