Groundswell NZ stays mum on future protests
Watch this space. That’s the message from Groundswell NZ founding member Bryce McKenzie after the group’s nationwide protests on Friday, when farmers, tradies and contractors gridlocked towns and cities.
There were 57 protests held around the country to protest against the Government’s new farming regulations, which the group say are unworkable.
At the protests, the group gave the Government a month to listen to farmers and work towards an acceptable outcome, or further action would be taken. ‘‘We’ve given the Government a month, so we have to honour that, so we can’t start making plans until after August 15,’’ he said. ‘‘There is work going on in the background, and we have people working on a few things.’’
On Friday night, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern went on social media to talk about the protests. It was important that the country stuck to the commitments it had made on freshwater and climate change, which would help New Zealand maintain the value of its exports, she said.
‘‘My commitment is that we will keep working together ... we’ll keep listening on things like the pressure on our borders around workers, we’ve given already an allocation to dairy farmworkers, and today you would have seen that we announced an extension for our workforce who are already here, our essential work visa holders.’’
McKenzie said the Government had not been working with farmers. ‘‘She can’t possibly be working with farmers – if she was, Friday would not have happened’’
Groundswell NZ is not opposed to improving freshwater quality or sustainable land use, but it wants the Government to scrap its freshwater policies and leave regional councils and catchment groups to work on improving freshwater. It also wants the Government’s National Policy Statement for Indigenous Biodiversity, and the mapping of significant natural areas to be scrapped, as well as the new fuel tax on utes, because farmers and tradespeople do not have an alternative lowemission vehicle to use for work.