So what responsibility do you take for incentivising pine conversions on valuable agricultural land?

When we were in government with New Zealand First, Shane Jones was very, very hot on the Billion Pine Tree Programme.

And so I think that he has something to answer.

He has questions to answer there as well.

When we were also in government, we made changes to the Overseas Investment Office where people that wanted to invest in forestry had to prove a benefit to New Zealand.

The current government has loosened that in 2025.

In 2023 we also handed it to communities to have a say in whether they agreed with conversions or not.

better support these sorts of communities facing job losses of this nature?

person to

text.

Local communities are the best to know what they need.

And we're all about devolving decision-making to the local community because that is where you are going to get the best decisions about what your needs are.

At the same time, we need to have a serious ability at a central government level to pay for the infrastructure gaps.

Because what this government did is they put all of the responsibility but none of the money on those local councils to pay for massive infrastructure deficits we have in our fresh water, and our sewerage systems and lots of our infrastructure.

They're not fixing the potholes in the roads.

No, no. I'd rather be standing beside him than you.

So those are questions that I want answered.

Yeah, and they will be answered in due course, Jamie, I promise you.

The manifesto will be coming out soon, but it's not different to any other election cycle.

Often policies aren't released until the campaign proper period.

You know, it's not too dissimilar to other campaigns where we haven't released policy yet.

And we haven't released all policy yet either.

I mean, there's been several policies that have announced, you know, small business policy is a really great policy.

It's a really great policy unless you want to buy some new plant or equipment.

So those are questions that I want answered.

Yeah, and they will be answered in due course, Jamie, I promise you.

The manifesto will be coming out soon, but it's not different to any other election cycle.

Often policies aren't released until the campaign proper period.

You know, it's not too dissimilar to other campaigns where we haven't released policy yet.

And we haven't released all policy yet either.

I mean, there's been several policies that have announced, you know, small business policy is a really great policy.

It's a really great policy unless you want to buy some new plant or equipment.

So those are questions that I want answered.

Yeah, Andy, they will be answered in due course, Jamie, I promise you.

The manifesto will be coming out soon, but it's not different to any other election cycle.

Often policies aren't released until the campaign proper period.

You know, it's not too dissimilar to other campaigns where we haven't released policy yet.

And we haven't released all policy yet either.

I mean, there's been several policies that have announced, you know, small business policy is a really great policy.

It's a really great policy unless you want to buy some new plant or equipment.

In the past, particularly around the dirty dairying, around the fresh water, all of that sort of stuff, got a little bit antagonistic, but it seems to have gone away.

It's interesting that you make that point and thinking on that, you probably are right.

I remember when we were dairy farming back in 96 and it was really frowned upon back then even.

But I think the public are seeing all the great things that are happening on farm and the things that farmers are doing around fencing up their waterways or riparian planting.

And just wanting to do the best.

I mean, no farmer goes out there and farms to destroy their land, do they? No.

No, they don't.

I mean, I've only asked that four times in this one interview.

Because your mate, David Parker, was gonna shut down 20% of the sheep and beef farms in this country, right?

We- we've been listening, and we've heard, we've heard the, um, the issues and the concerns that the farmers had around that time, yeah, that time, uh, and, and we've listened to that.

Uh, so our policies will be quite different to the, to the policies that were in place when we were in government last.

Did you hear the prime minister this morning?

No, no, I wasn't here for the prime minister's, uh, speech this morning.

But look, I think the mood is really buoyant.

Farmers are feeling really good at the moment, and rightly so.

You know, the SOP outlook is, was, uh, really great, and, and it's gonna continue to, to increase, and, you know, we've got the India free trade deal and all that.

Because your mate, David Parker, was gonna shut down 20% of the sheep and beef farms in this country, right?

We- we've been listening, and we've heard, we've heard the, um, the issues and the concerns that the farmers had around that time, yeah, that time, uh, and, and we've listened to that.

Uh, so our policies will be quite different to the, to the policies that were in place when we were in government last.

Did you hear the prime minister this morning?

No.

No, I wasn't here for the prime minister's, uh, speech this morning.

But look, I think the mood is really buoyant.

Farmers are feeling really good at the moment, and rightly so.

Where's Labour sitting

on that? Where are you guys sitting on that? So, we're part of this, well, I'm on the select committee, the primary production select committee, and we've been having some conversations about that.

as a committee as well, and I think we might look to get some more information on it.

The Labour Party, obviously, these companies are privately owned, so you can't tell them what to do necessarily, but we are very concerned for our growers here in New Zealand, that they're not going to have somewhere to send their produce to.

and you and we know that that uh that the peas and legumes are an important part of that rotation in the arable cycle of farming so we do share some concerns around that so we're just going to wait and sort of see what pans out here as far as this bid by the farmers go see if

And I just thought I might ask you, you know, what your thoughts

are on that.

Absolutely.