Federated Farmers has come out with all guns blazing against Labour’s South Island High Country Policy.

Announced the policy this week, Labour confirmed it will drop the tenure review process and acquire future conservation land by direct purchase.

Labour’s Land Information spokesperson Ian Lees-Galloway said the benefits of tenure review had been substantially achieved, with 11 conservation parks now added to the public estate.

But he says there have been some issues with the tenure review process, which has run its course, and now is the time for a fresh approach.

But Federated Farmers High Country Liaison William Rolleston says dropping the process in favour of direct acquisition is ‘tantamount to confiscation’.

He says 'this policy strikes me as the politics of envy, designed to appeal to people whose knowledge of New Zealand High Country is restricted to postcards, and occasional glimpses on television'.

Mr Rolleston says Labour’s policy fails to acknowledge the enormous amount of work and investment made to rid land of pest and weed species, that the policy could force farmers off their land, and the tax payer would then have to take on the responsibility of looking after these 'fragile environments'.