Melanie Petrowski (Independent):
Yeah, so here it is. It’s the Holy Bible. Many nations were actually based on this and formed because of this. If you’re not aware, the first five books are called Torah, which means the law, and I believe we need to get back to this, the law. There are so many laws in here about property, land, agriculture, even animal welfare and, you know, this is called the Good Book for a reason and that is why I have it here. Thank you.
Rob Douglas (Act):
I brought along a photo of my First XV, and the reason is not because of the fact that it was my First XV and it’s the best team I’ve ever played in or anything like that, but rather it’s because we achieved so much as a team united together, much more than the sum of the parts and that’s why I brought it today.
Anna Lorck (Labour):
Thank you. I brought along with me a plaque ... my great-grandfather was the first medical superintendent of the Waipukurau Hospital. That is something that I hold dearly, that I work with health services in Hawke’s Bay, and Waipukurau Hospital was closed under the National Government. This is a constant reminder to me of how critical it is to keep fighting hard to get our hospital for Hawke’s Bay.
Allister Tosh (Future Youth Party):
What I’m going to show you here tonight is my [inaudible] which I started up in 2016. All the money was given to charity, and I just wanted to quickly say that it’s all for my youth policies and that’s where the money has been directed.
Catherine Wedd (National):
I have a little photo of me in the New Zealand Youth Parliament that was gifted to me by the MP who I represented in my final year of school. And she left a message on the back and it says “you will go far in life, always strive for the top”, which aligns with the National Party values that reward success and ambition. And I will work hard for Tukituki, to be the next local MP for Tukituki which will always strive to the top.
Nick Ratcliffe (Green):
Kia ora everybody. The item that I brought with me this evening was gifted to me by my wife’s family. It’s a tiny little red book and this belonged to her grandfather who grew up in Waipukurau in the 20s and 30s. He went to war from his address in Waipukurau, and this book was printed in 1960 and it’s his Lilliput dictionary of te reo Māori. And to me, this is a daily reminder of the importance to us as Tangata Tiriti to embrace te Ao Māori.
Rob Hulman (NZ Loyal):
My big family is the big reason why I’m standing. It’s because I don’t want to see my family grow up in a totalitarian direction, which we’re currently going in with the big parties that are in. I love my family. I want my kids to grow up. I want everybody’s kids to be able to grow up and make decisions for themselves like we were all able to as we were growing up.
Round 2: Why should you be the MP
Allister Tosh:
I believe I should be the MP for Tukituki ... we are facing an unprecedented environmental crisis and I can assure yourselves, I’ll use all my years of study and knowledge to take action so that we can be the nation with a template that leads the way in the technological process of recycling and waste initiatives. A wonderful initiative where the council will still be in control of servicing our water infrastructure, and the Government will be accountable ... especially big business and people who quite frankly don’t give a thought to what they use, and that is primarily an educational issue. The portfolios that I have deep concerns for and lots of practical answers for are education, health, crime and transport. All these years that I’m here I will give not just my time but my values, and not just my time, but my family’s precious time.
Melanie Petrowski:
Kia ora koutou. The reason why I want to be MP is because ... people can hear from the Lord. God is real, He loves you so much, and speaks to people. He spoke to me and said I want you to run. I feel that we need to get our nation back to the Lord ... the Lord actually brought in evil leadership like Nebuchadnezzar and I see myself as a Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego who stood up to [Nebuchadnezzar] when he wanted everyone to bow down to his golden statue. I don’t mind being thrown in the fire because I know the Lord is with me ... I like to fight for the little guy. I was mandated out of two jobs and I took legal action and I won. And I will fight for you.
Catherine Wedd:
People ask me, why politics? Well, politics has been in my blood since I was a little girl growing up on a farm. My grandpa was a National Party MP. I went on to university and studied law and politics, and first thing out of university I became a TV One news reporter and covered a lot of political stories. And then I went on to the BBC, where I also covered a lot of international political stories in London. But moving back to Hawke’s Bay 13 years ago, with my husband Henry, we had our four young children ... and it was here that I was head of marketing for Bostock NZ and on the board of NZ Apples and Pears. And during this time, I spent a lot of time on the world stage promoting the premium produce that we grow here in Hawke’s Bay ... and now I want to stand up and be aspirational for our food-producing region here in Tukituki. For the past six years, I have seen a Government which has absolutely hammered our food producers with red-tape regulation. It’s time to get the wheels moving and strengthen our economy so we can reduce the cost of living.
Rob Hulman:
First of all, I don’t really want to be the MP. I’m a PR - a public representative - and believe that is much more my calling. I’ll be here to listen to what needs to be done and to get it done. A lot of you know me, have known me, have known my business. I used to own Off The Track restaurant and have been in Hawke’s Bay for over 14 years. We want to be able to bring a better life for all New Zealanders with the NZ Loyal Party, and one of our big things is the 1 per cent tax. Who’s tired of paying 50 per cent-plus on tax? You know, we don’t keep any money, we don’t have time to spend with our families because both parents are working. We want to get back to a better community-orientated New Zealand, where we have time and money to do the things that we love.
Rob Douglas:
Gidday. Look, I’m a proud Kiwi and New Zealand has so much going for it. Yes, the polls tell us that New Zealanders know we are heading in the wrong direction. This election is our chance to save the Kiwi dream. We need to tackle crime and put victims’ rights first. We need to treat all New Zealanders equally. And we need to catch up with the rest of the world which is leaving us behind financially. Under National, New Zealand’s median wage under John Key slipped from $11,000 to $17,000 behind Australia. Under Labour, this slipped further from $17,000 to $23,000 behind Australia. We just can’t keep doing what we’re doing and expect different results. I mean, how many chances are you guys going to give Labour and National? We actually need to charge a whole new course. The Act Party has the solution. What we need is a strong representation around the table to ensure that we do get real change in the coalition with National after this election. I ask you to please give your party vote to Act.
Anna Lorck:
Consider everything that has been achieved in the six years since Labour has been in, and all of the work that has gone into growing jobs and backing those businesses in Hawke’s Bay. I have a list: $21 million into school upgrades, 12,000 student health school lunches, 2000 into free apprenticeships, over $40m to get pipes in the ground to allow 4000 more homes to be built. And 333 public homes and another 200 on the way. That is not bad compared to the National Government under whom we lost 200 homes and they built just six. We have got a $32m aquatic centre, we’ve got $15m toward safer drinking water. The Labour Government has committed $900m to our cyclone recovery and we committed $1.1 billion to build a new regional hospital. This is the largest infrastructure project this region will ever see. I made it my mission to get that hospital funding, and with me as your local MP I am committed to make sure we deliver it on time and on budget. I work hard, I get things done.
Nick Ratcliffe:
Tena koutou. My name is Nick Ratcliffe. I am your local Tukituki candidate for the Green Party. I am going to make this really easy for you. I don’t actually want you to vote for me. But I would like you to give your party votes to the Green Party. Aotearoa is out of balance. We have a wealth divide the likes of which has never been seen before. We have 311 families in this country with more than $85b of wealth and pay half of the effective tax rate that I pay as someone who works 44 hours a week. The Green Party is the only party with a plan to end poverty. I’m going to say that again for you ... actually end it. We are going to do that by introducing a fairer tax system. And I’m number 25 on the list so you all need to vote Green for me to be your local Greens MP.
Round 3: Quick-fire question round
Melanie Petrowski:
[Wealth tax: yes or no?] Yes, but they will wrangle out of it somehow.
[Aotearoa’s Covid response: good or bad?] Very bad.
[KiwiSaver contributions are compulsory for employers. Would you keep it that way?] Yes.
[Three Waters: Would you keep it or repeal it?] Repeal it.
[Best spot in Tukituki for a holiday?] The beaches.
Rob Douglas:
[Wealth tax: yes or no?] No.
[Aotearoa’s Covid response: good or bad?] Mostly bad.
[KiwiSaver contributions are compulsory for employers. Would you keep it that way?] Yes.
[Three Waters: Would you keep it or repeal it?] Get rid of it as fast as possible.
[Best spot in Tukituki for a holiday?] Mangakuri Beach.
Catherine Wedd:
[Wealth tax: yes or no?] No.
[Aotearoa’s Covid response: good or bad?] Good at the start, bad at the end.
[KiwiSaver contributions are compulsory for employers. Would your party keep it that way?] Yes.
[Three Waters: Would you keep it or repeal it?] Repeal it.
[Best spot in Tukituki for a holiday?] Waimārama.
Allister Tosh
[Wealth tax: yes or no?] Yes.
[Aotearoa’s Covid response: good or bad?] Good and bad.
[KiwiSaver contributions are compulsory for employers. Would you keep it that way?] Yes.
[Three Waters: Would you keep it or repeal it?] [Inaudible].
[Best spot in Tukituki for a holiday?] [Inaudible].
Anna Lorck:
[Wealth tax: yes or no?] No.
[Aotearoa’s Covid response: good or bad?] Good, thanks to the team of five million.
[KiwiSaver contributions are compulsory for employers. Would you keep it that way?] Yes.
[Three Waters: Would you keep it or repeal it?] Keep it. It will keep rates down.
[Best spot in Tukituki for a holiday?] Waimārama.
Nick Ratcliffe:
[Wealth tax: yes or no?] Yes.
[Aotearoa’s Covid response: good or bad?] Good.
[KiwiSaver contributions are compulsory for employers. Would you keep it that way?] Yes.
[Three Waters: Would you keep it or repeal it?] Tweak it.
[Best spot in Tukituki for a holiday?] Hastings. Wineries for the grown-ups and Splash Planet for the kids.
Rob Hulman:
[Wealth tax: yes or no?] 1 cent for every dollar.
[Aotearoa’s Covid response: good or bad?] Really bad.
[KiwiSaver contributions are compulsory for employers. Would you keep it that way?] Should be up to the individual.
[Three Waters: Would you keep it or repeal it?] Repeal.
[Best spot in Tukituki for a holiday?] Kuripapango down Taihape Rd.
Round 4: Reader questions
Violent crime feels like it’s happening regularly in Hastings, what’s your solution?
Anna Lorck:
I strongly believe that only community police back onto the beat is the answer. We see violent crime happening where we used to have community cops in Clive, in Flaxmere and Havelock North. The greater the police presence on the beat, and on the street, people will feel safer and send the strong message that we know where the criminals are. The other thing that we have to do is crack down on gangs, like we have 700 police dedicated to the Cobalt Blue taskforce that has done 51,000 charges, and we have to get our young people into work. When they are in work they’re doing something, they are earning money, and they have a focus. I think those two things can make a difference to crime.
Catherine Wedd:
The owners of the Clive dairy have been ram raided, the Cornwall Park dairy they’ve had an axe attack, ram raids are happening nearly two every day. We’ve had a [huge] increase in gang membership here in Hawke’s Bay alone. We need to crack down on crime and a National Government will. We are going to crack down on gangs by banning gang patches, equipping police with tools to crack down on gangs, stopping gang gatherings in public, ensuring we are going to ... get rid of their illegal weapons. But not just that, we need to make sure that we have got tougher sentences for criminals, but also more rehabilitation. We believe if you want to turn your life around we will allow you to do that with rehabilitation programmes. But if you choose to reoffend and repeat reoffend, there will be tougher consequences. The soft-on-crime approach from Labour has to end.
Rob Douglas:
The Act Party has always been toughest on crime and we won’t flinch this time around either. We will bring back three strikes. We will bring in gang control orders to sort out criminals. We will remove cultural reports for get-out-of-jail-free cards for criminals. And we’re also going to tackle youth crime. Oh, we’re also going to remove the target on prison reduction in prisons. In terms of youth crime, we are going to bring in youth infringement notices - immediate justice. Next morning they are out removing tagging ... something like that. Then we’re going to step it up, if they are not being looked after at home we need to know where they are, if their parents don’t. So we will put ankle bracelets on them. We will also build 200 youth detention centre facilities so we can rehabilitate them. But most of them, we actually need to sort out their education, too many are slipping through the cracks. So we will bring back chartered schools so we can sort them out at the root cause.
Melanie Petrowski:
Yeah, we need tougher cops. [A] Mongrel Mob member actually smashed his car into my house and they took off and left a woman to take the blame. I asked her if she was driving. I sort of got there a few minutes too late to see. She said no. I told the police this, and they weren’t going to ask her who it was, because they already got the girl. So they don’t need to do any more. Also, my nephew got tripped up and kicked in the face and the police didn’t really want to do much about it. Why did Labour give gangs nearly $3m for drug rehabilitation?
Nick Ratcliffe:
We always hear the same thing from the Right. It’s what I call Policy Whack-a-Mole. If we’re going to tackle ram raiding or whatever they’re doing this week [and just focus on] whatever’s happening right now ... you just chase the moles around the board, don’t you, if you don’t address the root causes. Poverty is rife throughout Aotearoa and the gap continues to grow the longer we have neo-liberal capitalism as our chosen economic system. It drives wealth and inequality, and makes it harder for people to get a leg up, get a foothold in the economy. One in six homes is owned by someone who owns 20 or more properties. Kids are growing up in cold, damp houses. We have to address poverty and the other social issues will fall into place afterwards.
Allister Tosh:
Every crime is serious at the moment but at the end of the day, you know, we just keep going down the same old track that all the other parties have gone down. Lock them up and throw away the key, but nothing’s changing. We haven’t really got a huge crime problem in New Zealand. We’re not Cape Town. With ram raids, we seem to forget about the victims, it’s just all the offenders we seem to go on about. We should be pumping some more money into the victims than the criminals.
Rob Hulman:
First of all, I think by having families with less financial burden on them, as they currently have under the current taxation systems that we all have to endure, the crime will come down. The police do a fantastic job but currently I think they need to focus a little bit less on revenue gathering, giving people tickets. The job I do, I was dealing with someone that had three shipping containers broken into and about $100,000 worth of gear stolen. He waited for the whole day after he found what had just happened, and no one showed up. That’s where it’s at, they are understaffed. We need to be more focused on actual policing, less focus on revenue gathering.
What have you done since the cyclone hit Hawke’s Bay and how can we be sure you won’t just show up for photo opportunities?
Nick Ratcliffe:
In the immediate aftermath of Cyclone Gabrielle, my wife works for an NGO that provides free baby clothes to māmās ... we were in a situation at Hawke’s Bay Hospital where pregnant māmās were being literally helicoptered off rooftops as far away as Wairoa, and they were in desperate need at the hospital and she and her organisation stepped up and started getting what was needed to the hospital. So in the immediate aftermath, I got the easy job and stayed home with the kids and we caught goldfish in the street.
Rob Hulman:
So the last three months, well, let’s go back to the 14th [of February]. My mum and dad’s house is at the end of Springfield Rd. They were unfortunately one of the people who were really badly affected, their house got absolutely wasted. They ended up on the roof of the house ... after I sold the restaurant at the end of May, I thought I was going to have a bit of holiday time but I’ve been working helping clean up the silt, liaising with the council and the contractors trying to get the job done as quickly and as cost effectively as possible. Dealing with people that have been affected in a negative way, trying to make your life a little bit better. Today, I went and saw some people and just offering a digger to go through the fence, that’s going to be restored from a contractor, and help clean off their soap from the septic tank, was like Christmas for them.
Melanie Petrowski:
I volunteered at the A&P showgrounds for a few weeks and then they brought in the compulsory testing - the PCR tests - which I thought was very strange. I’ve got friends who have dug out silt from about 80 houses now, I think they’re still going, and I’ve been supporting them. I’ve been asking questions such as why was there a morgue out at the port when only 11 people died and we have space in the hospital for that. And why did body bags come from Palmerston? I believe a lot more died, unfortunately.
Chris Hyde:
I would just say to you Melanie that I think on behalf of most of the people in this room, we found that statement quite offensive.
Allister Tosh:
There are huge questions to be asked over Cyclone Gabrielle and the Government’s response to the Civil Defence and the list goes on, from the Red Cross to donations to all the skulduggery. But at the end of the day, that’s life. But that wasn’t the question that you asked. The first thing I did was just make sure that my sisters were all right. The second thing I did was I took my family up to the aerodrome to help unload those planes. I think I was more a danger than a help, but I think they appreciated the moral support when we were there. I then went home to find the back of my house was all flooded out, so I spent the next two months sorting that out. And, generally, if someone was in need of help ... I would have been there to help them.
Catherine Wedd:
I had just been selected as the National Party candidate, and I got out there straight away after the cyclone and made sure I was helping get rural supplies out and helping with the distribution hub. But also helping the growers, because the growers had about $3.5b worth of damage ... they put a policy together within a week and presented that to the Government. Seven months later, they announced a cyclone support package and it was too long - it took a long time - and we were trying to encourage them to really re-establish and replant and get the wheels moving. That needed to be faster. National is totally committed to faster and fairer cyclone recovery ... there are a lot of communities out there that are still in limbo. This is an opportunity to be heard, but we’re also going to make sure that we commit to building resilient infrastructure as well, but also commit to the funding that’s already been allocated.
Rob Douglas:
Of course, I helped out in shovelling a bit of silt and tidying up in the reserve and at the back of my property, as well. But I guess my main involvement was making sure the team and Act were fully informed as to everything that was going on on the ground, so that they could hold this Government to account. And also create a positive alternative recovery plan, which they had produced within about two or three weeks after the event. And with a lot of practical solutions, things that will remove red tape so that we can build back easier. Things like cutting wasteful Government spending so that we can afford the recovery where it is actually needed. And getting the army on the ground to actually control law and order, which was completely out of control at that stage.
Anna Lorck:
I just want to say thank you to everybody for working together on the cyclone, it was phenomenal and thank you. My job as the local MP is to work on the ground and I just haven’t stopped. We’ve had over 700 contacts through my office. I’ve helped a horse breeder ... I’ve worked with a family with a disabled child to advocate to get their building consent through taking it right to the top, with the minister and officials to get that done. I’m still fighting the council with this couple now. I’ve helped a family get a silt [inaudible] and we managed to do it together. The other thing that I think is really important that I’ve done is lots of people just want to talk, to have a cup of tea and sit down and hear from them. I’ve constantly done that and called people back, and I’m just going to continue to work.
Petrol is now close to or above $3 a litre at the pump, how will you and your party ensure the cost of fuel doesn’t cripple New Zealand families?
Catherine Wedd:
We are in a cost of living crisis and families out there are feeling hardship right now. We’ve got a Labour Government that is wanting to put another tax on them, putting 12 cents a litre on the petrol in their next term of government. National will not tax fuel. We’re committed to that, and we do not think that we need to tax our way out of the hundreds of billions of dollars of wasteful-spending debt that this Labour Government has got us into. We need to be more aspirational than that. We need to make sure that we are supporting business with less bureaucracy ... we need to make sure we’re giving hard-working New Zealanders tax relief, so that they can spend their money how they want to spend it. Not how Grant Robertson wastefully wants to spend their money. We do still need to make sure we’re ... building brilliant infrastructure. Like that four-lane expressway for Hawke’s Bay, because that will drive productivity.
Melanie Petrowski:
Did anyone know we had a refinery out at Marsden and it closed down. The question is why? We need it back up and running. We can produce our own ... oil and diesel. We can support ourselves and be self-sustaining. Why do we need to import it? So that’s my answer. Open up Marsden refinery ... we’ve got to support ourselves.
Allister Tosh:
Once we take the tax off fuel, you know, our roading is going to be in decimation. So we need to be very careful when we start taking tax off fuel. A lot of politicians, they don’t understand the geopolitics of fuel. It’s all about supply and demand. You don’t get to name the price of fuel. It all depends which country is embargoing fuel, fuel regulations, there’s all sorts of different aspects to it. It’s so complex. But we could take the discount off the new cars ... that would put $10 a tank back in your pocket and also your power bill.
Rob Hulman:
I’m going to say it again. One cent tax. That’s going to drop the price of fuel quite a lot. [While] Marsden Point has been closed we now use bitumen coming from Indonesia. Whereas before, we had the best bitumen in the world coming from Marsden Point. We as a party want to really start making our fuel local, get people working, that is important to New Zealand.
Nick Ratcliffe:
Why is fuel so expensive? Well, we’ve been talking about this for 25 years now. There’s a few things. Where are all the passenger trains? Where are all the bus services? Why is it so dangerous to cycle around the place? I know a little bit about the geopolitics of the oil industry, and I can tell you that oil production globally is peaking or has peaked, which means the oil doesn’t have to run out for it to become unaffordable. It just needs demand to outstrip supply. And if we’re completely dependent on fossil fuels, and production has peaked, then it will get more and more expensive. So let’s give people options about how to move around or not to, and the price of petrol won’t matter so much.
Anna Lorck:
Hawke’s Bay is actually going to benefit significantly from the excise tax on fuel. We have to build back roads, and a large amount of the money that goes into transport infrastructure is paid through by all New Zealanders to help each other out. And we will get a lot of that investment here. We’re also funding the four-lane expressway and we’re not going to charge a toll for it. And if that means that as New Zealanders we contribute two cents a litre more, or four cents a litre more, while we enable us to get our region moving and ... getting our footpaths and cycleways going then we do need to pay for it. But I just want to say, that what National is offering, they are also going to have to get tax paid to pay for it.
Rob Douglas:
I can tell you how we are going to reverse the oil and gas exploration ban, or how we are going to make it so much easier to build offshore wind farms. But actually that is not the problem. The problem is our productivity in this country. We have so much red tape and so much regulation. Our taxes are so high that it is so hard to create good jobs, create good businesses, to produce things, to build houses. And ultimately, as a result, our standard of living is lower than it should be or could be. What we really need to do is tidy all those things up and then we can lift our wages. We can ... then afford the petrol, and can afford the groceries, and will all be better off. The Act Party’s fully-costed alternative budget actually tackles the reality we have in this country.
Round 6: Editor’s question:
Allister Tosh: If you get to Parliament, what’s the first thing that you will do when you get there?
Clean the house up. Have a talk to everybody, give them all a smack on the bottom, and help get this country sorted so that our youth ones can look to the future with aspirations, not as bad as what they think it is.
Audience interruption: Who would you smack first?
All of the above. If we want to live in a free country that operates within our constitution and rule of law ... we need an agency free of corruption ... and if in our lifetimes we have to bear arms for our defence in a world conflict I will use all my experience to make sure we use diplomacy.
Anna Lorck: Your party will take GST off fruit and vegetables. That won’t apply to canned items. In the home of Wattie’s is that a concern for you?
What I do know from visiting Wattie’s the other day is that they were making frozen veges and packing those, and they will have no tax on them. In the heart of Hawke’s Bay, the produce-producing region, I think anything that makes us look at eating more fresh produce is a good thing. If I could have I would have looked at going further into exemptions for things like period products, because I think that is valuable too, in particular for women. I love being your local MP, I give it absolutely everything. And I’ll make it my mission to fight tooth and nail to get that hospital built. If that is the only thing I do as a local MP it’ll be worth it. That is what will save thousands of lives here in Hawke’s Bay. Nobody up here has fought for it like I have. I love Tukituki and I love Hawke’s Bay and I’ll fight for you.
Rob Hulman: You’ve owned a restaurant, how do we make it easier for hospitality to get reliable workers?
I’ve found that treating your staff well goes a long way to getting reliable workers. It’s like any industry, it has to be viewed as a viable career to get into and be in for a long time. NZ needs a turnaround from where we’re currently headed. Today all the major parties are singing the same song, in bed with the UN, WEF etc. They don’t care, all they want is your resources. We need to get back to sovereignty. Vote NZ Loyal.
Melanie Petrowski: What’s the single most important policy you can bring that will help Flaxmere thrive?
Youth crime - I don’t know if anyone has seen the fences around Hastings but there’s a lot of car-shaped holes in them. We need education, the kids just need some hope, spiritual hope. I think we’re just missing that spiritual aspect. We’re in a war actually, a psychological war, an everything war. Rob mentioned the UN, WEF and he’s right.
Catherine Wedd: Your party will ramp up evictions for anti-social Kāinga Ora tenants in Tukituki and across the country. Where will they go, and won’t the risk of crime increase if they’re thrown on the streets?
National is 100 per cent committed to addressing the housing crisis - we have over 4000 houses short here in Hastings. We just don’t think it’s fair that there’s 25,000 people on a waiting list yet we can have tenants in those houses that don’t respect their rights to a house, and we should put tenants in that do respect that. We’ll look at greenfields options in conjunction with councils (hecking from the audience). Yes we have got a housing crisis and we need to address that but we’ve also got a lot of bureaucracy that’s preventing those houses being built. I think there’s a really clear choice in this election between more economic mismanagement or a strong National Government. Two ticks blue to get this country back on track.
Rob Douglas: Act at its core believes in free-market principles and the Government taking a step back - it’s how the party can offer tax cuts. If a crippling drought hits Hawke’s Bay this summer, would an Act intervene to help those struggling?
Probably not. We would rely on the community of farmers around the country stepping up and providing donations and aid as they do so well. We have a great team of farmers including Andrew Hoggard and Mark Cameron representing our farmers and one thing the rural community always says is that they were quite pleased that the reforms of the 80s made our farming sector one of the most competitive in the world ... Taxing everything and subsidising everything is not the solution. Running New Zealand more efficiently is possible, we can do that, but you need to vote for it. We need to unite under one banner. We’re polling at 12 per cent, we need half a per cent more to get another Act MP in Hawke’s Bay. Party vote Act.
Nick Ratcliffe - Overseas investors are buying productive farmland in Hawke’s Bay to plant pine trees for carbon credits. What do you think of that and is there anything that should be done to stop it?
The emissions trading scheme picks up unavoidable carbon emissions. What we really need to do is reduce gross carbon emissions. Regarding foreign investment, is it consistent with Te Tiriti O Waitangi - that is the first question that needs to be asked of any policy in Aotearoa. The Green Party in various arrangements with Labour have done a great job running the country over the past six years. We’ve tackled climate change, brought in Fair Pay Agreements, what we need is a government with a green heart - the pace of change is too slow and we need to pick it up.
