Minister angry with farmers

Press, 24 July 1987, Page 3

Minister angry with farmers

By

OLIVER RIDDELL

in Wellington

The Minister of Agriculture, Mr Moyle, gave an angry speech to the annual conference of Federated Farmers in Wellington yesterday. He was stung by the strong criticism of the Labour Government’s policies by the retiring president of the Federation, Mr Peter Elworthy, two days earlier. Mr Elworthy had accused the Government of ignorance and mulishness, but Mr Moyle said tht after 25 years as a politician and a long association with Federated Farmers he knew these qualities were not confined to politicians of the Parliamentary variety.

“If you farmers genuinely think that there has been less pain felt in manufacturing than in farming, you should ask yourselves how many fanners have been forced to walk off their farms, and compare that with the effects of the closedown of just one medium-sized business,” he said. Farmers had said they did not want “weasel words” but they had nearly nine years of weasel words and interventionist policies that had led them ’straight up the garden path.” The end of that had been utter disillusionment, Mr Moyle said, ang» the discovery .by

they were held in contempt by their fellow New Zealanders, labelled “whiners and grizzlers.”

That label had been stuck on what was still the country’s greatest industry and its single biggest export earner. Farming still earned 60 per cent of the country’s overseas funds in spite of lower prices and a difficult marketing scene.

The Government did not accept the federation’s "continuing gripe” that farmers had i\ad all their props removed and manufacturers had been left untouched, Mr Moyle said.

Tax changes and economic restructuring had hurt manufacturing too. Temporary exchange and interest rate pressures were a necessary part of getting down inflation — there was no gain without pain.

“The fact is that we have gone further than any Government in our history,” he said. Now, New Zealand was three years down the track on the implementation of a five-year plan.

The Government did not intend to deviate from that direction, Mr Moyle said. Everyone would have liked to see better progress, especially on interest rates and inflation.

But any deviation now ' would only prolong the pain and impede even further the essential changes that had to be made.