June 11, 2025 • 4 mins
Labour's leader says he's had a positive reception at Fieldays, and discusses his party's as yet unannounced agriculture policy. Plus, would he take agriculture out of the ETS?
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Chris Hipkins, Labor leader, leader of the Opposition. What sort
of reception are you getting here at field days, Chris?
Because it'll be fair today, then fair to say. Should
I say the nats are absolutely swarming this is their
home patch? Well?
Speaker 2 (00:13):
Yeah, I mean, look, you know, I think we still
get a lot of support from rural communities and the
reception has been really positive. Farmers, even those who don't
vote for us, and there's a lot of them, still
generally pretty appreciative of the fact that we hear.
Speaker 1 (00:27):
Do you get any grief while you're wandering around? And
the reason I ask you that I was at the dinner,
the Rural Support Trust inner last night and I was
sitting on the table beside one of Christopher Luxon's security people,
and he was here about two or three years ago
when Jacinda copped all that grief completely wrongly and absolutely
showing no respect for the office of Prime minister, whether
you like the Prime minister or not. Do you get
(00:49):
any of that grief?
Speaker 2 (00:50):
No, it's been pretty great, actually, I mean generally speaking,
like I said, even people who disagree with you will
come up and they're still pretty respectful and that's really good.
Speaker 1 (00:57):
Good to see Labor spokespist and Joe Luxton here. Hello Joe,
But when you and I say this to her all
the time, and she says to just be patient, But
when are you guys going to come out with some
agg policy.
Speaker 2 (01:09):
You'll see agriculture policy from Labor probably early next year.
The reason that we're not doing it now is we
are reviewing a lot of our agriculture policy and we
want to make sure that we're keeping up with what
the government are doing. We're not going to cancel things
that they're doing that are sensible that we agree with.
So as they announce new stuff, if it's sensible, if
we agree with it, then we'll continue with that. So
(01:30):
probably early next year you'll see some clear assigns from
us about things that we might do differently.
Speaker 1 (01:35):
Well, the government has taken agriculture out of the ETS,
so you're going to follow suit. There is that a
sensible policy.
Speaker 2 (01:41):
So that's one of the things that we've gone under
review at the moment is issues around climate change and farming,
and there's a lot of active discussion around methane, the
difference where the methane should be treated differently to carbon.
So we're following the science there pretty closely, and we've
had a lot of discussion with the farming community about that.
Speaker 1 (02:00):
If you want to win the treasury benches, you've got
a couple of problems to party Mari and the Greens
in my mind, but anyhow, that's just me. The other
thing is you're not going to convince the primary sector.
I don't think to vote for a center left government.
Speaker 2 (02:13):
I think the reality is, regardless of who you vote for,
the government of the day needs to have a working
relationship with the primary sector. Even if there are plenty
of people in the primary sector who vote a different way.
If there's a labor government or government led by labor,
we've still got to have a positive working relationship, and
I think we can do that. So, you know, I've
always been realistic in my engagement with the farming community
(02:35):
around you know, whether or not we're here to get votes,
were certainly here to generate good will so that we
can work together.
Speaker 1 (02:40):
When you took over from Jacinda Ardn in what early
twenty twenty three, wasn't it Yeah, after her shock resignation,
it was for a lot of us. Anyhow, you came
out and openly said that labor had made the labor
government had made a lot of mistakes when it came
to dealing with agriculture.
Speaker 2 (02:57):
Yeah, I don't think we had the strength of relationships
that you need to have. And again, I'm realistic about
the fact that you have to work with people who
you disagree with, and you have to work with people
who don't necessarily vote for you, But you've got to
have a good working relationship. And I think by the
beginning of twenty twenty three, it's clear that our working
relationship with the primary sector wasn't where we needed it
to be.
Speaker 1 (03:15):
Is that why you're seeing Joe out there? Because she's nice?
Speaker 2 (03:17):
I think Joe's been very, very well received by the
farming community.
Speaker 1 (03:20):
Well, Damien was like a red rag to a ball. Well.
Speaker 2 (03:25):
Look and actually Damien is here at Field Days two
and still has a great relationship across the primary sector
as well. And you know, a lot of the you know,
meeting people here at Field Days, they say, look, we
see Damien here every year. He's been coming every year
for twenty plus years and they do appreciate that.
Speaker 1 (03:41):
Okay, the final question for you, and hopefully you heard
Ray Smith and Miles Hurrell talking nearly sixty billion dollars
from the primary sector. We are in an economic hole.
The only way out. You might argue otherwise, but a
lot of us think the only way out is these
guys the primary sector. Do you buy into that, well, I.
Speaker 2 (03:59):
Think, well, certainly the primary sector is critical to New
Zealand's economy, but we've also got to recognize that the
primary sector is going to go through significant change in
the next couple of decades, whether we like it or not.
So following the science is really really important. I'm off
to Denmark over the weekend to look at what they're
doing there because the food technology around the world is
(04:19):
changing the nature of farming and we've got to make
sure in New Zealand that we're keeping up with that.
The last thing we want is for the Golden Goose,
our primary sector, to get left behind. So we've got
to make sure we're keeping up with science. We're going
to make sure we're keeping up with technology and innovation,
and I do think that government needs to partner with
the primary sector to make sure that happens.
Speaker 1 (04:37):
Okay, Chris Hipkins, thank you very much for your time.
I appreciate it. There we go, Chris Hipkins labor later
Chris Hipkins, Labor leader, leader of the Opposition. What sort
of reception are you getting here at field days, Chris?
Because it'll be fair today, then fair to say. Should
I say the nats are absolutely swarming this is their
home patch? Well?
Speaker 2 (00:13):
Yeah, I mean, look, you know, I think we still
get a lot of support from rural communities and the
reception has been really positive. Farmers, even those who don't
vote for us, and there's a lot of them, still
generally pretty appreciative of the fact that we hear.
Speaker 1 (00:27):
Do you get any grief while you're wandering around? And
the reason I ask you that I was at the dinner,
the Rural Support Trust inner last night and I was
sitting on the table beside one of Christopher Luxon's security people,
and he was here about two or three years ago
when Jacinda copped all that grief completely wrongly and absolutely
showing no respect for the office of Prime minister, whether
you like the Prime minister or not. Do you get
(00:49):
any of that grief?
Speaker 2 (00:50):
No, it's been pretty great, actually, I mean generally speaking,
like I said, even people who disagree with you will
come up and they're still pretty respectful and that's really good.
Speaker 1 (00:57):
Good to see Labor spokespist and Joe Luxton here. Hello Joe,
But when you and I say this to her all
the time, and she says to just be patient, But
when are you guys going to come out with some
agg policy.
Speaker 2 (01:09):
You'll see agriculture policy from Labor probably early next year.
The reason that we're not doing it now is we
are reviewing a lot of our agriculture policy and we
want to make sure that we're keeping up with what
the government are doing. We're not going to cancel things
that they're doing that are sensible that we agree with.
So as they announce new stuff, if it's sensible, if
we agree with it, then we'll continue with that. So
(01:30):
probably early next year you'll see some clear assigns from
us about things that we might do differently.
Speaker 1 (01:35):
Well, the government has taken agriculture out of the ETS,
so you're going to follow suit. There is that a
sensible policy.
Speaker 2 (01:41):
So that's one of the things that we've gone under
review at the moment is issues around climate change and farming,
and there's a lot of active discussion around methane, the
difference where the methane should be treated differently to carbon.
So we're following the science there pretty closely, and we've
had a lot of discussion with the farming community about that.
Speaker 1 (02:00):
If you want to win the treasury benches, you've got
a couple of problems to party Mari and the Greens
in my mind, but anyhow, that's just me. The other
thing is you're not going to convince the primary sector.
I don't think to vote for a center left government.
Speaker 2 (02:13):
I think the reality is, regardless of who you vote for,
the government of the day needs to have a working
relationship with the primary sector. Even if there are plenty
of people in the primary sector who vote a different way.
If there's a labor government or government led by labor,
we've still got to have a positive working relationship, and
I think we can do that. So, you know, I've
always been realistic in my engagement with the farming community
(02:35):
around you know, whether or not we're here to get votes,
were certainly here to generate good will so that we
can work together.
Speaker 1 (02:40):
When you took over from Jacinda Ardn in what early
twenty twenty three, wasn't it Yeah, after her shock resignation,
it was for a lot of us. Anyhow, you came
out and openly said that labor had made the labor
government had made a lot of mistakes when it came
to dealing with agriculture.
Speaker 2 (02:57):
Yeah, I don't think we had the strength of relationships
that you need to have. And again, I'm realistic about
the fact that you have to work with people who
you disagree with, and you have to work with people
who don't necessarily vote for you, But you've got to
have a good working relationship. And I think by the
beginning of twenty twenty three, it's clear that our working
relationship with the primary sector wasn't where we needed it
to be.
Speaker 1 (03:15):
Is that why you're seeing Joe out there? Because she's nice?
Speaker 2 (03:17):
I think Joe's been very, very well received by the
farming community.
Speaker 1 (03:20):
Well, Damien was like a red rag to a ball. Well.
Speaker 2 (03:25):
Look and actually Damien is here at Field Days two
and still has a great relationship across the primary sector
as well. And you know, a lot of the you know,
meeting people here at Field Days, they say, look, we
see Damien here every year. He's been coming every year
for twenty plus years and they do appreciate that.
Speaker 1 (03:41):
Okay, the final question for you, and hopefully you heard
Ray Smith and Miles Hurrell talking nearly sixty billion dollars
from the primary sector. We are in an economic hole.
The only way out. You might argue otherwise, but a
lot of us think the only way out is these
guys the primary sector. Do you buy into that, well, I.
Speaker 2 (03:59):
Think, well, certainly the primary sector is critical to New
Zealand's economy, but we've also got to recognize that the
primary sector is going to go through significant change in
the next couple of decades, whether we like it or not.
So following the science is really really important. I'm off
to Denmark over the weekend to look at what they're
doing there because the food technology around the world is
(04:19):
changing the nature of farming and we've got to make
sure in New Zealand that we're keeping up with that.
The last thing we want is for the Golden Goose,
our primary sector, to get left behind. So we've got
to make sure we're keeping up with science. We're going
to make sure we're keeping up with technology and innovation,
and I do think that government needs to partner with
the primary sector to make sure that happens.
Speaker 1 (04:37):
Okay, Chris Hipkins, thank you very much for your time.
I appreciate it. There we go, Chris Hipkins labor later
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