Today, the Prime Minister visited farms across central Northland to discuss the government’s regions policies. /u/Fresh3001 first visited a cattle farm near Whirinaki and spoke to its owner about the Regional Investment Corporation Bill. The farmer was looking to expand his business and had a reliable cash flow, but lacked the capital to fund such an expansion.

“We’ve got some good business going here and I’m looking to expand in the near future, but can’t afford taking a loan out just yet. What will the government do for me?”

“Well, fortunately for you the government has just submitted the Regional Investment Corporation bill, which sets up a crown entity company to help farmers and rural entrepreneurs just like yourself. This Regional Investment Corporation would offer generous loans to farmers and administer grants for the development of rural infrastructure. Regions like Northland have entrepreneurs like yourself who’d like to contribute more to the local economy through private enterprise, but often aren’t able to fund such expansions. This bill and the Regional Investment Corporation would give that opportunity.”

The next farm the Prime Minister visited was a dairy farm near Taheke, where the owner was struggling with the private debt he had acquired when he first purchased the farm 15 years ago. Prime Minister /u/Fresh3001 explained the Farm Debt Mediation Bill to the farmer. “Overbearing private debt is a real problem for Kiwi farmers - and considering the importance of agriculture in the New Zealand economy, for regular Kiwis too. The idea of this bill is to introduce agricultural debt mediation as a mandatory step before the appointment of a receiver in respect of agricultural debt. Federated Farmers have said that many are dissatisfied with existing dispute resolution options within the Banking Ombudsman Scheme. This piece of legislation places obligations on the Banking Ombudsman Scheme to administer agricultural debt mediation. As Minister for Regions, /u/Kingethan15 was responsible for drafting and submitting this bill.”

”Wow, it sounds like the government - hell, the Liberal Party - actually cares about the regions! I’ll be sure to give /u/Kingethan15 my vote.”

Finally, Prime Minister /u/Fresh3001 visited a successful crop farm near Kaikohe and spoke to a farmer who was also considering expansion and was very interested in the government’s policy of selling Landcorp.

”Now, I’ve been a fan of the Liberal Party since you guys were called ACT but this Landcorp policy is one which has really got me on board. I’ve long sat and watched as Landcorp owned the fields bordering mine and done nothing with them - and I’ve got no other direction to expand my farm. Bloody happy that I’ll be given a chance to actually buy it!”

“Haha, yeah it’s just a common sense policy isn’t it? For the past few years Landcorp, a state owned enterprise, has been running a loss of between $6 and $7 million annually! It’s a burden to the taxpayer and it holds crown land which would be better off in the hands of Kiwi citizens, not the state. This policy, which will give neighbouring farmers or local iwi the first opportunity to purchase, should see that land go to good use and will help out regional economies.”