Jamie Mackay: The Country host on the Government's cuts to emissions targets

The Government unveiled new emissions targets this week, and members of New Zealand's farming community have welcomed the move.

2050 methane targets were slashed 14 to 24 percent below 2017 levels - which is 24 to 47 percent lower than the previous. 

The Country's Jamie Mackay explained further.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:01):
The Rural Report on Heather do for see Allen.

Speaker 2 (00:04):
John Hi, host of the Countries with Us.

Speaker 1 (00:06):
Hello Jamie, Hello Heather. I've got a bone to pick
with you. I've heard in my absence that you've been
shouting the odds about how Hamish Mackay my namesake and
film's a lot better on the radio than me. No.

Speaker 2 (00:18):
Well, i've been flirting with him, is what's happened, and
so we've decided we're going. But no, I never said
that he's better than you. And if that's what he's
told you, then we also know another thing about Hamish,
which is that he tells a porky. But no, it's
lovely to have you back, just back from holiday. Go
on straight to Gisbane, have you?

Speaker 1 (00:34):
Yeah? Yeah. While I was in the Auckland office today
I had a brief family cuddle with yourself and cousin Barry,
and then straight onto a plane for Gisbone. We're here
for the Can you believe this, Heather? The one hundred
and fiftieth Amp Show or Gisbone Show starts tomorrow. So
you've got to go back to my maths is right
eighteen seventy five and I'll just give a bit of

(00:57):
a shout it. I've just checked into the port Side Hope,
which is right by the waterfront here in Gisbon, and
I must say I haven't been in Gisbon for years.
What a beautiful town it is and the weather here
today is absolutely stunning. We've been down to the show.
We've set up at the Brand site. The Brand boys
are very excited to have us there tomorrow. I think

(01:17):
they're more excited that the Prime Minister Christopher Luxen's going
to kick off the show from the Brant site tomorrow,
which reminded me Heather of a story going back to
the two thousand and six. It might have been the
last time I was in Gisbon. I did a drought
farmer field day way up in the hills behind Gisbane,
and there was a bloke by the name of John

(01:37):
Key there who was the opposition leader at the time.
He went to the top of this hill or mountain
on the back of a quad four wheel that got
covered in dust and there was a helicopter there to
take him back I think, to Napier Airport to go back.
And there was four or five hundred farmers there for
this drout event and he said to his people, going

(02:00):
until I've been around every lener like big bales of hay,
and the farmers were having a beer, and he went
round and he worked. It wasn't a room. It was
a huge open paddock with all these farmers having a
stubby over a hayball. And I thought, this guy's got it.
He can really work a room. And of course a
couple of years later he was Prime Minister. So it'll

(02:20):
be interesting to see if Christopher Luxen can have that
effect in Gisbon tomorrow.

Speaker 2 (02:24):
Yeah, she SAT's a work ethic, isn't it.

Speaker 1 (02:26):
Now?

Speaker 2 (02:26):
What do you make of these emissions targets read the methane?
What do you make of this?

Speaker 1 (02:30):
Well? I think it's good and sensible. It happened in
my absence. I haven't fully caught up yet, but look,
I think what is at fourteen to twenty four rather
than twenty four to forty sevens just eminently sensible ag
not in the ets. And I know that the Greennies
and Green Peace all are jumping up and down about this,
but as an economy, we haven't got that much going
for us at the moment, so we just can't hamstring

(02:53):
our biggest industry at forty seven percent. As he Waker
echinoa and all that sort of nonsense was proposing it,
it just would have shut down twenty percent of our
sheep and beef farms and I think seven or eight
percent of our dairy farmers. So forget about this very
pragmatic approach from the government. I pat them on the back.
I tipped my hat to them for that one. Yeah.

Speaker 2 (03:14):
Absolutely, Jamie, look after yourself. It is so lovely to
have you back. I really mean that. We'll talk to
you again on Tuesday. That's Jammie mackaie host of the Country.

Speaker 1 (03:21):
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