Federated Farmers Backs Securities Bill

Federated Farmers' newly-elected President Alistair Polson today backed the reworked Personal Property Securities Bill that was reported back to Parliament on Monday.

The bill provides for farmers to be able to register a security interest in stock or produce supplied to processing companies to help protect against non-payment in the event of a company's financial collapse.

Existing security law enables banks and other creditors to capture the value of unpaid-for stock and produce, and leaves farmers and other suppliers of goods and services unpaid.

"The Select Committee must be congratulated for this bill, which will allow farmers to negotiate better payment security arrangements over what is rightfully theirs when processors collapse," said Mr Polson.

"Federated Farmers argued that the original bill wrongly distinguished between processed inventory and unprocessed inventory. This would have had the effect of largely perpetuating the situation where farmers were locked out of retrieving payment for their stock or produce."

"Parliament must take the Select Committee's work and pass it through without amendment during the Committee stage. Farmers must be able to negotiate better protection for themselves and Federated Farmers will be watching for backsliding."

"Our work on this bill is an excellent example of the low-key but effective work that Federated Farmers carries out," concluded Mr Polson.

ENDS

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