Federated Farmers: Return to election issues

Dr William Rolleston, president of Federated Farmers.

Election 2014 has so far been the most repelling and yet the most compelling election for some decades.

The only election which came close was the 2002 Corngate election.

At the centre of that election was a book Seeds of Distrust .

A bombshell dropped only weeks before the election which alleged a government cover-up of a crop containing genetically modified seeds.

Like now, the discussion of the policies and issues gave way to the suspicion the Prime Minister was donkey deep in a conspiracy.

Like now, it appeared to be an attempt to push the vote to the left. Sound familiar?

It should, since at the heart was author Nicky Hager.

The Corngate enquiry, run by the politicians through the Local Government and Environment Select Committee concluded that there was no ministerial interference in the decisions made by officials.

What the outcome of any enquiry is in 2014 will be for the future but it is clear to me that Nicky Hager takes facts and packages them in away which suits his conclusions.

Right wing commentator Mathew Hooton says he was mentioned twice in another of Nicky Hager's books The Hollow Men, and I was mentioned (indirectly) once.

In each of these cases the observations made in the book did not match the reality.

Added to this election is the regrettable hate politics introduced by the crowds at the Internet Mana meetings.

This sort of politics does not belong in New Zealand. Federated Farmers has long said that it doesn't matter who is in the government so long as they agree with Federated Farmers.

For this election it is clear that many parties do not agree with Federated Farmers - capital gains taxes, carbon taxes and resource rentals are on the menu and would significantly impact farmers.

Water, the environment, health and safety and the future of agricultural science are big issues for farmers in the next few years. Infrastructure such as rural roading, broadband and water storage are key to our future.

So this election matters and the sooner we get back to debating the issues the better.

Each election Federated Farmers publishes its manifesto. The manifesto is our chance to lay out the sort of New Zealand we would like to see and it is where we set out a template for our politicians to consider and follow.

I commend you to read it and use it to help compare the policies on offer from those parties seeking election.

By the way the Corngate affair resulted in a lower vote for those parties opposed to genetic modification, in particular the Greens. United Future was the kingmaker with the slogan "common sense".

Have you seen Winston's billboards? Perhaps he knew something when he chose to emulate his rival