Dickson vowed to fight for justice for the rest of his life. Just over 10 years ago, he was led to believe he was closing in on compensation for the $5.9 million he sought for the destruction of his business. A report from the Ombudsman said an ex-gratia payment should be considered but that was refused by then-Commerce Minister Simon Power. Now Dickson has discovered government ministers more recently discussed offering him an ex-gratia payment of just $500,000. In letters released to Dickson under the Official Information Act, minister Andrew Little wrote to Finance Minister Grant Robertson and Commerce Minister David Clark, recommending offering him the money, saying the farmer’s plight epitomised the type of injustice MPs went into politics to fix.