Groundswell NZ Meeting With PM Was Last For 2022

Groundswell NZ is interested to see what direction the incoming Prime Minister Chris Hipkins will take on some of the rural policies they have been protesting over the past few years.

Founders Bryce McKenzie and Laurie Paterson met with Jacinda Ardern on December 15 after a two-year wait, and were surprised to spend over an hour with her and other ministers.

They would’ve had no idea at the time she was about to resign, but Bryce said this week, it was definitely her last meeting of the year, as many of the Ministers had already left Parliament for the Christmas break once the house sat earlier that day.

In November, the group presented a petition to the Government with 102,724 signatures opposed to the draft agricultural emissions pricing proposal, He Waka Eke Noa, which would tax farmers for the emissions created on their farms.

Bryce said they were particularly interested in the impact legislation was having on farmer’s mental health and the impact things like He Waka Eke Noa were already having in rural communities.

“She certainly indicated that some of the things that we were telling her was not what she was hearing, especially regarding mental health.”

However, he said Jacinda didn’t appear like she wanted to shift on those “unworkable” regulations, and he hoped that Chris Hipkins would drop the methane tax at least.

Groundswell believes the Government’s emissions tax will cut food production by up to 20% in some sectors, “ripping the heart of out of our rural communities, but barely touching net global emissions as foreign, less efficient farmers take Kiwi farmers’ place in international markets.”

The Prime Minister twice declined Groundswell’s requests for a meeting, before agreeing to meet with them in March.

In another ‘silent’ protest, Groundswell has been boycotting the Statistics New Zealand data for the Agriculture Production Census, and has asked food producers to join them.

Last year Stats NZ said only 0.29% of farmers and growers had refused to submit to the census, but under the Official Information Act, Groundswell NZ found some more accurate information.

According to their data, only 67.3% of farmers had contributed to the census in 2022, down from 84.3% in 2017.

Jacinda Ardern made her final speech as Prime Minister this afternoon at Rātana.