7. JACQUI DEAN (National—Waitaki) Link to this
to the Minister of Agriculture
What measures has the Government recently taken to implement a fairer approach to high country pastoral leases?
Hon DAVID CARTER (Minister of Agriculture) Link to this
This week the Government announced a new system for setting the rents for South Island high country pastoral leases. The new approach will provide a fairer rent that is simpler to administer. It allows farmers to get on with the job of farming and looking after the high country, rather than fighting bureaucracy. No longer will farmers be charged extra just because their sheep have a view.
The new approach will see rents for Crown pastoral land based on the earning capacity of each farm. This is a major change from the current formula implemented by the previous Labour Government, which ignored income earning capacity and charged extra rent for views and amenity values.
Jo GoodhewI have seen reports welcoming the new approach as “fair”, “rational”, and “a refreshing contrast to recent times”. The most interesting, though, was a press release from the Labour agriculture spokesperson that called the Government’s policy a principled position and one that would be welcomed by farmers. This represents a huge flip-flop from Labour’s position when it was in Government, which ignored income earning capacity and caused immense emotional and financial stress to those farmers.
Hon Damien O’Connor Link to this
Given the projections in yesterday’s New Zealand Herald that sheep and beef farmers are on the way to extinction, and given his lack of leadership to fix the problem, does this mean that eventually the return to the Crown as the owner of this land may be zero, given the earning capacity calculation that he claims is so great?