Good Faith Yarns Nelson
Description
The Free Speech Union New Zealand is proud to present the Good Faith Yarns Tour!
This winter, the Free Speech Union New Zealand is hitting the road. The Good Faith Yarns Tour brings honest, good-faith conversation to ten communities across the country, including the regional centres that so often get left out of the national conversation. With a general election on the horizon, public debate is getting louder and more polarised. We want to do something different.
Climate change. Water quality. Freshwater management. Farming regulations. In the Nelson-Tasman region, where agriculture and environment are locked in a permanent negotiation, these aren't abstract policy debates — they're live questions affecting people's land, livelihoods, and futures. And the gap between what scientists say and what farmers experience on the ground can feel like a chasm.
Joining Ani O'Brien in Nelson is Wayne Langford, Golden Bay dairy farmer and former national president of Federated Farmers, New Zealand's largest rural advocacy organisation. A man who spent three years in the room where the toughest conversations in New Zealand agriculture were being had and never stopped speaking plainly about what farmers actually need. This is a conversation about science, policy, trust, and what it takes to find common ground when the stakes are this high.
📍Pūtangitangi Greenmeadows Centre, 233 Songer Street, Stoke, Nelson 7011
📅 Thursday 6 August 2026
🕐 6:30pm-8:00pm
🎙️ Guest Speaker: Wayne Langford
Speakers
Ani O’Brien
Ani O'Brien is one of New Zealand's most fearless political voices. A writer, commentator, and Free Speech Union Board Member, she's known for holding views that cut across conventional political lines and saying what others won't. Expect honesty, not headlines.
Wayne Langford
A dairy farmer from Golden Bay elected to lead New Zealand's largest rural advocacy organisation, Wayne Langford spent three years as national president of Federated Farmers navigating some of the most contested terrain in New Zealand agriculture — water, climate, regulation, and rural mental health. He wasn't shy about wearing his heart on his sleeve, or about saying what farmers were thinking when no one else would. Back on home turf in Nelson-Tasman, he's as straight-talking as ever.
Tickets for good, not greed Humanitix dedicates 100% of profits from booking fees to charity
