“Farmers are right to be outraged by the Government's proposed tax on farm emissions, in fact the whole country should be up in arms about a policy that increases emissions and hammers an entire industry,” says ACT’s Primary Industries spokesperson Mark Cameron.
“Farmers are right to be outraged by the Government's proposed tax on farm emissions, in fact the whole country should be up in arms about a policy that increases emissions and hammers an entire industry,” says ACT’s Primary Industries spokesperson Mark Cameron.
“I am in Hastings today supporting farmers protesting against Labour’s illogical burp tax.
“The Government claims it has worked with the agriculture industry, but it has come out with a proposal that doesn’t even resemble what the industry put forward. It doesn’t recognise sequestration, it doesn’t involve farmers in the governance, and the levy will be set by the Minister.
“Without new technologies before 2030, the Government estimates a 5.3 per cent reduction in dairy, 21.4 per cent reduction in lamb and 36.7 per cent reduction in beef. Towns like Wairia, Te Kuiti or Moera would lose their main employers. Provincial towns would be hammered.
“This policy will increase emissions. The He Waka Eke Noa Independent Report states “there could be a 15% increase in global emissions for every tonne of emissions reduced in New Zealand from lower output of beef…for sheep and dairy production are emission increases of 7% and 30% respectively.”
“This illogical policy-making all kicked off when every party but ACT voted for the Zero Carbon Bill. It set a target that farm emissions must reduce 24 per cent below 2017 levels, and how that goal is reached is irrelevant and global emissions are not considered. The solution that Labour has chosen to meet the target is to hammer our farmers and increase global emissions.
“Kiwi farmers are the most emissions-efficient in the world and they’re not praised enough for this, but there’s more work to be done. ACT has four clear principles that should inform any agricultural emissions policy:
- No policy should give away market share to less efficient competitors
- Farmers should be compensated for their absorption and sequestration
- Methane should be measured properly, which it is currently not
- Innovation should be at the forefront of emissions reduction, instead of our current medieval approach to genetic engineering.
“The Prime Minister wants to go on the world stage and say that New Zealand is the first country to price agricultural emissions. But under this proposal we won’t be leading, we’ll be bleeding. ACT will repeal the burp tax.”