Hon David Carter MP National Agriculture Spokesman

14 August 2003

Private property rights deserve respect

National Party Agriculture spokesman David Carter is calling on the Government to respect private property rights as it invites submissions on the recently released Public Access Report.

"Private property rights are sacrosanct.

"Most farmers have invested everything they own in their land and they deserve to be able to exercise their rights of private ownership," says Mr Carter.

"I respect New Zealand's intrinsic attachment to the Queen's Chain, and the vast majority of farmers have been providing access through their properties without cost for more than a century.

"But the Government can not trample over private property rights as it attempts to confuse the public about a quite separate debate on the future ownership of our beaches and seabed," says Mr Carter.

"Two wrongs in this case, do not make it right.

"The National Party believes in ownership and land owners must be properly consulted and compensated if their legally established private property rights are compromised," Mr Carter says.

"Labour is showing time and time again that it is no friend of the farming sector.

"Along with its 17 new taxes and the proposed flatulence tax, the rural sector's being used as a convenient whipping boy for the Government's ideologically driven agenda," Mr Carter says.

"On the access issue, farmers are again being painted as the villains for the sake of political expedience.

"Farmers deserve better than that - they deserve a fair go," says Mr Carter.

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