For six years, Wellington ignored rural New Zealand. With ACT in Government, that’s now changed. And the news from this week proves it.

Mark and Andrew

The ACT team has just had a fantastic few days at Fieldays, listening to farmers, growers, and innovators. And our Ministers stood up to make a series of announcements to empower rural New Zealand:

As Associate Agriculture Minister, Andrew Hoggard jointly announced He Waka Eke Noa will be disbanded and agriculture will be kept out of the Emissions Trading Scheme.

As Food Safety Minister, Andrew announced a proposal to cut red tape for food exporters, and welcomed the signing of a new cooperation arrangement for infant formula between China and New Zealand.

And as Biosecurity Minister, Andrew announced the move to a national pest management plan for M. bovis to protect investment made in eradication to date.

As Workplace Relations and Safety Minister, Brooke van Velden announced a major new consultation to bring common sense back to health and safety laws.

As Minister responsible for firearms, Nicole McKee announced her overall work plan to overhaul firearms laws. This comes after she announced a review of Labour’s Firearms Registry, and consultation on regulations impacting clubs and ranges.

As Regulation Minister, David announced the new Ministry for Regulation will review red tape making it difficult for Kiwi farmers and growers to access technologies and products available overseas.

David also joined the Transport Minister to announce blanket speed limit increases will be reversed by 1 July 2025, and the Government will seek feedback on enabling speed limits of up to 120km/h on appropriate roads.

Finally, many farmers were interested in my work investigating rural bank lending practices as Chair of the Primary Production committee, now that the government has requested a select committee inquiry into banking competition. Here are my public comments.

ACT understands that when rural communities are free to flourish, we’re all better off.

The war on farmers is over. We’re winding back the red tape and restoring common sense, property rights, and efficiency to New Zealand’s rural backbone.

Thank you for your support.


Mark Cameron
ACT List MP and Rural Communities spokesman


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