Our work
A powerful voice
From the policy desk
By Nick Clark, General policy manager
If there is one thing that raises the ire of farmers it is bureaucracy and compliance. Every day Federated Farmers gets complaints about some law or another increasing on-farm costs or impairing property rights.
New Zealand has 780 primary Acts and 3,365 statutory regulations. The rate of legislative change is bewildering with the Government each year creating and amending around 105 Acts and 405 regulations, representing between 6,000 and 9,000 pages of new legislation. This doesn't include the raft of local government plans, policies and bylaws, many of which seem subject to constant change.
There is also a problem with quality. Businesses and farmers are concerned about the burden of regulation and the amount of change, and even officials concede that there are examples of legislation not meeting their intended objectives or having significant unintended consequences.
Past attempts by successive governments to improve the quality of regulation don't seem to have worked. Frustrated by this Federated Farmers has successfully lobbied the Government to introduce a Regulatory Standards Bill (RSB). The RSB was developed in 2009 by an expert Taskforce with the intention of improving the quality of regulation by setting out principles for responsible regulation and increasing the transparency of regulation-making. New legislation will have to be assessed against the principles through a certification process and the Courts will be given a role of being able to declare legislation incompatible with the principles, although the Courts won't be able to strike down legislation.
Not surprisingly the RSB has been attacked by those on the political left who fear it might make it harder to regulate but also by others who think it will fail to make a difference and will only increase uncertainty and cost. While acknowledging that the RSB is not perfect, Federated Farmers supports its intent and we particularly support the principle that property rights should not be taken or impaired without the payment of compensation.
Federated Farmers looks forward to the Bill's consideration by Select Committee and perhaps one day a reversal in the tide of bureaucracy and compliance.
Our policy teams work for you on three fronts
National policy
Tackling national issues which impact all farmers, such as trade, transport, climate change, water and economic policy. The general policy team deal with Government and officials.
To find out what the general policy team are working on, please click here.
To contact the general policy team, please click here.
Regional policy
The regional policy team benefits through submissions and representations to local and regional councils, reducing the regulatory burden and unnecessary costs on farming.
To find out what the regional policy team are working on, please click here.
To find out who works for your province, click here.
Industry policy
The industry group policy team works for superior outcomes for farmers across the Federation's seven industry groups: dairy, meat & fibre, bees, rural butchers, grains, high country and goats.
To find out what the industry group policy group is working on, please click here.
To find out what policy advisor represents your industry group, please click here.
What we're doing for you
Submissions
Federated Farmers provides a blog forum in order to seek feedback from farmers and non-farmers on submission and other policy documents. This forum is an opportunity for anyone interested to post their view on the issues listed.
To see what we are currently submitting on and to access the submission database, please click here.
Adverse Events & Drought
Federated Farmers plays an important role should adverse events/drought be declared. The Federation will work for members' in a number of areas:
- To monitor the situation at a local, provincial and national level
- Reactivation of the "0800 DROUGHT" line service
- Providing links through to support service providers
- Providing links to other organisations who publish drought related material useful to farmers.
Federated Farmers Manifesto
Federated Farmers manifesto covers farmers' ‘policy wants'. It clearly sets out what agriculture needs so it can continue to provide for the social, economic and environmental wellbeing of all New Zealanders.
