Latest / Early Edition with Ryan Bridge / Richard McIntyre: Federated Farmers banking spokesperson on banks' climate informed decisions

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Richard McIntyre: Federated Farmers banking spokesperson on banks' climate informed decisions · Early Edition with Ryan Bridge

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Shane Jones has gone off at the banks, and it's
• 0:02
  Speaker 1: understood that New Zealand First could be looking at a
• 0:05
  Speaker 1: member's bill that could force the big banks to lend
• 0:07
  Speaker 1: to any businesses that deal in fossil fuel. Shane Jones
• 0:11
  Speaker 1: says the Australian banks, who dominate the New Zealand market,
• 0:14
  Speaker 1: need to stop being an i quote driven by unelected,
• 0:18
  Speaker 1: unrientated climate apostles. Australia's opposition party is looking at a
• 0:23
  Speaker 1: similar bill to ensure critical businesses like farming and mining
• 0:26
  Speaker 1: are able to access bank lending and services despite how
• 0:30
  Speaker 1: the banks view their businesses. So Richard McIntyre as the
• 0:33
  Speaker 1: banking spokesperson for Federated Farmers and joins me, Now, goodby.
• 0:36
  Speaker 2: To you, Richard, Good morning Andrew.
• 0:39
  Speaker 1: Do you agree with mister Jones.
• 0:41
  Speaker 2: Look, I think this is a really interesting discussion we
• 0:43
  Speaker 2: have to have as a country. Yet, do we want
• 0:47
  Speaker 2: to have our elited government setting laws and deciding what
• 0:49
  Speaker 2: society can and can't do or do we want unelited
• 0:52
  Speaker 2: banks being able to do that? You know, typically, you know,
• 0:55
  Speaker 2: we are quite comfortable for businesses to decide who they
• 0:58
  Speaker 2: do business with or not. And when we have have
• 1:02
  Speaker 2: a sector that plays such a huge role in society,
• 1:04
  Speaker 2: like banks too, and they've got quite a bit of scale,
• 1:08
  Speaker 2: and they're also making rule making agreements like the nen
• 1:12
  Speaker 2: Zari banking lots to act in very similar manners. Then
• 1:15
  Speaker 2: you know, we've really got a question where it's very
• 1:17
  Speaker 2: reasonable for them for them to be doing that.
• 1:20
  Speaker 1: Yeah, but it's their money, and they're the banks, and
• 1:24
  Speaker 1: there's their choice, and that's their freedom of choice. But
• 1:27
  Speaker 1: I understand what you're saying. Have you heard of farmers
• 1:29
  Speaker 1: here having issues accessing lending and other banking services because
• 1:32
  Speaker 1: of their climate practices?
• 1:35
  Speaker 2: So we've got farmers who are being asked for all
• 1:39
  Speaker 2: of their emissions profiles and that sort of thing. We've
• 1:41
  Speaker 2: got the banks who have the vast majority of them
• 1:44
  Speaker 2: so far have set emissions reduction targets for their farmers
• 1:48
  Speaker 2: or for the ag sector, and so that's the real concern.
• 1:51
  Speaker 2: You know what happens after that. We've seen what is
• 1:53
  Speaker 2: happening with B and Z and the petrol stations where
• 1:57
  Speaker 2: you know, individually owned petrol stations, so the local petrol
• 2:00
  Speaker 2: stations and being told that they have to pay back
• 2:03
  Speaker 2: all of the debt that they own that they owe. Sorry,
• 2:06
  Speaker 2: by twenty thirty, and after that they can have no
• 2:09
  Speaker 2: more debt but a transactional account, and that than nothing more.
• 2:12
  Speaker 2: So there's a real question of you know, where is
• 2:14
  Speaker 2: this going to go for farmers if they can't meet
• 2:16
  Speaker 2: whatever targets the banks do set, because you know, what
• 2:20
  Speaker 2: begins in particular are doing to these petrol stations seems
• 2:24
  Speaker 2: completely unreasonable.
• 2:25
  Speaker 1: So what changes would you like to see a new legislation?
• 2:30
  Speaker 2: I guess if new legislation camp forwards, I would like
• 2:32
  Speaker 2: to see in all reality, either far far greater competition
• 2:37
  Speaker 2: in the banking space, so that if banks would decided
• 2:40
  Speaker 2: that individually they wanted to be the moral police of
• 2:43
  Speaker 2: the country, then there'd be enough competitions so that whatever
• 2:47
  Speaker 2: businesses they were declined into fund could actually get lending elsewhere.
• 2:51
  Speaker 2: But I think as a society we just really need
• 2:54
  Speaker 2: to have a really good discussion. And so are we
• 2:56
  Speaker 2: a democratic, critically elected are we proceed? Do we have
• 3:00
  Speaker 2: a democratic really to government that decides what we can
• 3:03
  Speaker 2: and can't do? Or are we happy to leave it
• 3:06
  Speaker 2: up to these big corporates, you know, making decisions overseas
• 3:09
  Speaker 2: about what we can and can't do, what industries they
• 3:11
  Speaker 2: will fund or won't fund. You know, there's an issue
• 3:14
  Speaker 2: there that really deserves some discussion.
• 3:15
  Speaker 1: Richard, I thank you for your time today. Richard McIntyre
• 3:18
  Speaker 1: is from Federated Pharmacy Banking spokesperson.
• 3:21
  Speaker 2: For more from Earlily Edition with Ryan Bridge, Listen live
• 3:24
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• 3:27
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