The Country
  • The Country home
  • Latest news
  • Audio & podcasts
  • Opinion
  • Dairy farming
  • Sheep & beef farming
  • Rural business
  • Rural technology
  • Rural life
  • Listen on iHeart radio

Subscriptions

  • Herald Premium
  • Viva Premium
  • The Listener
  • BusinessDesk

Sections

  • Latest news
  • Coast & Country News
  • Opinion
  • Dairy farming
  • Sheep & beef farming
  • Horticulture
  • Animal health
  • Rural business
  • Rural technology
  • Rural life

Media

  • Podcasts
  • Video

Weather

  • Kaitaia
  • Whāngarei
  • Dargaville
  • Auckland
  • Thames
  • Tauranga
  • Hamilton
  • Whakatāne
  • Rotorua
  • Tokoroa
  • Te Kuiti
  • Taumurunui
  • Taupō
  • Gisborne
  • New Plymouth
  • Napier
  • Hastings
  • Dannevirke
  • Whanganui
  • Palmerston North
  • Levin
  • Paraparaumu
  • Masterton
  • Wellington
  • Motueka
  • Nelson
  • Blenheim
  • Westport
  • Reefton
  • Kaikōura
  • Greymouth
  • Hokitika
  • Christchurch
  • Ashburton
  • Timaru
  • Wānaka
  • Oamaru
  • Queenstown
  • Dunedin
  • Gore
  • Invercargill

NZME Network

  • Advertise with NZME
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • BusinessDesk
  • Newstalk ZB
  • Sunlive
  • ZM
  • The Hits
  • Coast
  • Radio Hauraki
  • The Alternative Commentary Collective
  • Gold
  • Flava
  • iHeart Radio
  • Hokonui
  • Radio Wanaka
  • iHeartCountry New Zealand
  • Restaurant Hub
  • NZME Events

SubscribeSign In

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Home / The Country

Bill English challenged by farmers over stopping Labour and its proposed water tax

Isaac Davison
By Isaac Davison
Senior Reporter·NZ Herald·
12 Sep, 2017 03:27 AM3 mins to read

Subscribe to listen

Access to Herald Premium articles require a Premium subscription. Subscribe now to listen.
Already a subscriber?  

Listening to articles is free for open-access content—explore other articles or learn more about text-to-speech.
‌
Save
    Share this article
Bill English spoke to farmers at a meeting in Ashburton on Tuesday about Labour's water tax. Source: NZN/Struan Purdie

National leader Bill English has been challenged by farmers at a public meeting today to do more to stop Labour and its plans for a water tax.

English faced questions about what his party was doing to counter Labour's "populist" campaign following a speech to a National-friendly crowd in Ashburton.

The audience of around 200 included his wife Mary and son Bart, and the heads of farming and irrigation lobby groups. On every seat was a leaflet from Irrigation NZ which said "We don't support a water tax".

In a half-hour speech, English railed against Labour's "ridiculous" plan to charge a royalty on water and made a spirited defence of farmers' environmental initiatives.

He also accused Labour of deliberately creating an urban-rural divide to increase its vote, saying they were trying to tap into what they thought was an "anti-regions" feeling among voters.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

The speech was well-received by the audience at the Ashburton Events Centre, which was about two-thirds full. But supporters expressed clear frustration and fear in a question and answer session afterwards.

"You're talking to the converted here," said one woman in the audience.

"Labour are running a real populist campaign here ... It's a lolly scramble with Labour giving free education, free this, free that.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

"What's National doing to counter those simple messages and populist voting that Labour is working on at the moment?"

English was defensive in his response: "I know that actually solving a problem is a bit boring these days. And knowing what you're doing is fairly uninteresting and doesn't sound uplifting.

"We are just running on reality, on the facts."

Another member of the audience said National should "go on the attack" on the last weeks of the election campaign.

"If we are going to go down - and I hope we don't - that we go down fighting.

"Because I can assure you, I am not going to be happy about paying a water tax."

English responded: "We will do better than that. We are going to win fighting."

Ashburton would be one of the regions most affected by a water royalty because the farming industry is heavily dependent on irrigation.

Irrigation NZ chair Nikki Hyslop, whose organisation hosted the Ashburton event, said she was "frustrated" with the urban-rural divide which had developed in this election campaign.

Her organisation's leaflet warned that a water royalty would create new costs of $41 million a year in Canterbury and could lead farmers to intensify their farms to cover the higher costs.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

It cited a survey of its members which found 27 per cent of farmers would have to lay off staff or reduce their hours because of the new costs, and 40 per cent would need to increase their stock to pay for the water tax.

Save
    Share this article

Latest from The Country

The Country

Fonterra upgrades forecasts for 2025 season and current season

The Country

Sheep learns to navigate wheelchair with joystick

The Country
|Updated

Farmer's corny maze proposal takes romance to new heights


Sponsored

Farm plastic recycling: Getting it right saves cows, cash, and the planet

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Latest from The Country

Fonterra upgrades forecasts for 2025 season and current season
The Country

Fonterra upgrades forecasts for 2025 season and current season

Fonterra has upgraded its milk price milk price forecast to $10.15/kgMS.

20 Aug 11:16 PM
Sheep learns to navigate wheelchair with joystick
The Country

Sheep learns to navigate wheelchair with joystick

20 Aug 09:57 PM
Farmer's corny maze proposal takes romance to new heights
The Country
|Updated

Farmer's corny maze proposal takes romance to new heights

20 Aug 09:52 PM


Farm plastic recycling: Getting it right saves cows, cash, and the planet
Sponsored

Farm plastic recycling: Getting it right saves cows, cash, and the planet

10 Aug 09:12 PM
NZ Herald
  • About NZ Herald
  • Meet the journalists
  • Newsletters
  • Classifieds
  • Help & support
  • Contact us
  • House rules
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of use
  • Competition terms & conditions
  • Our use of AI
Subscriber Services
  • NZ Herald e-editions
  • Daily puzzles & quizzes
  • Manage your digital subscription
  • Manage your print subscription
  • Subscribe to the NZ Herald newspaper
  • Subscribe to Herald Premium
  • Gift a subscription
  • Subscriber FAQs
  • Subscription terms & conditions
  • Promotions and subscriber benefits
NZME Network
  • The New Zealand Herald
  • The Northland Age
  • The Northern Advocate
  • Waikato Herald
  • Bay of Plenty Times
  • Rotorua Daily Post
  • Hawke's Bay Today
  • Whanganui Chronicle
  • Viva
  • NZ Listener
  • Newstalk ZB
  • BusinessDesk
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • iHeart Radio
  • Restaurant Hub
NZME
  • About NZME
  • NZME careers
  • Advertise with NZME
  • Digital self-service advertising
  • Book your classified ad
  • Photo sales
  • NZME Events
  • © Copyright 2025 NZME Publishing Limited
TOP