Five hundred utes, couple hundred tractors, 40 trucks and tankers and more than 1000 people were involved in the Groundswell ‘Howl of a Protest’ in Invercargill yesterday.

Traffic came to a standstill as farmers up and down the country got behind arguably the biggest rural protest in New Zealand history.

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And it all started by a small bunch of farmers in Southland and their Facebook page, which now has more than 21,000 followers.

Protesting unworkable Government regulations including increased compliance costs, carbon and ute tax – the list goes on, but group member Bruce Robertson said we’re all in this together.

“At least we know now that someone has our back. This event was three times bigger than what we thought. We don’t want to have to keep going but we’re not going away,” he said.

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Watch the GroundswellNZ video streamed from Ascot Park Racecourse

The Groundswell group has just eight committee members who meet on a weekly basis, but since the protest have fielded calls from farmers up and down the country – “people who we don’t know from a bar of soap,” he said.

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Although apologetic about some of the mess they made on the roads, Bruce said they don’t believe there has been a disconnect between rural and urban, as the Government has implied.

Invercargill National MP Penny Simmonds agreed. Involved in the protest riding in a tractor with her husband, she said the applause and thumbs up given by the towns people as they rode past was just heartening.

“There was a real show of unity between town and rural.”

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“There was a real show of unity between town and rural.”

A sentiment that has been growing in the rural communities for some time now, she said farmers were getting to breaking point, and Groundswell had put the Government on notice.

“We hope there is enough respect and responsibility from the Government to now do something,” Bruce said.

Invercargill Mayor Tim Shadbolt said it was a such a difficult issue, and he could see both points of view evenly – between the farmers and Government.

“Our council is still divided over which way to go and the Mayors are in a bit of a ‘horses for courses’ situation.”

He said Gore and Southland districts were quite different because one was more rural and the other a compact urban situation.

The three Southland Mayors watched the Blenheim protest as they were currently attending the 34th AGM of Local Government New Zealand, and Sir Tim said it was “certainly lively,” up north.

whatsoninvers.nz Founder and Mike Sanford said it was great to see such a huge turnout in Invercargill, “we got right behind this protest – growing up on a farm at Mossburn (back then we had terrible droughts, not now apparently), I understand and appreciate the sacrifice and hard work our farmers do to feed us all and drive our economy.”

Huge Turnout For Groundswell Protest (watch)

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