Mark Patterson has come home to the farm as he decides his next political move. But first, he has some fencing to do.
After three years commuting from his South Otago farm near Lawrence to Wellington, the one-term NZ First list Member of Parliament (MP) has stored his suits, cleaned out offices in Wellington and Gore and parked his NZ First sign-written car in a garage.
To some degree his political future is out of his hands given the NZ First has no MPs after being voted out of Parliament at the last election, but he is confident the party will rise again.
Regardless, Patterson says he was fortunate his time as an MP was with a party that was in a governing coalition, which meant he had influence in political decisions.
“As a backbench MP your only currency is being able to influence the Cabinet who make the decisions,” he said.
He left his mark with the passing of the Farm Debt Mediation Bill, which started out as private members Bill under his name but was picked up by the Government.
Patterson was also influential in the Dairy Industry Restructure Act, a process he says was an example of how Parliament can work.
Initially the Act retained an open entry provision for new suppliers to Fonterra, something he was unhappy with and convinced his caucus needed to be changed.
NZ First supported it through to the Select Committee stage despite elements they were unhappy with, but then worked with Agriculture Minister Damien O’Connor, the National and Green parties to make the desired changes.
“It was a really good example of Parliament working well,” he said.
He was also proud of his role in watering down the harder elements of the Employment Relations Act, specifically multi-employer agreements which would have been difficult for regional employers.
That aside, Patterson says politicians and Wellington bureaucracy do not understand farming, with the freshwater and firearm policies being the most notable examples.
O’Connor and Patterson were the only two MPs in the last government with farming experience, a scenario he says should concern all farmers.
“It is a concern to me, but it is reality as it reflects wider society,” he said.
Patterson says more than ever farmers and rural communities need to mobilise and constructively engage with the Government and officials.
That means arguing issues based on science and practicality, an argument made easier by hosting decision-makers on farms to show them the impact of their proposals.
The Essential Freshwater policy is an example of officials not understanding the impact of their work.
Being a regulatory rather than legislative process driven by Environment Minister David Parker and his ministry, it was not subjected to political scrutiny, but Patterson is no fan of the policy.
“Some of that stuff is so impractical,” he said.
“I’m not saying the direction of travel isn’t right, it’s a matter of getting it into a workable form.”
Being collaborative achieves more than being confrontational, and he cites the He Waka Noa primary sector agreement to reduce its carbon footprint as an example.
Patterson warns animal welfare issues will become more contentious as well-funded and organised groups motivate their cause, but the hard edges could be softened by farmers meeting these groups.
“I always found behind closed doors there is more common ground and goodwill with non-government organisations than is publicly expressed,” he said.
Before joining NZ First, Patterson was politically active within the National Party, but frustration with the meat industry led to a political rethink.
A member of the Meat Industry Excellence group seeking reform of the industry, Patterson went to Wellington to lobby for political support with the then National-led government.
“I was struck by the apathy of the Government,” he said.
“It was very much hands-off. They were not interested in the industry, which at that stage was in a dire situation both behind the farm gate and at company level.
“It struck me that the National Party could do that because they knew we would go home and vote for them anyway.
“It got me thinking that they need more competition for votes from rural NZ.”
His Road to Damascus experience was cemented by his opposition to Silver Fern Farms’ Shanghai Maling partnership, which would result in foreign ownership of a strategic NZ asset.
“At the same time (NZ First leader) Winston Peters won the Northland by-election on a platform of neglected rural regions and opposition to foreign ownership of strategic assets and farmland,” he said.
Realising he had more in common with NZ First, Patterson joined the party and expressed an interest in standing for Parliament.
Surprisingly, he found himself at number seven on the NZ First list for the 2017 election.
“I guess I was the right person at the right place. I offered a rural voice and being a farmer, I fitted the description of the rural people from whom we were seeking support,” he said.
On being elected, he found himself involved in the coalition agreement between Labour and NZ First.
“It was a baptism of fire,” he said.
“I went from a private individual in a small town to walking through the lobby in Parliament full of journalists trying to squeeze every bit of information about what the future of the country will look like.”
He describes the next three years as a privilege, but also provides a broad insight into NZ few get to see.
“It’s a bit surreal but an incredible education in our own country,” he said.
“You think you know a reasonable amount of stuff, in my case agriculture, but the breadth of issues you have to get your head around is phenomenal.”
Being a small caucus, Patterson had responsibility and had to gather an understanding of portfolios as diverse as agriculture, food safety, Crown Minerals, intellectual property and the Christchurch earthquake rebuild.
Despite its small size, Patterson says NZ First delivered 86% of what it promised in the coalition agreement.
The job of an MP required long days, plenty of travel and little time at home with wife Jude and daughters Amelia, 13, and Annabelle, 11.
When Parliament was not sitting, Patterson was travelling, meeting primary sector leaders and was especially active throughout the South Island as he was the party’s only MP from the island.
Jude ran the 500ha sheep and beef farm for the first winter, but then the two blocks were split with short-term agreements with a share farmer and the other leased to a neighbour.
Patterson describes Peters as naturally introverted, someone who values his privacy and is markedly different in private to his public persona.
Having fought 16 elections and served 42 years as an MP, Patterson says Peters’ knowledge and understanding of the political process is second to none.
NZ First played a pragmatic role in the last government and Patterson says that will be missed given the makeup of the incoming government.
Because of that, he says it is vital farmers become more involved either politically or through Federated Farmers to influence policies and decisions being made about their business.
Given his insight, Patterson is looking forward to watching NZ’s 53rd Parliament, saying it has a radically different sheen to the previous government.
He is especially interested in the influence of the Green Party, saying it could give Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern a convenient cover to go further and faster than she has previously indicated.
