Cameron MarkMARK CAMERON (ACT): Thank you Mr Speaker. When will it end?" farmers ask me. "Soon soon."—I offer it to them—"After 14 October."Hon Member: M. bovis you mean? When will M. bovis end?MARK CAMERON: More vacuous assertions from the left I see. Farmers everywhere affronted by the political theatricality of the left want change and they deserve it. On this side of the House the ACT Party have already offered solutions and are willing to deliver more to them. We're convinced conventional wisdom trumps political pontificating and piety and common sense prevails. Rural New Zealand lost to the Wellington boffins will finally see pride returned the ACT Party ever spurring that narrative that Government has a limited role not a controlling one. Bureaucrats a million miles away from on-farm practice who know not of cowshed woolshed or farm paddock are dictating terms of reference.Hon Member: Hard to get rid of M. bovis!MARK CAMERON: In my time representing the rural sector the questions come thick and fast—more vacuous assertions from the left I see—"Why is it so that the Government seeks solutions" they say "for ill-defined problems?" That central mandate runs roughshod over local nuance or how on-farm morale could actually be so bad—Hon Member: Unless it's to get Wellington moving.MARK CAMERON: —something that that member would know nothing of. "And how is it that Minister Parker and Minister Shaw continually offer priestly sermons from up on high about on-farm practice or where or how or why we should even farm?" many ask.Recently ACT returned from its rural heartland tour. The anger and the angst offered by farmers was commonplace. "The wasteful spending in Wellington" they said "was nonsense." The Ministry for Primary Industries' allocated budget of $176 million—reconcile that one—for policy design was highlighted to me but total disconnection from on-farm practices and outcomes and understanding were obvious where cause and effect were leagues apart from today's policy makers. "Come and talk to rural people." they said. Wellington wonks aside one didn't need to look far to find glaring examples of this problem: a proposed emissions pricing scheme that would see the world's most efficient farmers go into a taxable regime in the absence of technology only hurting small-town NZ. Ask any consumer—say to them ask them—if driving up staple food prices is a good thing. Gracious me. It's up 12.5 percent in a year alone. Green vegetables are up over 20 percent. Beat up the rural sector and that reality only gets worse. When will common sense prevail?The idiocy of this is never more evident than the freshwater farm plans. Somehow Minister Parker's office and its officials know best—more than those that do it. No more evidence was needed to highlight that centralism over localism does not work when research results from Otago University's Associate Professor Janice Lord stated in relation to intensive winter grazing "The one-size-fits-all nature of this policy has the potential to create counterproductive outcomes." This is common sense. Everyone knows it to be so—sadly not the Ministers. The list and the litany of confusion in rural New Zealand go beyond that He Waka Eke Noa and the semblance of it. Good luck I say to those trying to make sense of that riddle. That's right: the Labour Government still maintains that taxing the most climate-efficient farmers in the world is the way to go. Go figure. A full departure from common sense I say but hey what can you expect from an outgoing Government? Clearly no one has told these people the difference between a short-term and a long-term gas but I guess explaining it is losing to this lot. Give me strength. While solace is just around the corner 14 October is but a few months away and rest assured for those that have suffered the foul wind of Labour this lot will soon be gone come election. Dispense with the nonsense and finally we can get back to what we do so well: farming in rural New Zealand."