{"id":28777,"date":"2017-09-22T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2017-09-21T12:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.farmersweekly.co.nz\/peters-promises-to-keep-big-parties-honest\/"},"modified":"2017-09-22T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2017-09-21T12:00:00","slug":"peters-promises-to-keep-big-parties-honest","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.farmersweekly.co.nz\/news\/peters-promises-to-keep-big-parties-honest\/","title":{"rendered":"Peters promises to keep big parties honest"},"content":{"rendered":"Reading Time: <\/span> 3<\/span> minutes<\/span><\/span>

\u201cI need to know everything in the campaign and still some things are yet to be disclosed in the next three days,\u201d Peters answered prominent Canterbury dairy farmer Ron Ferriman.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not smart or it\u2019s not clever and it\u2019s not democracy. I just need to know until the last deal what cards I am dealing with.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not I won\u2019t tell you \u2013 I can\u2019t tell you.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen all the policy cards are on the table I will talk to my party and we, not I, will make the decision<\/p>\n

\u201cOnly a fool would test the water with both feet,\u201d Peters said.<\/p>\n

Answering questions as to whether he supported any tax charges, Peters told farmers he had made his stand very clear.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe people of this country own the water. I have not said I won\u2019t charge a fair price on management of water.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat I am saying is I won\u2019t put a tax on it. My party will not be adopting any of those ideas.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere is no part two. We are not going to tax water use in this country,\u201d Peters said.<\/p>\n

About 150 people turned out to the meeting in Ashburton on Wednesday to hear NZ First\u2019s policy on water.<\/p>\n

Smart economies treated the environment and economy equally, he said.<\/p>\n

For them, town and country, it was not an either-or but both together.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo let\u2019s base policy on facts, not guesswork, innuendo or political opportunism,\u201d Peters said.<\/p>\n

That would start by electronically monitoring river and lake water quality in real-time to move away from models that were as unreliable as political polls, Peters said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is calibrating Overseer against all soils and farm types while restricting its use as a planning tool until it is 100% reliable, which it is not now.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is about catchment-by-catchment management plans so that the effects of town and country are taken together in policy.\u201d<\/p>\n

To boost environmental sustainability on the farm NZ First would commit to 100% depreciation for farm environmental works done against a farm environment plan.<\/p>\n

Peters said NZ First believed it could halve National\u2019s swimability target, getting to it by 2030 instead of 2040.<\/p>\n

\u201cOf course, we are talking about the times of year when people actually swim, rather than in winter or during floods.\u201d<\/p>\n

Peters said Labour was all at sea on a water policy that appeared to have been dreamt up in response to its memorandum of understanding with the Greens.<\/p>\n

\u201cAside from understating the number of irrigated farms fivefold, at two cents a cubic metre, it means a 220ha irrigated farm here in Canterbury faces up to $29,000 a year in added costs. At 10 cents this balloons to $145,000 a year.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe stakes are high because $60 billion is tied up in agricultural debt.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf agriculture tips over then it will take the entire economy with it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Peters told National supporters they needed to seriously reflect and consider NZ First.<\/p>\n

\u201cBecause we will not support Labour\u2019s proposals to widen taxes or increase the taxes we currently have.\u201d<\/p>\n

But Peters was scathing of National\u2019s plan, suggesting it was \u201cmuch worse\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cMr English says he wants you to cut out the middle-man. For you to choose only National or Labour, Pepsi or Coke, this Saturday.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s so he can get on with introducing resource rentals and forcing yet more bureaucratic fixers down your collective throats. Mr English sees big iwi as the means to get water resource rentals into law.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cFeeling worried?\u201d Peters asked.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou ought to be because what National is not telling you is just a few short months after the election there will be major water policy moving towards confirmation of iwis\u2019 ownership of water.<\/p>\n

\u201cGet ready for the invoices,\u201d Peters warned.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur message to National supporters is the same as it is for Labour supporters \u2013 you need someone to stop the extremists.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou need someone to keep National or Labour honest. Only one party in Parliament can do that.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s why I am asking you to party vote NZ First if you want to defend the regions and their economies and their people,\u201d Peters said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Clearly between the Red Devil and the Deep Blue Sea, New Zealand First leader Winston Peters would not commit when questioned at a meeting in Ashburton who he would play with in Government after Saturday\u2019s election.\n","protected":false},"author":14,"featured_media":28778,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_FSMCFIC_featured_image_caption":"","_FSMCFIC_featured_image_nocaption":"","_FSMCFIC_featured_image_hide":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t