Wind Knocked out of New Zealand Flatulence Tax as Opposition Withdraws Support

Dairy cows stand at a farm near Ashburton, New Zealand. Martin Hunter/Getty Images

The world-first flatulence tax appears to have been derailed after the main opposition party in New Zealand pulled its support for the legislation.

The National Party has said it will no longer support the He Waka Eke Noa, a partnership between agriculture leaders and the government that proposes farmers individually calculate and pay for their methane and nitrous oxide emissions rather than based on national averages.

The proposal came amid mounting criticism of the sector, which is considered the largest emitter of greenhouse gasses producing half of New Zealand’s gross emissions—yet is exempt from its emissions trading scheme (ETS).

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Climate initiatives to achieve net-zero emissions by 2050 have bipartisan support in New Zealand.

However, on Tuesday, National Agriculture Spokesperson Todd McClay called the He Waka Eke Noa proposal “dead,” saying the government had “killed it.”

National party leader Christopher Luxon said his party proudly supported New Zealand’s Paris climate commitments but could not agree with axing sheep and beef farming by 20 percent to achieve climate goals under He Waka Eke Noa.

“We’ve been very supportive of the industry developing its own solution,” he told the AM show.

“Sadly, what happened is the government blew it up, and it actually killed it itself.

“There isn’t any consensus [in the sector] around what He Waka Eke Noa actually is any more.”

He said that his party will be releasing its own “sensible” agriculture emissions policy in the coming weeks.

But the Federated Farmers acting president Wayne Langford told the New Zealand Herald that the proposal was “sleepy, not dead.”

He warned, however,  that “if the government wants a result, they need to come back to the table and have discussions.”

Meanwhile, Groundswell NZ, a grassroots advocacy group for farmers and rural communities, welcomed the National’s decision.

“In an election year, this firmly puts the ball in Labour’s court to decide if they will finally listen to farmers as well or if they’ll plough on ahead with unworkable regulations and taxing food producers,” Groundswell NZ co-founder Bryce McKenzie said.

National Just Fishing for Votes, Says Climate Change Minister

National’s withdrawn support puts it on the same side as the ACT party, which has opposed the proposal from the beginning.

ACT’s primary industries spokesperson Mark Cameron welcomed the National’s decision and called on the party to take the next step and drop its pledge to the Zero Carbon Act.

“We’ve said from the start that the [Zero Carbon Act] legislation is cumbersome and bureaucratic and will allow governments to micromanage the economy at great cost,” he said.

ACT candidate Andrew Hoggard, who recently stood down from his former position as president of Federated Farmers to run with ACT in the upcoming election, said aggressive climate policies would only shoot New Zealand in the foot.

“New Zealand will not prosper if we are forced to make significantly deeper emissions cuts than our trading partners. We will simply impoverish ourselves and push economic activity to other countries,” he said.

“If we set more aggressive targets than other countries, it will not only harm the economy but also force activity to less efficient jurisdictions, actually increasing global emissions.”

Meanwhile, Climate Change Minister James Shaw called the National’s decision a political move to gain votes ahead of the general election on Oct. 14.

“National are fighting with ACT over votes in the regions and in farming and rural communities, and the ACT Party, of course, don’t, as far as we know, even think climate change is real,” he told Radio New Zealand.

The move to drop support for He Waka Eke Noa comes after National’s agriculture spokesperson called on Labour to rule out implementing a fertiliser tax.

“Farmers have been hit extremely hard over the last six years by expensive rules and regulations imposed by the Labour government. Farm inflation is at an all-time high and is only matched by significant increases in the cost of food,” McClay said on June 2.

“At a time when Kiwis up and down the country are finding it hard to pay their bills and put food on the table, the Labour government should be finding ways to get costs down, not dream up new taxes.

“A fertiliser tax is a ridiculous idea.”