McAnulty KieranFORESTS (LEGAL HARVEST ASSURANCE) AMENDMENT BILLThird ReadingHon KIERAN McANULTY (Minister for Emergency Management) on behalf of the Minister of Forestry: I present a legislative statement on the Forests (Legal Harvest Assurance) Amendment Bill. ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Hon Poto Williams): That legislative statement is published under the authority of the House and can be found on the Parliament website.Hon KIERAN McANULTY: I move That the Forests (Legal Harvest Assurance) Bill be now read a third time. This bill amends the Forests Act 1949 to establish a new regulatory system that enables the forestry and wood-processing sector to provide domestic consumers and export markets with greater assurance that the New Zealand timber products they are purchasing are from legal sources. It also oversees timber products imported into New Zealand to ensure they are legally harvested.I wish to begin by thanking those who have worked hard to progress this bill through to this stage. I appreciate the considerable effort from members of the Primary Production Committee. I want to thank my colleagues for their engagement with the bill during the recent committee of the whole House stage. It was a productive debate that demonstrated the robustness of this bill. I also want to acknowledge the extensive and useful feedback received from stakeholders in the development of this bill over the past three years. It is gratifying to note the support we have had from both sides of the aisle for this legislation not only here in the House but also throughout the select committee process. This speaks volumes about the need for this legislation. We have delivered a bill that will ensure that New Zealand domestic and export timber products have been sourced from legally harvested timber and we have reduced the risk of importing timber products that have not been legally harvested. As has been discussed previously the intent of the bill is twofold. Firstly the intention of the bill is to be able to provide assurance that New Zealand is committed to trading only in legally harvested timber. The introduction of a legal harvest assurance system for timber products is a tangible step New Zealand can take to support the international efforts to curb the trade in illegally harvested timber products. At the same time it provides importers and our domestic processors and exporters with a Government assurance framework to support their businesses that will demonstrate that they have completed due diligence on the legal harvest of the timber products that they are trading.Secondly New Zealand exporters need to demonstrate timber legality in an increasing number of export markets. Corporate timber producers can use third-party certification schemes but these are generally not a cost-effective assurance mechanism for small-scale forest owners who are providing an increasing portion of the annual harvest. For these owners it would mean that their export logs would be covered under this bill. Our major trading partners including Australia Indonesia Japan and the Republic of Korea increasingly expect others to have a regulatory system. This bill will bring us in line with these countries to ensure the protection of New Zealand's forestry sector. Officials have also moved amendments to the bill through a Supplementary Order Paper (SOP) during the committee of the whole House. The Supplementary Order Paper improves the cost-effectiveness of the proposed legal harvest assurance system for regulated parties. The paper further ensures the bill operates well with the new professional registration systems for log traders and forestry advisers that are currently being implemented through Part 2A of the Forests Act. The changes made in the SOP are mainly on technical issues and are aligned with original policy intent. These changes are needed to improve the workability of the new legal harvest assurance system and make sure it complements the existing registration systems for log traders and forestry advisers. In the months and years to come it will remain important for Government to continue working with industry to ensure the bill is implemented as intended. This bill allows for up to three years of commencement and a further 12 months for compliance. Although the Ministry for Primary Industries will administer the bill Te Uru Rākau—New Zealand Forestry Service will be facilitating the implementation of the bill. During this time officials will consult and engage with industry to develop regulations that are practical yet robust. I commend this bill to the House. ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Hon Poto Williams): The question is that the motion be agreed to.