Green Party MP Steve Abel says his party must be willing to talk across the political divide.

“I think as a broader principle in our maturity as a party, we must be willing to have the conversation across the house,” Abel says.

“The best outcomes happen for our country when we have multipartisan agreement.”

Abel, the Green Party’s Agriculture spokesperson and a member of the primary production select committee, says the party has never had a formal position of working only with Labour.

“We found with this government that it’s been the most anti-environmental government we’ve seen in a generation, if not ever.

“National would have to be willing to really change its perspective on how we regulate to protect the environment appropriately.”

He points to the government’s wilding pine management funding as evidence of what cross-party progress looks like.

“I’ve been banging on about that for the whole term that we need to properly fund wilding pine management.

“I’m very happy the government’s come to the table on that – they should have done it two years ago, but I’m happy they’re doing it now.”

He says the biggest opportunities are in the agricultural space, because the biggest challenges are agricultural.

“The opportunities for us to get great outcomes for freshwater, the climate, and biodiversity are through how we do farming.”

The Fonterra document delivered physically to the Prime Minister’s Senior Chief Political Adviser and withheld from Official Information Act requests, until Fonterra acknowledged it, illustrates what is at stake, he says.

“The public has a right to know what the government’s been asked to do and who is asking them to do it.

“That’s where the true efficacy of our democracy comes in.”

Select committees, he says, could go further in holding the executive to account.

“If you want to improve our democracy, you’d give those select committees more clout.”

CountryWide CONNECT with Andy Thompson & Sarah Perriam-Lampp is our daily rural show livestreamed from 11am–1pm. Visit country-wide.co.nz on how to watch/listen or download the CountryWide CONNECT mobile app, available on Apple iOS and Android.