The NZ dairy industry's lobbying on freshwater - Greenpeace Aotearoa

We’ve uncovered shocking evidence of how the New Zealand dairy industry has been rewriting freshwater rules to allow dairy industry pollution to continue without consequences. Here’s what happened.

In May 2023, Andrew Hoggard ended his term as Federated Farmers President early and resigned his position. The following day, he announced his candidacy for the ACT Party, standing in the Rangitikei electorate at the upcoming election.

Hoggard was ranked 5th on the ACT Party list, which essentially guaranteed him a seat in Parliament. Observers at the time considered it a coup for the ACT Party – the agriculture sector has historically been closely aligned with the National Party, and many considered it to be a natural home for the former agriculture lobbyist.

But when Hoggard was appointed as Associate Minister for Agriculture, Federated Farmers, DairyNZ and Beef+Lamb began their own coup to re-write freshwater policy in their favour.

Greenpeace Aotearoa has obtained hundreds of pages of emails and text messages that pressed for urgent and sweeping changes to environmental rules to favour the agriculture industry. These shocking documents reveal that the agri-business lobby wasted no time once their man was sworn in as Minister.

“Congrats for yesterday Andrew, what a massive honour!! Will see you Wednesday night” – Text message to Andrew Hoggard the day after his swearing in as Associate Minister for Agriculture, from Federated Farmers President Wayne Langford

National, ACT and NZ First had always signalled changes to freshwater policy, but the specifics were not always clear. Regardless, the coalition agreements gave a sense of the direction of travel, and the lobby groups acted quickly to assert their agenda on incoming Ministers.

But the first 100 day plan issued by Prime Minister Christopher Luxon on 29 November 2023 didn’t go far enough for Federated Farmers – and they made their expectations clear to Hoggard, their man on the inside.

“Nothing in first hundred days on freshwater?” Text message to Andrew Hoggard from Federated Farmers Head of Policy & Advocacy Paul Melville, less than an hour after the release of the Government’s 100 Day Plan.

Lobbying Government Ministers is nothing new, and not everything that was requested by the industry was passed into law. But many of the requests that were implemented were significant, which clearly made Federated Farmers – who had been milking their connection to Hoggard – very happy. So much so that they hosted a “Restoring Farmer Confidence Tour” for Prime Minister Christopher Luxon at the end of 2024, to celebrate the work of his Government.

This celebration was for reckless and environmentally damaging policies, which included:

The removal of rules that required polluting industries to prioritise the health of lakes, rivers, and drinking water (Te Mana o Te Wai) in the resource consent process.
The suspension of requirements for councils to identify new ‘significant natural areas’ – basically preventing local councils from establishing new protections for important habitat for native plants and animals.
The removal of rules that prevented deer, beef cattle, and other livestock from wading into lakes and rivers, and polluting them with effluent.
The repeal of intensive winter grazing (mud farming) regulations, meaning more cattle up to their stomachs in mud.
And the suspension of regional councils’ power to impose stricter rules for water quality – done intentionally to block the Otago Regional Council from notifying their plan which had been years in the making, was supported by a majority of councillors, and would have delivered significant improvements to water quality.

Federated Farmers even went as far to give advice on political messaging. It acknowledged “political concerns” about the “optics of repealing freshwater rules” and suggested possible arguments for change, including that farmers are being “forced to farm by consent” and are “being told how to farm from Wellington”. Anyone who has listened to the Government talking about their approach to agricultural policy will find this messaging very familiar – it is nearly identical to how Luxon and co presented their freshwater reform and various other pro-industry, anti-nature policies.

Coincidence? We think not.

The level of influence held by these lobby groups is most demonstrated in their response to a series of High Court decisions. A legal battle over section 107 of the Resource Management Act saw the Courts rule in favour of a stronger interpretation of the Act, and therefore stricter environmental protections.

In a panic over the ramifications for their members, who would no longer be able to pollute the environment without being held accountable, Federated Farmers, DairyNZ, and Beef+Lamb wrote a joint letter to Andrew Hoggard. They asked him to urgently intervene in the Court’s decisions and legislate away those environmental protections.

Yet again, the industry got what they wanted. Last minute, the Government inserted new clauses into the Resource Management (Freshwater and Other Matters) Amendment Bill that was making its way through parliament. The Bill had already satisfied most of the agriculture lobby groups’ wishlist, but at the last minute the change to overrule the High Court was slipped into the Bill.

This was seven months after the lobby groups had written to Minister Hoggard requesting the change urgently. Notably, the decision to include this was made three months after submissions on the Bill had closed, meaning everyday people didn’t get to have a say on the decision

It’s not unusual for the political right in Aotearoa to favour the agriculture sector, but it is unheard of for the Government of the day to align themselves so closely and to the bidding of agriculture lobby groups. Agribusiness has been handed a golden ticket to continue polluting, and they’re using it. Meanwhile, we all pay the cost of their pollution in unswimmable rivers and contaminated drinking water.

Back in 2023 prior to the election, Jack Tame asked Hoggard in a TV interview whether he should have disclosed his ACT Party membership while negotiating He Waka Eke Noa on behalf of Federated Farmers, and whether it was a conflict of interest. Since then, the dairy farmer turned Minister has shepherded through consequential law changes at the behest of the lobby group he previously led, that will benefit the industry he has a personal stake in.

While many communities are dealing with degraded lakes and rivers and unsafe drinking water, the Luxon Government is letting the biggest freshwater polluters – the intensive dairy industry – write environmental policy. Anyone who is worried about their drinking water or the state of their rivers should be asking the Prime Minister to explain.

This all sounds quite dire, but it’s not the end of the story. More than 25 thousand people have signed our petition calling for Christopher Luxon to keep his hands off the fresh water protections, and more are adding their names every day.

We know that even when Governments don’t want to do the right thing, people power can lead to a win. We’ve won victories for the environment under a National Government before – like when we stopped the construction of the Ruataniwha Dam in the Central Hawke’s Bay. We can do it again.

Add your name to the petition now!