S.M.P.s should be retained—farmers

Press, 11 March 1983, Page 1

S.M.P.s should be retained—farmers

Parliamentary reporter Farmers felt that supplementary minimum price support should be retained in its present form in the meantime, said the Prime Minister, Mr Muldoon, yesterday. The Cabinet would discuss whether any amendments should be made to the scheme, he said. Earlier this year, producer boards and Federated Farmers were asked for their views on retaining, amending or abolishing the scheme. Mr Muldoon said that he had yesterday morning received a letter from the president of the Federated Farmers, Mr W. R. Storey, and had heard in a general way from the producer boards. The caucus had also

spent a long time discussing S.MP.s. Overwhelmingly, the consensus was that there was nothing better than the present system of support in the meantime, he said. This did not rule out an initiative by the Cabinet, but the Government had pledged farm support for the coming season at no lower than the levels set last season. An announcement would be made “before too long.”

Federated Farmers’ response cleared up the “confused signal” that. had come from farmers in the last nine months about inadequacies in the scheme and the need for its abolition, Mr Muldoon said. He still expected to hear more from producer boards.

None had suggested any improvements to the scheme. Federated Farmers’ letter had touched on the effects of devaluation, but without any specific proposals. Any change made by the Government could come in two bites: an announcement of S.M.P. levels before the Budget — the usual course, to give farmers opportunity to make business decisions — and at Budget time as a changed subsidy rate on certain farm inputs. He did not rule out an increased level of S.MP.s. Ideas on “repositioning” the allocation of the same amount of money, had not been forthcoming. Mr- Muldoon said. He had hoped for some initiatives on redistributing the same total amount to different people.