'There is a crisis in dairy' says Little

Labour Party leader Andrew Little. Photo / Paul Taylor

Andrew Little says another bad season for dairy farmers could cause New Zealanders to lose some of the country's best agricultural land to offshore buyers.

The Labour leader said Fonterra had offered interest-free loans to some struggling farmers.

On the Q&A programme, he said banks had told him they'd help farmers for one tough season, but beyond that there were uncertainties.

"There is a crisis in dairy...we do have some tough times ahead." He told TV One a combination of the Government, farmers and banks needed to work together to address the problem. Mr Little said "the biggest threat" to farmers would arise when they couldn't even afford to keep their land.

He said if dairy farmers had to start selling land, people with the money to buy that land would be offshore buyers, such as the Americans and Chinese.

The Labour leader said a regional development plan was needed to help the provinces fight the dairy price downturn. Mr Little told the Q&A programme some rural areas needed roading and harbour upgrades to boost and diversify local economies.

Meanwhile, Mr Little said there was still too much secrecy around the contentious proposed Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) deal.

He voiced concerns about the possibility the TPP would affect Pharmac, the agency responsible for deciding which medicines get subsidised. "We support free trade...we are very concerned about something that might undermine Pharmac and its purchasing model."

Mr Little said he was satisfied with how he'd led Labour so far, despite controversy over issues such as leaked real estate data linking "Chinese" buyers to Auckland real estate and a half-hearted debate about whether New Zealand needed a new national anthem.

- NZME.