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Robyn Edie / Stuff
Southland Federated Farmers Chairman Geoffrey Young said the strategic vote could have given Labor the party’s vote in Southland and Invercargill electorates.
The surge in support for the Labor Party in Southland may have been from people casting their vote strategically to keep the Green Party out of government, says an agricultural industry leader.
Labor won the party’s vote in Southland and Invercargill electorates, which had traditionally been national strongholds, when provisional votes were tallied on Saturday.
Southland Federated Farmers President Geoff Young said farmers were facing a barrage of new rules under new freshwater legislation introduced by the last government, and that they could have voted for Labor to have a majority to that the Green Party had no more say in how they managed. their farms.
“We were hoping we wouldn’t get a government change, but I think a lot of people voted strategically when they realized that National didn’t have a dog show to get in,” he said.
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The demonstration of support for Labor in the traditional National Party stronghold in rural Southland would have been “something of a shock” to many farmers, but it would not prevent federated farmers from seeking changes to freshwater rules, he said.
The new rules aim to improve freshwater quality within a generation, but in August, Young called on farmers to boycott them, saying they were unworkable.
Agriculture Minister Damien O’Connor said the rules could be “changed,” but farmers had since protested the new rules by driving more than 100 tractors down Gore’s main street, and Federated Farmers had organized a ‘Town and Country hui’ educating people about the implications of the rules.
On Monday, Young said farmers needed to see an indication from the new government that it was ready to sit down and draft some pragmatic and workable commitments.
“Now we have three years of this government and we have to work together. This means that we have to sit down with Minister Sage, Minister Parker and Minister O’Connor and see how we can solve the problems that we have.
“We are in a recession and we need a strong and vibrant agricultural sector to lift this country out of the economic depression.”
He hoped Labor would rule alone and not join the Greens, he said.
“There would be great frustration if that happened, and there would be a severe reaction from the rural community.”
Supplied
Former National Party MP Eric Roy from Invercargill
Former Awarua and Invercargill National Party MP Eric Roy also thought that people had strategically voted to keep the Green Party out of government.
While he was not surprised by support for Labor in the province, he said he was surprised by the margin on Saturday night.
“It’s more than I expected, and what I expected was not pretty.
“Hopefully we can get a [Covid-19] vaccine and start working on some of the social and economic issues that have been put on the back burner instead of everyone worshiping Santa Jacinda. ”
Roy said the key element of National’s defeat was poor discipline, and the fact that “it didn’t look like a waiting government.”
“Some of those MPs had never known bad polls and then it comes down to the personal protection of their patch, and they start looking for a few inches of column in the newspaper. They realize that their party is not doing well, and they are at number 40 and something on the list, and they will be out of work. ”
“I think they thought it was going to be easy, and then Covid came along and changed everything.”
He thought people were “more mobile” in the way they voted these days and were not as loyal to a particular party.
“If they can change their vote in one way to make something else happen, they will,” he said.
The Green Party ranked fourth in the Invercargill and Southland electorates, behind Labor, National and ACT New Zealand.
