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Speaker 1: Barry Soper, Senior Political Correspondence with US. Hey, Barry, good afternoon.

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Speaker 1: So what I mean the farmers have been asking for

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Speaker 1: this inquiry into rural banking for such a long time.

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Speaker 1: What's finally sparked it?

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Speaker 2: Well, you'll probably be aware. In February, the Primary Production

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Speaker 2: Select Committee they opened a briefing into rural banking lending

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Speaker 2: and they heard from numerous numerous concerns from farmers and

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Speaker 2: they thought that other rural communities would also feel the

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Speaker 2: same way. So based on that feedback, the committee considered

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Speaker 2: the issue was worthy of further scrutiny. And that's what

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Speaker 2: Nikola willis. She's asked the Primary Production Committee to work

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Speaker 2: with the Finance and Expenditure Committee to look at the

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Speaker 2: banks in this country and how they treat the rural sector.

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Speaker 2: I've been talking around the rural sector today, Heather, and look,

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Speaker 2: the interesting aspect to me is that they do not

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Speaker 2: like the banks and the way they're being treated by

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Speaker 2: the banks. And what they say is rather than lending

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Speaker 2: the money, the banks prefer to extend their overdraft. Now

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Speaker 2: by extending their overdraft adding to it, they get more

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Speaker 2: interest from it, so they.

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Speaker 1: A floating rate.

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Speaker 2: But yes, a higher rate, so the banks they don't

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Speaker 2: see as their friends at all. What the Finance Select

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Speaker 2: Committee can do is get the banking regulators, that's the

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Speaker 2: Reserve Bank, the Commerce Commission, who itself is conducting an

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Speaker 2: inquiry that will come out in August, and the Financial

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Speaker 2: Markets Authority. They can question them. But you can also

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Speaker 2: expect to hear submissions around New Zealand chief executives. They

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Speaker 2: should be made available for questioning from the politicians. But

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Speaker 2: what can the politicians do well, I guess they'll come

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Speaker 2: down with the report that will go to Parliament. But

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Speaker 2: the National Party has the majority on these select committees,

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Speaker 2: so they could recommend legislation controlling the banks a bit better.

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Speaker 2: There will be a particular emphasis in this inquiry, like

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Speaker 2: I said, on the rural sector, where the primes to

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Speaker 2: get a rousing reception at the Field days in Hamilton today,

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Speaker 2: particularly for taking farmers yesterday out of the ETS which

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Speaker 2: was meant to kick in next year. Here's Chris Luxon

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Speaker 2: saying how farmers should be left alone to get on

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Speaker 2: with the job.

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Speaker 3: We are eending the war on farmers by slashing through

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Speaker 3: the jungle of rear and green tape, so they can

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Speaker 3: actually focus on their businesses and growing their farm gate profits.

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Speaker 3: Last year, just to ground you in some backs, food

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Speaker 3: and fiber earned fifty seven billion dollars in export revenues,

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Speaker 3: about eighty two percent of all our goods exported out

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Speaker 3: of New Zealand. And so clearly the primary sector is

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Speaker 3: going to have to play an absolutely crucial role to

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Speaker 3: help us double the value of exports in the next

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Speaker 3: ten years.

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Speaker 2: Just a reminder for your listeners, and I'm sure they

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Speaker 2: don't need reminding of it, but last year the net

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Speaker 2: profit after tax for the mainly the four big major

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Speaker 2: banks in New Zealand was seven point two billion dollars.

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Speaker 2: It's profit.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, they're not suret on a penny, are they?

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Speaker 3: No?

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Speaker 1: Hey, was Maureen Pew hurt?

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Speaker 3: No?

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Speaker 2: I don't think she was hurt. She was probably more

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Speaker 2: upset than hurt. She was Antarctica meeting with members of

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Speaker 2: the Golden Bay Community Board who were discussing, among other things,

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Speaker 2: getting around the fast Track to gold, the gold mining

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Speaker 2: proposal planned by an Australian company called at Sam's Creek.

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Speaker 2: It's called Siren. I think it's Syreen Gold. Now. There

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Speaker 2: was a large protest outside the meeting venue and at

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Speaker 2: least one of them came forward pushed to protest a

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Speaker 2: placard into Marewen Pugh's chest. She was quite upset about.

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Speaker 2: But then another came and walked right up to a

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Speaker 2: face apparently and got stuck into her there, and then

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Speaker 2: the protests has surrounded her car. It's really interesting to

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Speaker 2: me just how the momentum is building up around the

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Speaker 2: country against this fast track legislation. But these are people

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Speaker 2: that would like to see, in my view, the country

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Speaker 2: go the way it was going, with nothing being nothing

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Speaker 2: being consented to, add all on having to wait years

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Speaker 2: in some cases hopefully, Well, I won't be listened to,

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Speaker 2: and you know the government will get its way.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, and if they behave like this, they're going to

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Speaker 1: lose favor very fast. Absolutely. But yeah, do you think

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Speaker 1: I mean, this is the question. Do you think that

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Speaker 1: there is enough resistance to this idea from the likes

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Speaker 1: of you know, the environmental lobby groups and everybody else

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Speaker 1: who cares about it. Is there enough resistance to put

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Speaker 1: this government in an awkward position?

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Speaker 3: Ah?

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Speaker 2: No, I wouldn't think so. You know. The champion of it,

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Speaker 2: of course, is Shane Jones, who wax is very lyrical

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Speaker 2: about it. But I think look, there's a general understanding,

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Speaker 2: I would believe among the public and particularly those companies

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Speaker 2: that have tried to get a consent and having to

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Speaker 2: wait as long as they have to know just how

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Speaker 2: wrecked this area of the economy is and it needs

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Speaker 2: to be spruced up.

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Speaker 1: Barry, thank you very much, really appreciate this. Barry Sober,

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Speaker 1: Senior Political Corresponding.

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