What’s Labour doing for rural New Zealand?

Growing our primary sector workforce

To make sure our primary industries have the skilled workers they need, we’ve made trades training in critical industries free. This will enable young people across New Zealand to upskill for a career in agriculture, horticulture, viticulture, fisheries or forestry, while ensuring our primary industries can get the workers they need to get the job done.

Find out more here.

Connecting rural communities

In today’s world, being online is essential for business, education and recreation. As part of our rural broadband roll-out, we’re installing mobile broadband towers around the country to improve connectivity in our regions. We’ve already installed more than 100 towers to better connect our rural communities and businesses.

Protecting farmers from costly pests

We’ve ramped up pest control programmes around the country to get rid of costly pests like wilding pines and wallabies. This will not only help keep costs down for farmers, but will also create jobs in our regions and support New Zealand’s economic recovery.

We’re also continuing to work with farmers so we can become the first country in the world to eradicate Mycoplasma bovis.

Investing in schools, healthcare and jobs

We’re investing in infrastructure projects across the country that will make our communities more resilient, while creating thousands of jobs and supporting our economic recovery.

This includes upgrading almost every state school in New Zealand and rebuilding hospitals and health centres in our regions, along with investing in community projects like swimming pools, sports facilities and wastewater networks.

Boosting export earnings with our primary industries

We’re working with our farmers and growers to generate an extra $44 billion in export earnings over the next decade, while protecting the environment and creating jobs. Through the Fit for the Future – Accelerating our Economic Potential roadmap, we’re investing in projects that will not only boost our economy, but will do so in a sustainable way that means our natural resources will be there for future generations.

Supporting communities through emergencies

When a flood, drought or severe storms hits, our farmers and growers are among the hardest hit. We’ve rolled out more than $19 million to support communities affected by severe weather events, investing in practical support like animal feed coordination services as well as mental health and wellbeing support through rural networks, so our farmers and growers can weather whatever storms come their way.

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