'Howl of a protest' gaining momentum in Nelson

Tuesday, 13 July 2021

Wakefield farmer Andrina Cimino is organising the Nelson edition of “Howl of a Protest”. Protests are being held around the country on Friday.

A farmers’ protest against proposed new government regulations is gaining momentum in the top of the south.

The ‘Howl of a Protest’ event is set to take place at about 50 locations throughout the country on Friday, including Nelson and Tākaka.

Organised by Groundswell NZ, the event is being led by farmers who want to put an end to what they believe are a series of “unworkable regulations”.

While the Government’s proposed “ute tax” has raised the ire of many farmers – the protestors are also upset about regulations relating to freshwater, indigenous biodiversity, climate change, and the Crown Pastoral Land Reform Bill.

* Ute tax final straw for farmers as pressures mount

* South Cantabrians to join 'A Howl of a Protest' against Government regulations

Nelson protest organiser Andrina Cimino said there had already been a huge amount of interest in the event from people throughout the region.

Bryce McKenzie, left, and Laurie Paterson are the men behind the Groundswell NZ organisation pushing back against government rules affecting farmers.

“The response I’ve received was way past my expectations.

“I’ve been getting tons of emails, text messages, phone calls – it’s gearing up to be quite a large turnout.”

In Nelson protesters are planning to form a convoy from the Richmond A&P Showgrounds and travel all the way through to the centre of Nelson – with at least 300 tractors and utes expected to participate.

Te Awamutu woman Lee Smith volunteered to help co-ordinate the Waipā-King Country rally for the Howl of a Protest on July 16.

Cimino said she was motivated to get involved because of how the potential effects of the new regulations could affect the rural community in Nelson.

“Seeing all the changes that are being made, they’re telling farmers things like what crops you can plant, when you can plant them, how much stock you can own.”

She said while the changes would have less impact on her as a small farmer – producing her own meat, milk, and crops on a 12-acre section in Wakefield – she was surrounded by farmers who would be severely affected.

“My neighbours, my friends and my community are all going to pay the price for changes that are being pushed through without consultation, and without consideration as to how damaging they are to the long-term confidence in the industry.

“And if this vilification and penalisation of farmers continues – what’s the likelihood that there’s any future for our kids in agriculture?”

In Tākaka a similar convoy has been planned to go through the town, in a loop around Commercial, Meihana and Motupipi streets – followed by a meeting at the Telegraph Hotel.

Organiser Averill Grant said there had also been a big wave of support from the Golden Bay community for the protest.

“It’s not just farmers – its contractors, tradies, people who have utes, just a lot of rural people in general.”

The subject of the protest also came up in a public meeting organised in Pakawau in Golden Bay the previous Friday.

At the meeting, Bill Callwood encouraged farmers to turn up to the protest with their utes and tractors and “make a statement with the rest of New Zealand that we’ve had enough”.

“We need diesel vehicles, we can't do this job without them,” Callwood said. “We need resources: we need land and we don't need controls on it and without that, the city's going to starve.”

To Tasman District councillor Celia Butler and National list MPs Maureen Pugh and David Bennett, who were at the meeting in Pakawau, Callwood said: “Bureaucracy has gone f….. nuts in this country just like it was in the UK. You guys need to fix it.

“If we don't look out for what we've got here, Auckland will be farming New Zealand, and it's bullshit.”