PM Finally Meets Groundswell NZ
December 16, 2022
“A healthy exchange of information” is how Groundswell New Zealand co-founder Laurie Paterson describes yesterday’s meeting with Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern in Wellington. Mr Paterson and co-founder Bryce McKenzie, accompanied by several other representatives of the farmer advocacy group, secured a 30-minute audience with Ms Ardern which lasted for more than an hour.
Also present were Climate Change Minister James Shaw, Agriculture Minister Damien O’Connor, who left part-way through for another engagement, and fellow ministers Meka Whaitiri and Kieran McAnulty, along with staff.
Speaking as he prepared to travel home to his Greenvale, West Otago, farm, Mr Paterson said the intention was to tell Ms Ardern and her ministers about what it was like for grassroots farmers and he believed they achieved that.