The Country 15/07/26: Jane Smith talks to Jamie Mackay

A North Otago farmer and award-winning environmentalist has plenty to say about climate change, methane, Top and the colourful candidates in the Waitaki electorate. 

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
She's a North Otago farmer. You never die wondering what
she thinks. Jane Smith joins us on the country. Jane,
I want to start with the weather. The east coast
of both islands has taken a real hammering in the
past couple of weeks. How did you fair in North
Otago where you're farming, because I know I'm a ruin.
We're going there shortly with Jim Hopkins. Took a bit
of a pummeling.

Speaker 2 (00:20):
Good afternoon, Jamie. Yeah, it was very coastal that rain,
so we only we only received two lots of thirty
mills here and a weave at of snow at the
back of the farm, so nothing really to see here
at all. And of course Imoru absolutely got a lot
of rain in a short period of time, but no
infrastructure would handle that, Jamie. So it was you know,
it was well probably overstated by it was very isolated

(00:44):
and overstated by the media as a lot of climate
supposed climate related whether events are now these Oh.

Speaker 1 (00:50):
Hang on, Jane, this is climate change.

Speaker 2 (00:53):
And Jamie, you know that they have to be heavily
sedated before even looking at the waste for expenditure, et cetera.
That is that is, you know, taken and time taken
up in regards to the extreme climate change modeling. And
I was really pleased actually to hear well to see
that the nets have finally come out of the climate
change closet in the last couple of weeks and thank
you to Stuart Smith for doing that MP. And they've

(01:15):
said that the climate and modeling that has been used
by both the Crown and local councils has been far
too extreme. You know, it was a worst case scenario
where we're going to be burnt up in a fire
ball by the year twenty to twenty one hundred, and
it should be much less extreme and actually more more
climate or just resilience, so infrastructure, rather than this extremist situation, Jamie.

(01:40):
And you know, you look at the what do we
spent now nearly a billion dollars on chasing methane, which
is an absolute needless task. And I see, actually it
was music to my ears last week, Jamie while you're away,
to see that that twenty nine million dollars that we
wasted on our joint venture with the what was it
the US Environmental Defense Society, to which is a very

(02:00):
strange choice of bedfellow, might I say to look at
emissions by the wall and gas industry. And that was
a David Parker Meghan Wood sign off. So that's obviously
part of the socialist muppet show at that time. And
I've read through the brief briefing paper and my librator
would read this and see a mile away that was
an absolute disgraceful waste of money. So now that's actually

(02:21):
going to be investigated, Jamie, water under the bridge. But
we continue to waste money on chasing the net zero
and aggri zero and Climate Change Commission, pastoral greenhouse gas, etc. Pills, potions, vaccines,
feed editives for no, that makes no sense at all.
So let's get on and actually and actually update our
infrastructure and just be a lot more resilient.

Speaker 1 (02:41):
Jamie talking about strange bedfellows the Opportunities Party. Now, if
they get in rich farmers like you are going to
have to pay through the nose with the land tax.

Speaker 2 (02:52):
Jamie. You know that I'm going to launch you when
you say you know, rich rich farmersm And again no
one seems to taken to account and the dept that
we are, that we all hold, and also the fact
that every dona made and farming wants you spin it
around the economy a few times at six to seven
to eight dollars for the rest of the economy. The
levy tax is absolutely unpalaceable. You know what they're talking about.

(03:16):
We are already paying in our rates. We do have
a land levy tax. And you know when he talked
about was it throttling land value that I heard him say,
I think that was a really bizarre and shift the
capital to everyone else. I mean, this is straight out
of the socialist handbook. And so if I are saying
they're a centralist party, I mean they're about as centralist
as Stalin or ad Off. And it's really just the

(03:36):
labor Greens party and drag and it's actually really concerning,
you know that they're really pushing that, you know, further
dependency on the state. And I was actually thinking of that.
What was about from about the nineteen thirty is an
example of what socialism and communism is, isn't it something
like socialism If you have two cows, you give one
to your neighbor. Communism you have two cows, you give

(03:58):
them to the government and they'll sell you some milk back.
If you're lucky greenism. If you have two cows, the
government shoots one and keeps the other cow and then
milkshe for all that your worth. And that is kind
of like the mantra that's coming through. It's actually incredibly scary.
The only thing I thought did make a little bit
of sense, and it's easy for them to say, but

(04:19):
very difficult to do when they talk about an intergenerational
infrastructure plan that does make a little bit of sense.
But this is totally unhinged. And you know that penalizing
those that work hard to build a future, which is
exactly what we do. And you can call us capitalists
if you like, But every small business in New Zealand, farmers, tradees, mechanics,
hair juices, everyone that's trying to employ local people do

(04:41):
the right thing by the community a going to get penalized.
And it is really really scary to think that people
will just get caught up in this wave. And it's
a bit of an arms race at the moment, isn't it, Jamie,
in terms of all of these announcements that people were
running for different parties. But let's just have some sense
and sensibility on this Shamian.

Speaker 1 (04:58):
Behave, Jane. I'm out of time. You've got like thirty
seconds left. You're in the White Tachi electorate. Now you've
got Miles Anderson, the incumbent MP. You have the carpetbagger,
our good mate, Damian O'Connor, and now you've got Michael Laws.
Who are you voting for?

Speaker 2 (05:13):
Well, it certainly might be Ginger's Khan or stalin with
the old Laws in O'Connor combination. It's sort of like
a Molotov cocktail waiting to explode. But we'll have some
fascinating community meetings, i'd say, Jamie, and at least it
will get people to people talking. But we Hastory would
show we cannot leave politicians unsupervised, and so we need
to come down very very heavy on whoever does get on, Jamie,

(05:36):
and again make sure we have some sensibility going forward.

Speaker 1 (05:39):
Yeah, I reckon going to a town hall debate and
the White Taki electric could be a lot of fun.
They're all pretty good on their feet. Thank you very
much for your time.

Speaker 2 (05:47):
Thanks Dammy,