Nobody, least of all the farmers of this country, should be surprised by the government announcement this week of their immoral plan to drastically reduce the nation’s green house gas emissions for no other reason than the pursuit of a debatable objective that has been abandoned in almost all of the original IPCC supporting countries throughout the western world. Note we don’t include the major polluters of the world who also signed the Paris and Glasgow agreements while having no real intention of participating in this flawed response to the latest round of global warming.
However, one might have expected that the recent rejection of similar targets forced on many of Europe’s leading proponents of the GHG reduction agreements would have given our government some breathing space in order to reappraise our own situation. But no, we appear no longer part of the commonwealth of nations who reluctantly recognise a pragmatic approach to ensuring the lights don’t go out is not only a matter of choice but certainly one of necessity.
In many countries, governments no longer enjoy the luxury of promoting policy based on idealogical persuasion -instead it has become one of immediate survival, both politically and physically.
Nothing forces politicians to do the proverbial back flip more, even when dealing with policies that have been regarded as sacrosanct when times allowed flexibility of choice, than being subjected to the reality of a rapidly changing world.
Yet here in little old New Zealand, our government is so driven by its own death wish that it is willing to kill the beating heart that has made us the utopian dreamland where everyone wants to be.
Not for them recognition of an opportunity to stand back unaffected by the waring factions that currently impact virtually all western democracies and discuss a more workable solution that will not cause unnecessary disruption to our major industry.
It can be done and farmers l know are more than willing to play their part in reducing the nation’s GHG emissions but can see no reason why they should be singled out to carry the can for decisions and policies that will in some cases destroy their livelihood.
Two things are clear from today’s announcement.
The government has not been honest in its discussions with farmers.
During recent debates here on the East Coast, we had cabinet ministers pretending they didn’t support the sale of large chunks of our best grazing land to forestry interests . We were told that it was a mistake that had slipped through under the radar.
Apart from this “quissling” like approach to farmer protest, we now know that these liars actually wanted the sale of this premier farm land to non resident forestry owners to progress because it would add much needed acreage to the total area going into trees - especially when you compare the different (plant) stocking rate on this top quality rolling land to the other alternative - class 7 marginal hill country.
It tries to justify the 20% reduction of sheep and beef farmers productive capacity with the assumption that the current world prices for our sheep and beef exports will be sustainable at their present levels.
This tax on production (for want of a better term) rather than income will become a real threat to many farmers viability when things turn sour as they have a habit of doing.
In reality, that change in farming fortunes will have one very big negative effect - more quality farms going into trees with the attendant destruction of rural servicing communities.
But that is obviously the end result of this duplicitous policy.
It is regrettable that farmer negotiators have not enjoyed the confidence of their political masters during these discussions.
Hopefully the National party will show some spine and commit to scrubbing this policy when they become the government.
Unfortunately, given their non-committal to change following today’s announcement, we just have to live in hope.
Sadly, that won’t be nearly enough.
Clive Bibby is a commentator, consultant, farmer and community leader, who lives in Tolaga Bay.
5 comments:
I am pleased to note a National Party announcement a short time ago, hopefully in response to the overwhelming rejection of the plan, that they intend repealing any legislation confirming the current proposal as law.
That’s a good start but it will be only one of a number of repeals the should be committed to - three waters, seperate health boards, Maori wards, revised National history curriculum etc, to name a few.
Is the mania for pines just another indication of the controlling influence of maori? A few months ago the govt was opposed to more pines but maori complained. They have at last discovered a way to milk maori land without the tedium of huge effort as the colonists applied. If we get any sort of pine disease, or when fires inevitably sweep the countryside, sorting out the credit refunds will be fraught.
I would not be surprised to see another u-turn on this policy. At the very least we need to protest long and loud and even try to get the date pushed out. That would give time for farmers to push back and with a new government next year we can all rest easier.
MC
I believe now, it is well beyond any reasonable doubt that the project this government is utterly committed to is the complete destruction of the New Zealand economy, culture and democratic process. Yet still the naivete of its citizens combined with a deplorable and treasonous MSM.
This government remains in office.
How can this situation continue.
Please remember ACT were the only party to vote against this ludicrous Zero Carbon et al . National voted for Zero Carbon and still support the hair brained insinuation about global man made warming and the ridiculous supposedly catastrophic sea level rise.
National has to gain some credibility. National have to STOP speaking rubbish , continually relying on dubious expert reports and show our nation practical facts that stand alone without computer data and reports . ie
Which wharf in a NZ port is being threatened by inundation?
Does native forest use photosynthesis in growing ?
Is grass farming a natural process of photosynthesis?
Does the Paris Accord have any relevance to NZ now that the principles have been ignored ?
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