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# Just $600K for Flood-Stricken Kiwi Farmers
- URL: https://goodoil.news/just-600k-for-flood-stricken-kiwi-farmers/
- Published: 2025-07-21T21:30:01.000Z
- Updated: 2025-07-21T21:30:00.000Z
- Description: But $16 million for Ukraine.
- Author: Reproduced with permission
- Tags: NZ Politics, Business, Economy

[**Matua Kahurangi**](https://matuakahurangi.com/p/16-million-for-ukraine-but-just-600k?ref=goodoil.news)  
*Just a bloke sharing thoughts on New Zealand and the world beyond. No fluff, just honest takes.*

About a month ago, I wrote about the $16 million Prime Minister Chris Luxon proudly pledged to Ukraine. At the time, I asked how can this government justify giving millions to a war 17,000 kilometres away while New Zealanders are struggling through a cost-of-living crisis, homelessness, and exploding surgery waitlists?

Now we’ve got an answer.

On July 20th, Luxon posted this on X:

> Today I saw first-hand the significant impact the Nelson Tasman region floods has had on families and businesses.   
>  
> So I was pleased to announce that in addition to a $600,000 support package, we’re funding a new weather radar for the region, which plays an incredibly important role in emergency management events.

![](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!luOT!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F6b4055e6-f103-48bb-b76a-46e590229c54_363x698.png)

Farming communities in Tasman have just been hammered by two major flood events. Fences flattened, paddocks drowned, livelihoods destroyed. And the government’s response is a support package of just $600,000\. That’s bloody pocket change.

Last night, as I sat down to my Sunday roast and flicked on 1News (yes, I watched it so you don’t have to), a local farmer said insurance will only cover $5,000 for his fences and he now faces an $80,000 bill to repair them. Add GST and you’re looking at over $92,000\. That’s just for one farm. Multiply that across the whole region and tell me how far $600k will go.

The government also threw a one-off grant of $50,000 to the Student Volunteer Army. A nice gesture, sure, but not nearly enough. These students are doing more on the ground than half the Cabinet. Meanwhile, Chris Luxon turned up in freshly-shined gumboots looking like a bloke who’d never seen a farm in his life. It was nothing more than a PR stunt.

![Minister Meager is pictured with SVA founder Sam Johnson](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!MMjw!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fec58c468-f3db-4173-8b00-c8d955bd1e93_1050x656.jpeg "Minister Meager is pictured with SVA founder Sam Johnson")

If this government really cared about its own people, it would add a zero to that $600k and start taking rural New Zealand seriously. You can’t drop $16 million on a war we’re not part of and then turn around and offer loose change to farmers who’ve just lived through something that looked like a warzone.

This government’s priorities lie overseas, playing global politics and pleasing foreign mates, not supporting the people on the ground back home who are going through their own wars. Next year I will not be voting National.

This article was originally published on the [author’s Substack](https://matuakahurangi.com/p/16-million-for-ukraine-but-just-600k?ref=goodoil.news).