Extracts from speech at the NZ Institute of Forestry conference, Dunedin10.20am, 31 August, 2016

Bill will revitalise forestry sector for New Zealand’s long term gain

Forestry is New Zealand’s third largest export earner making 3.2 per cent of GD.But it is heading for a crisis.New Zealand’s forests are being cleaned out mostly by foreign owners.Eight of the top 10 forest companies are foreign controlled.One of our greatest former state assets – trees – are being plundered and felled too early.We have no control, no laws and no careful management of one of our greatest resources.The government treats our forests as if they are growing a crop of corn.They are so out of touch they don’t understand it takes 27 years or more to grow a forest.Raw logs are leaving our ports in huge volumes taking billions of dollars of added value with them that could be kept here.While wholesale felling goes on, not enough new trees are being planted.There is a day of reckoning coming when all our exotic forests planted by people of foresight through the 1980s and early 1990s will be gone.That day of reckoning is not far away either – 2023 – is the year industry sources say the economic crunch will come.The time to act is now.Other nations are locking up their forests, planning for their futures.New Zealand isn’t.China, our biggest market for logs, has realised they have over-harvested.They are stopping commercial harvesting in their forests in a prudent manner while aiming to have their output value reach $US1.3 trillion.Other nations like Chile and Canada have taken similar action.New Zealand First says it’s time we looked after our forests, to secure jobs and opportunities in our regions for the long term.Not for quick gain as is happening now.New Zealand First is taking this matter so seriously we are introducing a new bill – the Forests (Realising Forestry’s Potential) Amendment Bill.

This bill will:1. Re-establish the Crown’s ability to create state forests on Crown land and on private land with the co-operation of landowners.

This will create much needed jobs in provincial New Zealand and provide a sustainable source of exotic timber.

2. The bill will stop the serious deforestation which is occurring by adopting a quota, licensing and management plan as happens in Canada.

It will also stop the exploitation of our forestry resource.It will ensure the vast majority of our raw forest products are processed here in New Zealand – not taken overseas where the foreign countries profit from our resource.3. The bill will require any foreign investment into forest land, as well as farmland, to be subject to the Overseas Investment Act.

The administering department will be a restored New Zealand Forest Service which will have a more active role than at any point in nearly 30 years.It will be responsible for our exotic timber forests being sustainably managed and not exploited as is happening now.New Zealand First’s bill will ensure the wealth from our forestry sector will benefit New Zealanders first and foremost – not overseas interests.The bill will lock in place a secure long term sustainable future for our forests.If we don’t do this – thousands of hectares in New Zealand will be covered in tree stumps.The wealth will be gone.Hundreds of jobs will be lost.Billions of dollars of income will be lining someone else’s pockets – not New Zealanders’ pockets.