Farmers hatch a Fish & Game plan
If you can’t beat them, join them – and then beat them.
That appears to be the approach being adopted by Federated Farmers as it encourages members to get elected onto Fish & Game’s 12 regional councils. The farming organisation has sent out a message to its members urging them to ‘‘consider the value of what they could bring to a role with Fish & Game’’.
Fish & Game has been a thorn in the side of dairy farming since it coined the phrase ‘‘dirty dairying’’ in the early 2000s, and has not relented in its criticism.
Feds president Katie Milne said it was her suggestion to get farmers on the councils.
‘‘I saw the elections were due and I said ‘here’s an opportunity’.
‘‘A lot of farmers are licence holders and enjoy hunting and fishing. It’s right at a time when farmers are very busy and they might not have seen it.’’
‘‘We think rural people should be represented wherever they can be on their councils because we’re a big part of the community, and it’s only fair and right they get their voices heard.
‘‘Otherwise councils can be very town-centric, it’s very important we have broad representation,’’ Milne said.
Fish & Game chief executive Martin Taylor said the idea seemed to be to get less progressive farmers on the councils ‘‘in order to stop Fish & Game pointing out that the intensive farming emperor has no clothes’’.
‘‘Once on the councils, intensive farming advocates can then shut Fish & Game down and sweep the whole fuss under the carpet – nothing to see here, move on – allowing that sector to go on resisting change and polluting the environment, free from criticism,’’ he wrote in an editorial to appear in the organisation’s next magazine.
He accused Feds of taking control of regional and district councils, such as Horizons.
He pointed out it was a statutory organisation with more than 100,000 licence holders. It had been established by Parliament under legislation requiring Fish & Game to protect the environment and was under the scrutiny of a Government minister.
‘‘So, there is little chance of farmers fulfilling their dreams of taking over Fish & Game, shutting it up and ignoring laws requiring the organisation to protect the environment,’’ Taylor said.
Milne said farmers had been very co-operative over access to hunters and fishers, but warned they might not continue to be so.
‘‘They might say ‘no, stuff it, that organisation isn’t doing the best by farmers’.’’
People can run for a position or be on the roll if they hold a current full season fishing or game-bird hunting licence. Voting closes at 5pm on October 5 and the winners should be known on October 20.