Rt Hon Winston Peters

New Zealand First Leader

Member of Parliament for Northland
16 JULY 2015

Global Dairy Price Fall Catches National Fiddling

New Zealand First Leader and former Treasurer, the Rt Hon Winston Peters, believes the New Zealand economy risks falling back into recession.

“When will the economic troika of Messrs Key, English and Joyce, finally understand that the economy faces more than a head-wind but a full blown cyclone?” asks Mr Peters.

“Not only is another downwards revision in the farmgate milk price highly likely, but over 500 Fonterra staff are paying the price for failures in senior management and at the Board table. With calving underway, especially in Northland, this will hurt many farmers and their families.

“It is economic chicanery to excuse the risk with, ‘dairy is a small part of the overall economy,’ when one in five exports are dairy. The reality the public need to understand is this; no exports, no economy, and lamb will follow dairy due to major Chinese destocking.

“Having predicted this, New Zealand First calls on the government to talk to us on bipartisan measures. Being a former Minister of Foreign Affairs, I start by urging the government to turn its remaining presidency of the UN’s Security Council to the Russia-Ukraine crisis.

“Disruption in global markets exasperates falling Chinese demands. New Zealand First further urges National to:

• Use funds to introduce concessional loans for farmers just like Tony Abbot’s Australian government is doing

• Adopt New Zealand First’s Receiverships (Agricultural Debt Mediation) Amendment Bill

• Replace Provisional Tax with New Zealand First’s Business P.A.Y.E policy

• Adopt New Zealand First’s Land Transfer (Foreign Ownership of Land Register) Amendment Bill before a Tsunami of foreign cash arrives

• Increase funding to all Rural Support Trusts and enable them to get people on the road proactively visiting farmers, especially younger farmers and sharemilkers

• Urgently increase NZTE’s overseas market development to boost demand for our exports instead of having all of our cows in the one Chinese paddock.

“National needs to take action to prevent a significant part of our export economy from burning,” says Mr Peters.

ENDS

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