Resist Pirate Pete And His Labour Crew

Friday 29 Aug 2003 Gerry Eckhoff Press Releases -- Rural -- ACT Rural Website

ACT New Zealand Rural Affairs Spokesman Gerry Eckhoff today urged Fonterra and Meat New Zealand to stand firm against Labour pressure to fund methane gas emissions research, and labelled the Government move nothing more than a backdoor attempt to save face.

"There is absolutely no way in which a private consortium should succumb to Government pressure to fully fund this research. This is just a bare-faced attempt by Labour to impose the ridiculous Flatulence Tax through a different channel," Mr Eckhoff said.

"At the end of the day, it will still hit farmers in the back pocket. It is absolutely disgraceful that, one way or another, the Government is attempting to ensure that farmers pay the $8.4 million for this public good service - money which Labour can well afford to pay from the carbon credits it has already confiscated from farmers.

"After all, Labour has already allocated at least $40 million worth of these carbon credits to fund research projects into reducing Greenhouse gas emissions. Yet it refuses to fund any research conducted by the farming sector for the same purpose.

"The pressure that Labour is putting on farmers, Fonterra and Meat New Zealand show the Government is getting desperate - the hole it finds itself in is getting deeper by the day.

"Farmers and private consortiums must stand firm against Climate Control Convenor `Black' Pete Hodgson - as dubbed by the farming community. The Government can see the writing on the wall - if it continues, hell bent, on imposing this tax, it knows that it will suffer the inevitable electoral consequences," Mr Eckhoff said.

ENDS

For more information visit ACT online at http://www.act.org.nz or contact the ACT Parliamentary Office at act@parliament.govt.nz.

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