The Green Party has hit out at National's new agriculture policy, calling it "ideological nonsense".
Green Party environment spokeswoman Eugenie Sage made the comments today, following National's policy announcement, calling it a "back-of-the-napkin grab-bag of one-liners".
The policy, 'Getting Back to Farming', was launched by National leader Christopher Luxon today, alongside agriculture spokesman Todd McClay, environment spokesman Scott Simpson and MP Nicola Grigg, who is the spokeswoman for animal welfare and rural communities.
It includes 19 proposals, such as scrapping the median wage requirement for migrant workers, but offering a path to residency, as well as doubling the cap on RSE (seasonal workers) from 19,000 to 38,000 over five years.
The National Party would also resume live cattle exports, requiring purpose-built ships and new animal welfare standards. It would also introduce a "2-for-1 rule" where for every new regulation introduced, two existing ones would be scrapped.
Sage said the latter would result in changes to environmental regulations which were "designed to protect water quality".
"It's ideological nonsense that's a popular slogan."
She said that would mean New Zealand would be "stuck with even dirtier rivers".
The Green Party, non-government organisations and other groups had campaigned for decades to get stock out of waterways, she said.
"Yet, what are National targeting? Rolling that back. What does that mean? More stock defecating in waterways. We've already got 45% of the length on New Zealand rivers which aren't swimmable because of the campylobacter risk - that would worsen that."
However, she said the Greens were "really pleased" National recognised the "need for residence pathways" for migrant workers - though she said they needed more protection from exploitation.
"We want Labour to come on board with that.
"You can't allow the agricultural industry just to exploit them as cheap labour."
She said the ban on live animal exports - which comes into effect this month - was "long overdue".
"It's 0.2% of export revenue since 2015. It damages our reputation as well as risking harm to the individual animals.
"Even with the best intent, stuff happens. We think our reputation and the welfare of animals comes above the very small revenue that's gained from these shipments.
Nats not 'innovative' - Govt
Agriculture Minister Damien O'Connor said there was nothing surprising or "innovative" about National's policy and it was "a little disappointing".
"There's no leadership there at a time when the most important sectors in our economy need leadership to ensure that we take farmers into the future that they need."
O'Connor said that was one connected to markets and that responded to growing challenges and values of consumers on the sector.
He said the Government had increased the number of RSE workers to meet demand but in a way that protected workers from exploitation.
"Doubling the numbers is simply unrealistic and would make it difficult to prevent exploitation - which does occur sometimes. The vast majority of employers are good but we have to work to the lowest common denominator."
O'Connor said the Government had worked with the sector and regional councils to get stock exclusion zones and wetland definitions right.
"There's no clear rule that doesn't create some anomalies so making sure there was enough flexibility [was important]."
O'Connor said there had been record primary sector exports under the Labour Government ant it had injected $1 billion to help farmers make the transitions needed to "meet the increasing expectations from our markets".
ACT could work with National - Seymour
ACT leader David Seymour said National was "saying some of the right things" but he said it was important to make sure the changes were not just made, but "went further for farmers".
He said the proposed policy to remove two regulations for every one introduced was "just gimmicky" and National wanted to continue "sacrificing Kiwi farmers at the altar of global climate activism" - something Seymour believed Labour had done.
"That's unacceptable and bad for the climate."
Seymour said live cattle exports were a "no brainer" and cattle gained weight on the journeys.
"They're well looked after. It's a half a billion dollar industry.
"The Government is saying they would rather people overseas bought their live cattle from Chile instead of New Zealand. So they're not stopping it, they're just disadvantaging farmers because they're based in New Zealand."
He said the announcement showed ACT could work with National but it was a "six out of 10".
Groundswell has welcomed the policy, saying it's "refreshing" and feels like they're being listened to.
Greenpeace has condemned it, saying it will make drinking water contamination and climate change worse.
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