On Wednesday night I gave my final speech in Parliament.
For six years, I’ve had the privilege of standing up for farmers and making sure Wellington heard what rural New Zealand had to say.
I came to Wellington as a dairy farmer from Ruawai, pretty bloody perturbed by the growing divide between rural and urban New Zealand. There was plenty being said about farmers, but not nearly enough listening to them. I wanted rural New Zealand to have someone in the room who understood what Wellington’s rules looked like when they hit the farm gate, and who wasn’t afraid to say so.
You gave me the chance to be that person.
To every farmer and rural family who stopped me for a yarn, sent me a message, invited me onto the farm or trusted me with what was really happening: thank you.
I carried those conversations back to Wellington. They gave me the ammunition to fight Labour’s unworkable winter grazing rules, ute tax and SNAs. They kept me going as ACT fought to keep agriculture out of the ETS, protect the split-gas approach and secure methane targets that better reflect the science and the realities of farming.
Whatever I managed to achieve in Parliament belongs to rural New Zealand too. You spoke up and stood your ground. I was simply fortunate enough to carry that fight into Parliament.
I came here wanting rural New Zealand to be heard and respected again. I hope, in some small way, I helped make that happen.
It has been a bloody privilege to be your voice. I will never forget the trust you placed in me or the kindness you showed me.