The Country 13/10/25: Mark Cameron talks to Hamish McKay

Act MP and Northland farmer on the government's new methane reduction target. Is he pleased with it, and does it go far enough?

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Well, of course it is the big news, the big
news out of the weekend into the week the government
cutting the methane reduction target fourteen to twenty four percent.
Is the new aim below levels by twenty fifty. Of
course we talked now to act in Pete, Northland farmer
Mark Cameron. He's a busy man on the Lambert Mark.
Does this reduction You'll be pleased about it, but does

(00:22):
it go far enough?

Speaker 2 (00:24):
Well, the first part of the question, yes, I am,
I'm superstike guy. Sort of campaigned on this right back
in twenty haymous So I was super enthusiastic to see
finally be debated. Second part of the question, I'd love
to go further, to be quite frank, I mean, how
is it so that we found ourselves in a modern

(00:44):
society with all the problems that we now have, geopolitical
tensions around the world, not a lot of money in
the economy that we were going to tax, a natural
biological function of a bow line, or a rumor for
that manner in New Zealand. This is the story we
were and we are, And I just maintained a couple

(01:05):
of logical points with all the difficulties that we had Hams.
We want to be bloody clear about it, and I
don't think we were. It had to be small, it
had to be slight. It created an environment where we
saw farmers want to increase technological inputball but you know,
throughput to try and alleviate. Sorry, mate, I've just got

(01:27):
a silence dragon game fast to alleviate all of the
difficulties with methane. But one final remark from me, Hamers,
I just want to add before we carry on. New
Zealand is in a real pickle at the moment. There's
no bloody money there really isn't. I mean, in a
space of six years we see a sixty billion dollar

(01:48):
increase to our core crown, get accumulation of what basically
what keeps to keep the country operating. Now is the
question around methane ether one. I don't know. With all
the difficulties we are as a country now currently dealing with,
whatever we do and do has to be smart and

(02:10):
take practical, scientific, you know, acknowledgments going forward, otherwise we're
going backwards.

Speaker 1 (02:18):
Look and one of the reasons it really gets my
you know what and a twist mark is we were
the laughing stock because some other country were just simply
have picked up our production slack and continue to pollute
at a far greater rate than New Zealand.

Speaker 2 (02:33):
I always I found it fascinating to that very point,
amous that piety had a price and it was running around,
running out around the world. We saw Missouri Banking Alliance
and all that closed up after all manner of criticism
by me and others, saw the writing on the wall,
and now nestlik. So the real question is in the

(02:57):
world of all things climate change and methane and you know,
carbon emissions around the world, countries are pulling out for
all the all the obvious things that we know, and
that is a lack of money. There's certainly the western
democracies around the world that had signed up to all
this malarkey, as I call it. It's all very well

(03:18):
doing all these wonderful things, but if you've got no
money and you are hurting your constituents, that is really,
really dumb. And you know, the average conversation I have
with everyday New Zealanders as everything is too expensive and
life is difficult. Well, I just make a couple of points.
There's no point investing in all this climate change stuff.

(03:41):
When kiwis are grappling with the cost of milk Minson,
but so and onwards, we've just we've got to put
common sense back in the room.

Speaker 1 (03:49):
Yep. Now, at one point I will make Devil's advocates slightly.
It's still not a green light, is it? This reduction
to go all redneck and back off our best but
reasonable if it's to reduce methane.

Speaker 2 (04:00):
I think that will always be the case. But what
cames the real question here is what is the role government?
And I think it is a very limited one. Market
sends signals. They always have through you know, the very
existence of man and its entirety, and in any business
relations that we've ever had over over the over the
over the multiple generations, we always respond to a market

(04:23):
signal when there was when we responded to it. Consumers
tell the story. Now, if there's this growing narrative of
that that thou need to do because the market signal
is such, then the likes of Fonterra, in Nesle and
you know, and and all manner of corporate investment will

(04:44):
follow that signal, and so will have consumers well currently
and they're all just trying to make ends meet. And
I don't think that market signal is as grand or
as great as people have inferred. And I think with
the people that all around the western the world now
seen are pulling back of economic activity, it's hardly a

(05:05):
market signal. We will we as politicians need to be
overly worried about. I think about our poor job is
listening to our constituency and ups it to me and
certainly in my colleagues, everything's so bloody here.

Speaker 1 (05:19):
Yep, very good Mark. Will let you get back and
keep keep out of the way. That's silas wagon. And
then you've got to get your seat in the tie
on later and get to the capital, so we won't
keep you. Thank you very much for your time, all.

Speaker 2 (05:30):
God made from one farm to another farm.

Speaker 1 (05:32):
Yeah, exactly, very very astute, good man. Mark Cameron there
from up north heading to the capitol later on today