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Deputy Prime Minister David Seymour defends high butter prices, highlights benefits for farmers

Deputy Prime Minister David Seymour defends high butter prices, highlights benefits for farmers

NZ Herald4 days ago
'There are two ways you can look at this. One is to criticise the fact that, you know, prices are high, they're set overseas, and they benefit New Zealand farmers.
'Or we can ask ourselves, how do we ensure that New Zealand has a growing economy, a high-wage economy, so that when prices spike like this it doesn't have a big impact on families.'
He claimed petrol prices were low at the moment, and those were high when dairy was cheap so the consistent theme was that 'need for a high wage economy'.
Yesterday, Finance Minister Nicola Willis met with Fonterra chief executive Miles Hurrell to discuss the high prices, though Seymour said the meeting was not unusual.
'I think people have misrepresented the whole purpose of the meeting'.
Willis told Bridge yesterday morning the meeting would not solely be about butter, but the high price paid by New Zealanders for the dairy product would be on the agenda.
'I will be asking about their retail pricing model, how they're seeing the supermarkets' margins, how they're seeing their own margins, understanding what's getting through to the consumer and whether there's anything we can do there.'
In May, Fonterra posted a $1.158 billion Q3 profit and pitched its farmgate milk price forecast for the 2025/26 season in a range of $8-$11 per kg of milk solids.
Inflation figures released yesterday show the consumer price index (CPI) increased 2.7% in the 12 months to the June 2025 quarter. That means the official inflation rate is at its highest point in the last year.
Green Party co-leader Chloe Swarbrick said there needed to be greater urgency when breaking up the supermarket duopoly.
'That looks, of course, like greater transparency around particularly supply chains. And there's been a lot of words on it, but not a heck of a lot of action.'
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Mediawatch: Media milking butter battle
Mediawatch: Media milking butter battle

RNZ News

time43 minutes ago

  • RNZ News

Mediawatch: Media milking butter battle

Big money for butter - as seen on TV on 1News on Tuesday, reporting the bitter butter battle turning political. Photo: screenshot / TVNZ 1News "How much is a block of butter?" a reporter from Stuff asked as things wrapped up the prime minister's post-Cabinet media conference on Monday. The tension was palpable. This was a high-stakes moment. "About $8.40 in New Zealand at the moment," Christopher Luxon responded. Close enough, thankfully for Luxon. Woolworths' in-house salted butter is $8.50, and you can get 500g of Rolling Meadow at PaknSave for $8.29. The consequences for getting it wrong would undoubtedly have been dire. In case you've been living under a rock inside a cave on the planet Venus during a solar storm - while wearing a blindfold and noise-cancelling headphones - our entire nation and nearly all of its media organisations have been fixated on the price of 500g of pure concentrated uncut dairy. The price has risen nearly 50 percent in a year and that's caused quite a few conniptions back home on Earth. Stuff actually ran a story on Luxon getting the price of butter right. Meanwhile journalists accosted Fonterra boss Miles Hurrell out in the open with questions about the cost of his company's yellow gold. First he had to fend off TVNZ political editor Maiki Sherman , not once but twice, ahead of a heavily-promoted meeting with finance minister Nicola Willis at Parliament. Hurrell got away, only to encounter RNZ's political reporter Giles Dexter afterwards - and by then he was pretty fed up. "I'll talk to media in the morning," he replied tersely to Dexter's enquiries. (Two more days passed before he actually did). But the media's intense interest in that meeting was understandable. It had been billed as a kind of 'please explain' and the finance minister told RNZ's Checkpoint she would grill Hurrell on the price of butter. "Sometimes we're seeing cheaper prices in British or Australian supermarkets and I'm interested to understand how much of that is about the lack of supermarket competition here - and how much is about the prices that Fonterra is passing through," she said. But that tough talk got the goat of Newstalk ZB morning host Mike Hosking during his weekly interview with the prime minister on Monday. "No she's not," he responded, after Luxon said Willis was doing a good job on food prices. "She's off to Fonterra this week to meet who? Miles. And what's she going to talk to Miles about? She's going to talk about the price of butter. I can tell you why the price of butter is the price of butter, and I don't know why we have a finance minister who doesn't know. We get the international price for butter." "Nicola has this penchant for saying stuff that might lead you to believe she could produce an uzi out of a handbag and blitz the room," he said later in a two-minute-long Mike's Minute . The following morning Willis was keen to tell RNZ's First Up her meeting with Hurrell was just a regularly scheduled catch-up. But the Fonterra boss was pursued around Parliament and the streets of Wellington nevertheless. It didn't deter our media from delivering blanket coverage of the meeting and post-butter discussion analysis - and the price of butter more generally in news bulletins, commentary and explainers . The Herald 's Liam Dann implored the media to have a little bit of perspective in his weekly column in the Herald on Sunday last weekend. He said high butter prices are actually only costing many families about $4 a week and other price rises hit harder. He told Mediawatch we might be overreacting to the incredible cost of a spreadable product. "If you're going to get worked up about a food product in New Zealand, it's going to be dairy. There's a sort of cultural connection to dairy and this feeling that we produce so much of the stuff that it's not fair that it costs so much." Dann said high dairy prices were a net positive for the country's economy, with the current spike expected to bring in an additional $10 billion in export revenue over this year and next. Politicians - including former Fonterra employee Nicola Willis - were well aware of that. But he acknowledged those gains were less tangible and visceral than the sight of a $10 block of butter in the supermarket aisle. The high price of butter was also emblematic of the wider cost of living crisis, he said. "I'm certainly not downplaying the cost of living crisis... but if you actually do the maths and crunch how much discretionary income's coming or going based on your butter consumption, we're talking cents." "Perhaps it is just that we need something to focus on, to channel that anger around what's happening to the overall supermarket sector." Dann has pleaded with politicians to " raise the quality of debate " and focus on structural economic issues rather than the price of butter. But surely that goes for the media as well? Liam Dann didn't want to blame the media, but said the wider issue of New Zealand's low wage and under-productive economy was far more important and worthy of analysis than individual commodity prices. "How do we organise the system so we've actually got a thriving domestic economy, people are paid more and can afford to eat these products that we've grown up culturally seeing as our own?" Good question. For now though, the media is firmly focused on butter. The meeting between Hurrell and Willis, in particular, would have been a friendly one rather than the adversarial encounter some stories suggested. But that reporting was driven by the intoxicating allure of thousands of clicks. "We see that the butter story is what everybody's clicking on... and it becomes a topic that gets momentum. We start asking economists about the butter, and then that gets into people's heads," he said. "We get a sort of a media spiral going where it just becomes a bit of a phenomenon in its own right." That may not be as edifying as a discussion of the economic conditions behind our lagging wages, but it's certainly a lot more clickable. In the end, just like Fonterra, the media is a business too - and it also follows the money. Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero, a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.

Winston Peters: ‘Careless' immigration ‘transforming cities', Nigel Farage's Reform ‘compelling'
Winston Peters: ‘Careless' immigration ‘transforming cities', Nigel Farage's Reform ‘compelling'

NZ Herald

time3 hours ago

  • NZ Herald

Winston Peters: ‘Careless' immigration ‘transforming cities', Nigel Farage's Reform ‘compelling'

Peters, who is the Foreign Affairs Minister, spoke about what he described as an 'alarming development' overseas. 'People are concerned as to where their countries are going, and New Zealanders are no different. They are more acutely aware of the problem we're dealing with here than the politicians are. 'They have seen the international circumstances of careless immigration policies transforming cities, changing cities, changing centuries of development and social life, and people feel at risk because of it.' He pointed to several European countries, including England, where he said there were concerns about 'people who have come there who don't salute the flag, don't salute the values of the country, don't salute the people who were there before them, don't respect the right to have your own religion'. 'These sorts of things are values that we need to stress. If you don't subscribe to that, don't come here.' He believed New Zealand was experiencing similar issues. 'Some of these people are out there celebrating diversity, flying all sorts of flags. We have one flag in this country and it's been there since 1904 ... That's what they should be saluting. People have died for it.' NZ First leader Winston Peters speaks to the Herald about his party's view on immigration. Photo / Mark Mitchell His comments come against the backdrop of the rising popularity of Nigel Farage's Reform UK party. It has soared past Labour and the Conservatives in recent polls, though a general election could be several years away. Peters has told the Herald he is 'friends' with Farage and that they communicate. He was 'entertained' by the Reform leader last time he was in the UK. 'I think that there are things to do with that party and New Zealand First which are so similar. That is why we've got confidence going into the future.' Those similarities were 'true grit, determination and principles'. Asked whether he looked at Reform and its targeting of immigration, Peters responded: 'Yes, I do. It's very compelling, but that they had to come to that is a serious worry'. Farage, best known for his Brexit advocacy, takes a hardline approach to immigration policy. Last year, he said British culture was 'under threat' and 'in decline', and proposed a freeze on non-essential migration. He warned of riots last year if migrants did not 'integrate' into their communities. While Farage has faced allegations of emboldening racism – he denies this and says Reform is 'non-racist' - his party appears to be influencing the public debate in the UK about immigration. An Ipsos poll in May found Reform had the highest level of trust on immigration policies, while Prime Minister Keir Starmer's Labour Party has taken a stronger line on border issues. In a May speech, Starmer said the UK risked becoming an 'island of strangers'. He later expressed regret after criticism that his comment echoed British politician Enoch Powell, who said in 1968 that the UK's white population could find themselves 'strangers in their own country'. Massey University distinguished professor Paul Spoonley previously told the Herald that he didn't believe there was a similar anti-immigration sentiment here. 'Australia, Canada and New Zealand target skilled migrants, and we use our point[s] system to identify who's going to be appropriate. We have a very managed immigration system. Most of Europe does not.' Winston Peters met Reform UK leader Nigel Farage in the United Kingdom last year. Photo / Facebook/Winston Peters 'Still our plan', 32 years on The interview with Peters was held as NZ First celebrates its 32nd birthday. When it was formed, the party laid out 15 principles, including acknowledging that, while New Zealand would need 'overseas skills and expertise', it did not want immigration to be 'an excuse for our failure to train, skill and employ our own people'. That remained 'as much a principle now as it was back then', Peters said. 'We, like wise countries, have always believed we should be training and employing our own people first and not use immigration as an excuse not to do that. That is still our plan.' He expressed concern about the current number of migrants to New Zealand. In the year to May 2025, there was a net migration gain of 15,000, driven by 140,000 arrivals offset by 125,000 departures. The number of arrivals is down from a peak of roughly 235,000 in late 2023, but still above the long-term average of 119,000. However, due to the large number of departures, the net gain is below the average of nearly 28,000. Peters' concern about the immigration figures is in part prompted by his desire for New Zealanders to be employed, but he also remembers a time when arriving migrants were supported by appropriate infrastructure. 'There was a time when we were getting people from around the world putting down £10 to get here. They were coming to a job and a house and infrastructure, schooling, everything. Teachers and doctors and all sorts of people were coming here.' New Zealand's infrastructure deficit and pressures in the health system are well-reported, and Peters said work was under way on a population policy that he hoped would be revealed this term. 'If you're going to bring in people that you essentially need, we've got to make sure we've got the infrastructure for them,' he said. Net migration gain is below the long-term average, but about 140,000 people still arrived here in the year to May. Photo / Alex Burton In 2003, while speaking from the opposition benches in Parliament, Peters complained that 'a hundred thousand New Zealanders are out of work, yet we are bringing in tens of thousands of immigrants'. With Peters now in power, the Herald put it to him that, at the end of June, 216,000 people were receiving Jobseeker support while thousands of migrants were arriving. He responded that, if his party's message had been given more prominence, it would have 'far more members and we'd be in control of the circumstances now'. 'Unfortunately, you didn't, and we're working for the next campaign to ensure that this time our voices are heard on the way through. 'We are still saying that the drivers to take people from secondary school into employment aren't strong enough. 'Too many people are able to access social welfare without making every effort to get employment, to get jobs. How come we've got so many people who are so-called job-ready but not in jobs?' Part of NZ First's coalition agreement with National included strengthening obligations for beneficiaries and sanctions if those were not fulfilled. Coalition engagement While NZ First may have strong views on immigration, it's National MP Erica Stanford who is the Immigration Minister. 'She's inherited the most difficult portfolio, and it's very hard to try to meet the demands of employers who need essential workers when we've had such a haphazard system,' Peters said. The Government announced last month that it would establish a Parent Boost Visa in September. Based on a National Party election policy, it will allow the parents of migrants to visit New Zealand for up to 10 years as long as they fulfil certain criteria, including having health insurance. As the Herald has reported, the visa has no cap, but Stanford doesn't expect it will lead to an 'explosion' in migration. However, Cabinet documents warned there was 'significant uncertainty' about how many people might take up the visa and that there would be impacts on the health system. Asked for NZ First's view on the policy, Peters stressed that conditions attached to the visa required migrants to pay their medical costs. 'There'd be no cost on the New Zealand taxpayer. Why should the New Zealand taxpayer be paying for someone to come here as a worker, but also now they've got somebody else who is coming here to access our social welfare for free? 'The condition was they would not be required, would not access our social welfare system. That's still our position.' Officials' advice, however, highlighted that, even if the parents had insurance, they could take up spots in GP clinics and emergency rooms. Peters said it was the Government's responsibility to fix 'our GP problem'. He also suggested that, while the visa had no cap, there was a limit on how many people would meet the criteria. Ministers were warned of an impact on the health system from Parent Boost. Photo / File In 2023, NZ First campaigned on having a cap of 1000 on the Parent Resident Visa. It's currently 2500. Asked if he was happy with that cap, Peters responded: 'There are a number of things we're not happy with, but we're working on them every day and every week with the ministers who are concerned. 'We want the outcome and the finality of a policy to be accepted and hopefully across the political divide.' So why should people vote for NZ First over National or Act when it comes to immigration policy? 'There's only one nationalist party in this country, and you're looking at it. The rest are globalists. They don't deny that. 'We're a nationalist party, and I see the success of Croatia, modern Croatia. I see the success of modern Poland. These countries are focused on their people's national interests first and foremost because that's what democracy is answerable to: the people, not the world, but your own people.' Jamie Ensor is a political reporter in the NZ Herald press gallery team based at Parliament. He was previously a TV reporter and digital producer in the Newshub press gallery office. In 2025, he was a finalist for Political Journalist of the Year at the Voyager Media Awards.

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