Minister for Rural Communities and Associate Minister of Agriculture Mark Patterson is making the party’s case for the rural vote ahead of the election.

Patterson, who returned to farming between terms, says the contrast in pace is stark.

“On the farm, you can sort of get up in the morning, you think ‘right, I’m going to make a change’, and by lunchtime you can be doing it, whereas sometimes it takes months or years to work stuff through here.”

The access that comes from being a coalition partner is a benefit, Patterson says.

“Often being in a smaller party and being in government helps enormously… being able to get in the ear of the right ministers or get some of my senior ministers to take up a cause can be pretty effective.”

He says a community concern about a 1080 drop near Taupō was recently escalated directly to the minister responsible.

“You don’t always get an outcome but at least you can elevate things, you can be a forum and a conduit.”

The Regional Infrastructure Fund, Patterson says, is central to New Zealand First’s rural credentials. He says a KPMG report released this morning flagged water storage, irrigation and climate resilience as areas where the fund has been active.

“I think it demonstrated that we’re prepared to fight hard and win for funding to get out to rural New Zealand as key infrastructure.”

The wool in government buildings policy, he says, is another example of the party’s commitment to rural industries.

“The policy had been a New Zealand First policy since 2017, and it took that long to get it through.”

He says having three associate ministers of agriculture from three different coalition parties has worked out well, with shared positions covering red tape reduction, biosecurity, and wilding pine control.

“There’s a cigarette paper between us on all that.”

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.