Policy Co-ordination
To a large extent problems faced by rural communities are to do with un-managed change. Thisoccurs when rural people lack information and when monopoly providers of services (whether government or private business) make decisions which adversely impact on local people, without consulting those people, or giving them a chance to participate in the change process.
A key area of MAF’s work is the analysis of other agencies’ policies, and provision of advice to those ministries and departments on the impact of their policies on sustainable agriculture and other land-based industry. By working in partnership with other agencies, the specific sectoral skills and knowledge of the lead Ministry can be combined with MAF’s general understanding of rural industry and communities.
This approach acknowledges that due to MAF’s very limited resources, only a support role is provided in this work. This approach does not give rural people any special treatment. It does recognise that policy impacts will differ between rural and urban areas.
MAF’s role has been to consider legislative, policy and programme proposals in terms of how the policy will impact on
- performance of rural industries
- the operation and sustainability of rural communities, and
- the well-being of rural people (taking into account the needs of different groups) as a criterion of sustainability,
- from an economic, social and environmental perspective.
There are usually two policy issues which must be dealt with. The first is the need for a social science perspective to be included in the development of policies by all government agencies -discussed below. The second is that Wellington based policy analysts and advisors lack information on the physical, social and economic realities of living in rural areas, and particularly of living in isolated rural locations. Policies developed for urban areas are frequently inappropriate for rural locations, and often do not take account of the additional costs rural communities face in accessing services.
Example: Relevance of urban policies to rural situations
Over the past few years MAF has been working with the Department of Labour and ACC on occupational, health and safety issues. Regional and head office staff have considered proposed amendments to the legislation and their comments have been incorporated into the policy response and Ministerial briefings prepared at head office. The outcome has been legislation which more closely targets the issues causing concern.
For example, a section of the Health and Safety in Employment Act was developed in response to an accident in an urban workplace. Application of the legislation in a farm situation caused some farmers to decide to close their properties to all casual visitors. MAF has been working with the Occupational Health and Safety branch of the Department of Labour (OSH), on a proposed amendment of this policy. The outcome is that the policy now more directly targets the safety of farm workers and contracted staff working on the property (the intent of the legislation), takes into account the reality of working outside on a farm, and clarifies farmers’ responsibilities to the general public (under this Act).
Clarification of the legislation is important to ensure that farms which provide access to rural and coastal amenities continue to do so. Likewise, farms operators who have added a non-farming enterprise to their business need to know what their duty is to various groups of people, as do utility providers such as electricity distribution companies who require access onto farms to maintain power cables. MAF’s ‘backroom’ work is ensuring that a policy which could have significant impact on local development is fair and reasonable to all parties, and will contribute to, rather than block, local enterprise growth.
MAF has brought together groups of farmers and other rural people to work on policy documents and guidelines. This direct stakeholder involvement improves the quality and relevance of the document as well as ensuring those participating in the work (whether from a policy perspective or as a user) have greater understanding of the issues. For example, MAF is working with OSH on the wording of guidelines on safety issues with the use of farm equipment to improve the likelihood of farmers taking notice of them.
Example: Access Issues and Compliance Costs
Costs of delivering services and meeting compliance requirements are often higher in rural than in urban areas. For example, a rural playcentre with two sessions a week and a roll of 15 children has similar running costs to an urban playcentre running 10 session per week with a roll of 20. A school with 26 or fewer pupils costs $7,197 per pupil per year to run, compared to $3,647 per pupil for schools with 186-195 pupils. The cost of providing the mandatory fire safety report for a playcentre in the Chathams was $230 compared to $25 in Christchurch (Anderson and Pomeroy, 1994).
Policy which works in an urban situation where there are good public transport links may not be suitable in areas without public transport - such as rural areas. MAF’s role is to explain that while some rural areas can easily access urban services, other rural communities have difficulty accessing urban based services - because of the geography of the area.
For example, a policy proposal could close Masterton hospital because analysts think that Wairarapa residents can use the Hutt Valley’s hospital facilities. However, the barrier posed by the Rimutaka mountain range between the Wairarapa and the Hutt Valley means this access is only available in good weather - the road is sometimes closed by snow and strong winds in winter, and helicopters don’t fly at night or in very high winds.
While professional advice to support business, social service providers, and local people is readily available in urban places, it is hard to obtain in most rural areas. Many analysts who have not lived in a rural area do not realise the difficulty and cost of accessing services when each of the services required by the family or business is located an hour or two away often in different places.
Rural people expect to travel to urban places for services, but they often comment on the difficulty of obtaining appointments in, for example, public specialist medical facilities which they can attend easily without having to stay overnight. Time spent travelling eats into time which can be spent on other more constructive activities. The Government has a role in making information, life-skills, business and general education, more readily accessible to rural people. MAF, with Internal Affairs, meet some rural information needs through the Rural Bulletin (see below), but rural needs are broader than this. In an effort to meet these needs, MAF has been conducting meetings with various agencies to discuss the problems faced by rural people in accessing the agencies’ services. Also recognised are the uncertainties, stresses and problems which arise for rural people when different offices of the same agency interpret policy differently.
Contact for Enquiries
Rural Affairs Coordinator
Sector Performance Policy
MAF Policy
Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry
PO Box 2526
Wellington
NEW ZEALAND
Phone: +64 4 894 0675
Fax: +64 4 4 894 0745
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