Luxon, in his speech, said there was light showing at the end of the recessionary tunnel with several measures of inflation showing downward trends.
“Green shoots are just starting to take hold.”
He talked about the “exciting agenda” of enhancing and deepening international trade relationships.
He referenced the Government’s target to double the value of exports in the next 10 years, saying the primary sector would play a “crucial” role in achieving that.
Luxon claimed the previous Labour Government treated the primary sector as a “problem to be solved” and had launched a “war on farming”.
Water storage, building modern infrastructure and boosting trade were the key areas Luxon would focus on to enhance the primary sector.
On the environment, Luxon restated the commitment to New Zealand’s climate change goals and said it was important to reduce emissions, done through new technologies.
He touched on rural banking, after Finance Minister Nicola Willis today announced a select committee inquiry into rural banking. Luxon said he had heard how farmers often faced higher interest rates and had been pressured by banks at times.
Luxon, during his stand-up, said he had heard “time and time again” concerns about whether farmers were paying too high interest rates and the difficulty encountered while trying to borrow from banks. The Government today announced the banking inquiry, with a focus on rural lending.
Asked if New Zealand’s trade would be impacted if the country didn’t meet its emissions reduction targets, Luxon said New Zealand’s farmers were among the most efficient with respect to emissions. He has repeatedly stated he was committed to New Zealand’s targets.
Luxon said he was aware National MP Maureen Pugh had been a victim of an “attack” yesterday, which had been lodged with police.
He didn’t provide further comment, saying it was currently being investigated by police.
The ETS was introduced in 2008 under the Labour Government to reduce greenhouse gas emissions emitted by certain industries. The scheme puts a price on emissions, meaning certain sectors of the economy are charged for the greenhouse gases they emit.
The most recent Labour Government legislated to include agriculture in the scheme by 2025, but Tuesday’s announcement from the coalition Government stops that.
The Government also announced He Waka Eke Noa – a partnership between the Government, the industry and iwi – would be disbanded, saying the initiative was “no longer tenable”.
Mike King and Prime Minister Christopher Luxon meet at Fieldays in Hamilton. Photo / Mike Scott
A new initiative, the Pastoral Sector Group, would be established. Terms of reference for the group would be developed and agreed on by groups representing the sector, such as DairyNZ, Beef + Lamb New Zealand, Deer Industry New Zealand and Federated Farmers.
Labour was concerned the changes meant previous work on agricultural emissions was now redundant, meaning it was starting afresh and ultimately delaying decarbonising the economy.
“The longer we wait to decarbonise our economy, the more expensive it becomes and the bigger the damage to our industries and farming sectors in the long run,” Labour agriculture spokeswoman Jo Luxton said.
Director of the Climate and Energy Finance Group at the University of Otago, Dr Sebastian Gehricke, said “starting fresh after so many years of delay is preposterous”.
“He Waka Eke Noa proposals were inadequate and far from ambitious, so disestablishing that makes sense, but not if agricultural emissions are to not be priced at all,” Gehricke said.
“Is it more R&D we need or actual changes and incentives?”
