Farmers group supports wind farm

Federated Farmers' decision to support Meridian Energy's appeal to build a wind farm in Otago was a tangible sign the lobby group was taking a tougher stance in protecting property rights, according to its president.

Don Nicolson said while property rights had always been a consideration for the organisation, it was reinforcing its role in maintaining farmers' "authority over property", whether that concerned rights over physical property owned, or retaining the "fruits of our efforts".

The decision to be an "intervening party" with Meridian Energy in High Court action after the electricity company failed to get consent for its 176-turbine Project Hayes wind farm was an extension of the concern about loss of property rights, he said.

The failure to grant consent removed the potential for freehold landowners to earn income from their land, he said.

"To me, if a community wants to take away the opportunity to earn a living out of freehold title land where there is a property right, then the community needs to fully compensate for that taking."

The New Zealand legal system was poor at compensating people for the loss of property rights, Mr Nicolson said, such as the case of pastoral lessees.

They had the right of exclusive occupation, but conservation groups often tried to impose restrictions which violated lessees' property rights, Mr Nicolson said.

"In New Zealand, we are mean-spirited by trying to get it for nothing out of the property right holder."

The large-scale dairy farming proposed for the Omarama and Ohau areas was another example.

Mr Nicolson questioned whether the applicants would get a fair resource consent hearing, given vocal opposition from the Prime Minister, the Agriculture Minister and Fonterra.

At the very least, the applicants were entitled to due process, he said.

Mr Nicolson said the applicants had told him they had spent $1.5 million preparing their application and removing wilding pines, and the business would provide jobs and export revenue.

"If the public say 'no' to use of the land at its highest and best use, which in this case is dairying, then the country should compensate for that lost opportunity."

Farms were getting bigger, which some people found abhorrent, but this was in part because of New Zealand's domestic policy settings, he said.

While Government ministers extolled the virtues of free trade, protectionism was increasing domestically, with little or no competition for services supplied by local and central government, he said.

An example was claims that water quality had deteriorated.

Farmers had been chastised for their impact on river and lake quality but, if that was the case, regional councils and their predecessors would be forced to admit they had failed in this regard, too, he said.

Data comparing water quality was limited, and non-government organisations had been allowed to dominate the debate, he said.

While the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry used to advocate for farmers, now it performed the role of policeman, he said.

"New Zealand used to be a country of can do. Now it is a country of policemen and obstruction."