Frustrated by the rush

I have been meeting face to face with growers over the past few weeks, and my visits continue until the end of November.

At the same time, the Government is accelerating its overly ambitious reform programme, given that it is now less than a year to the General Election in 2023 and because, come June-July next year, the focus will be on campaigning rather than the general business of government. 

All the growers I have met have expressed a similar sentiment. They are frustrated – and that was before the Resource Management Act (RMA) reforms moved forward yesterday, with the release of draft legislation to replace the RMA.   

What growers are seeing does not make sense. On the one hand, horticulture offers the country numerous solutions in a move to food security and a low emissions economy. But on the other hand, the land available to horticulture is shrinking in size and growers are ploughing in lettuces because they can’t get staff. 

What’s coming out of the Government at the moment doesn’t align, when you stand back and look at the big picture. Some policy decisions and proposals have merit but are flawed because the consultation was or is being rushed or lacks transparency.

For example, with the RMA reforms, we have repeatedly asked for food security to be given priority alongside support for the country’s development. However, our repeated advocacy once again appears to have been ignored with food security removed from the draft legislation to replace the RMA. 

Grower concerns essentially come down to two big ticket items: one, labour and two, the environment, including land, water and emissions. In both areas, a lot is happening as this Government tries to finish its reform programme before June-July 2023. But in the rush, the number of mistakes being made are so numerous that you begin to wonder whether it is a ‘cock up or conspiracy?’ situation. 

Like our industry, the Government sector is short of labour. For the Government, this results in people new to portfolios and therefore, limited institutional knowledge being asked to complete quite massive reform – reform that will have impact for more than a decade. 

To help improve this situation, the horticulture industry is doing all it can to get officials into the field, so they can understand firsthand the challenges and can see firsthand why some of the solutions proposed won’t work. But some government departments seem reluctant to engage or, is it just because they don’t have the time, given the volume of reform and the tight timeframes? Either way, this is an unacceptable situation and will result in outcomes that are not good for horticulture and could have been avoided. 

The RMA is more than 30 years old and has been amended just about as many times. All political parties agree the RMA needs changing and has not been fit for purpose. What we’d like the current Government to do is learn from this lesson. Slow down and listen, so that reform delivers for New Zealand in areas such as food security and employment relations. This way, key industries such as ours will be able to become sustainable in the full sense of the word: environmentally, economically and ethically.