Friday, March 29, 2024

Farmer privacy in question

Neal Wallace
Farm environment plans (FEPs) held by regional councils could be subject to public release, prompting farming leaders to seek assurance privacy and safety will be protected.
Reading Time: 3 minutes

Federated Farmers president Andrew Hoggard fears the information could be misused by activists or criminals, and is meeting with the Privacy Commissioner and Ombudsman to determine details will be protected.

Spokespersons for the Chief Ombudsman, Ministry for the Environment (MfE) and Local Government NZ have all confirmed FEPs lodged with central or local government can be released after requests under the Official Information Act (OIA) or Local Government Official Information and Meetings Act (LGOIMA).

“The OIA and LGOIMA provide the right to request information, but there are also provisions to protect that information from release if there is a good reason for withholding it,” a spokesperson for the Chief Ombudsman said.

Those grounds include maintenance of law or individual safety.

A guide on the Ombudsman’s website states those conditions also include who generated the information requested, what it reveals, the context in which the information was generated and the timing of the information in relation to a particular process.

The spokesperson says it is standard practice for government agencies to redact information that personally identifies individuals in responding to information requests.

Hoggard fears the release of information could expose commercial information and details which could be used by activists and criminals, potentially risking the health and safety of farming families.

“Farms are our homes and it would be very concerning to have activists turn up at our homes,” Hoggard said.

He cites the radical animal welfare group Aussie Farms, now called Farm Transparency Project, who used information to publish maps with names and addresses of farms which were targeted by activists.

State governments responded by introducing fines and new trespass laws, and the group was stripped of its charity status.

Hoggard says excessive public scrutiny could also make plans overly prescriptive.

“Farm plans should be an aspirational guide of the broad direction you want to take your farm in,” he said.

“They should help people and industry do better, not be used as a weapon against them.”

For example, weather conditions could be such that a proposed action stated in a plan may not be possible, but public scrutiny could identify a farmer is not acting according to their plan.

Environment Canterbury (ECan) general counsel Catherine Schache says almost all information it holds is subject to LGOIMA.

“The LGOIMA creates a presumption in favour of information being made available, but it contains some grounds for withholding information,” Schache said.

“Relevant considerations in deciding whether to release farm environment plans are whether the plan contains personal information or whether disclosing certain information would prejudice a person’s commercial position.

“Those considerations are weighed against the public interest in the information being disclosed.”

ECan has had five LGOIMA requests for FEPs since 2017, the reasons for the requests are unknown.

A MfE spokesperson says plans are subject to release because they are a requirement to the Resource Management Act (RMA) and are held by regional councils.

The Government is still to determine what will be included in plans, but the MfE spokesperson says public disclosure of relevant and appropriate information could help build public confidence in their implementation and effectiveness.

Beef + Lamb NZ manager of policy and advocacy Dave Harrison says individual privacy must be protected.

“Farm plans are an alternative to resource consent and clearly certain things need to be included and there has to be accountability, but it does not require chapter and verse to be made public,” Harrison said.

Farm management needs flexibility and freedom, which he says that may not be possible if farmers were under constant scrutiny.

Fonterra manager for Farm Excellence Mat Cullen says Fonterra FEPs are tailored to the needs of individual farms and at the most basic level address minimum conditions of supply, basic regulatory compliance, identification of environmental risks and good farming practices assessment.

Plans are held within Fonterra’s secure central database where it is protected in accordance with the Privacy Act and company policies.

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