Rural Landowners Must Stand Up and Fight

Monday 9 Sep 2002 Gerry Eckhoff Press Releases -- Rural

Rural landowners should be putting five percent of their taxable income aside to fight against district plans and abuse of property rights, ACT Rural Affairs Spokesman Gerry Eckhoff said today.

"Far too many farmers and affected rural landowners stand back and hope somebody else or Federated Farmers will attempt to claw back restrictions being placed over their properties.

"The passive attitude adopted by farmers must have given great comfort to the environmental movement.

"Federated Farmers' `fighting fund' should be full to over-flowing as most farmers have enjoyed good prices for their product. If we are not prepared to use a little of our income to support those who are being targeted by the eco-fundamentalists, we can not complain when councils place even greater controls over our own land's use.

"Rural New Zealand could learn a lot about campaigning from the teacher's union. We must fight on a much broader and united platform if we want to stop rural New Zealand being turned into a museum piece," Mr Eckhoff said.

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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