Page:New Zealand Parliament Hansard 2021-03-09.pdf/97

9 Mar 2021 things that are coming through from Federated Farmers, talking about a bill that Labour is putting forward.

Now, during the time when farmers were facing the M. bovis crisis, they asked for urgent relief. As the Minister of Revenue at the time, Stuart Nash, said, "The Government is offering tax relief to farmers affected by Mycoplasma bovis in light of the extra burden created by coronavirus. Farmers whose herds were culled will be eligible to spread their incomes over several years". The Cabinet in this urgent time have agreed to the law change, but it had to go through Parliament, and this is what we are doing today.

In response to that, Federated Farmers' national vice-president Andrew Hoggard said that he was grateful that the decision had been made quickly and in the nick of time for the end of the financial year. "Nash and agriculture Minister Damien O’Connor and their officials deserve a great deal of credit for acting in a timely manner", Mr Hoggard said. “We thank them sincerely on behalf of some very worried farmers.” Federated Farmers general manager of policy and advocacy, Gavin Forrest, said the tax relief applied to farmers was a very good thing and “Anybody that ended up with a tax bill for the increase in the value of their cows on the books, book income that was not associated with the cash income, anybody in those circumstances should get relief from this”. He also said that this was a certainty of relief. These words coming from Federated Farmers to Labour showed, and I reiterate, a working relationship with the farming community that is going from strength to strength.

I would also like to refer to another part of the Federated Farmers submission, where they called on a bit of a suggestion. They asked, for the Mycoplasma bovis tax issue, that the proposal should be generic, and in considering this, I’m pleased to report to the House that that submission—that there was strong support for that spread of income as suggested for a more generic provision to cover future biosecurity events. Officials have added that suggestion to the tax policy work programme. It’s evidence like this that shows that we are listening and working with those people that need us at the time when they are facing uncertainty and enormous pressure. I’m proud of the relationship that Labour is building with the primary sector. I’m proud that we are actually working on something that is delivering—and I thought it was great that Mr Bayly called it good stuff like this in the tax bill that’s building on the integrity of what it means to be fair and equal in the tax system. Thank you, Madam Speaker.

ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Hon Jenny Salesa): This debate is interrupted and is set down for resumption next sitting day. The House stands adjourned until 2 p.m. tomorrow.