Barker Rick: Forests Amendment Bill — Consideration of Report of Local Government and Environment Committee 
Barker Rick: Forests Amendment Bill — Consideration of Report of Local Government and Environment Committee 
[Volume:617;Page:12606] 
Hon RICK BARKER (Minister for Courts) 
 on behalf of the 
 Hon Pete Hodgson minister in charge of the bill 
: I move  
That the House take note of the report of the 
 Local Government and Environment Committee on the Forests Amendment Bill. 
 This bill amends Part IIIA of the Forests Act 1949 which relates to indigenous forests and was inserted into the Forests Act in 1993. The bill was introduced to the House in July 1999 by the then National Government. The current Government has confirmed modified and added provisions. 
Over the past two decades stopping the destruction of indigenous forest in New Zealand has been a major environmental objective. This Government’s indigenous forest policy focuses on enhancing and maintaining our remaining natural indigenous forest through protection or sustainable management. All publicly managed indigenous forest is now protected thanks to this Government. Much privately owned indigenous forest is also under protection. For those privately owned forests where harvest of limited quantities of timber is possible ensuring that there are sound provisions for sustainable management is a key aspect of Government policy. Part IIIA of the Forests Act promotes the sustainable management of New Zealand’s remaining natural indigenous forests by placing controls on forest management milling and exports of indigenous timber. 
The main purpose of this bill is to implement Government policy on South Island Landless Natives Act land which was allocated to Maori under the South Island Landless Natives Act 1906. About 57000 hectares of land throughout the South Island was allocated to Maori who were identified as having insufficient land to support themselves. Of the land still under South Island Landless Natives Act ownership about 17300 hectares are forested. About 8300 hectares of that land are unlogged and the remaining 9000 hectares have been logged to a varying degree. 
South Island Landless Natives Act land was exempted from the 1993 amendment to the Forests Act because the Government of the day had not determined its policy on South Island Landless Natives Act lands. The current Government has addressed the issues and announced its South Island Landless Natives Act policy package in May 2002. The package provides for $19.7 million over 7 years for conservation covenants sustainable forest management plans and improved application of the Resource Management Act. It also funds moratorium payments for South Island Landless Natives Act owners in exchange for forest protection giving South Island Landless Natives Act landowners some income while they consider the options for the future of their forests. 
Most South Island Landless Natives Act forests are in the lower South Island. A block at the Heaphy River near Karamea and two blocks on Stewart Island are not covered by the Government’s policy as they are subject to the processes set out in the NgaiTahu Claims Settlement Act. Areas of South Island Landless Natives Act forest at Waitutu and Lords River are also excluded as they have been dealt with under separate conservation agreements and legislation. 
South Island Landless Natives Act landowners have a very firm view on their ownership rights—a review reinforced by the approach that Governments have taken to the South Island Landless Natives Act issue over a number of years. Considerable consultation and discussion with South Island Landless Natives Act landowners have made it clear that they would not accept any legislative measures that made no distinction between South Island Landless Natives Act forests and other indigenous forests. This bill therefore makes such a distinction. On the domestic timber market South Island Landless Natives Act owners will be exempt from the sustainable forest management requirements of the Forests Act that apply to all other Maori and non-Maori forest owners. However South Island Landless Natives Act landowners can voluntarily place their forests under those provisions and receive Government assistance to develop sustainable management plans. 
This domestic timber market exception does not extend to exports of timber from South Island Landless Natives Act lands. The bill reimposes controls on timber exports from South Island Landless Natives Act land so that the same conditions will apply as for other exporters. Such controls applied to South Island Landless Natives Act forests through customs regulations from 1989 but in 1999 the High Court found the regulations to be ultra vires and struck them down. The bill remedies the situation by bringing South Island Landless Natives Act forests under the existing statutory controls applying to other indigenous timber exports. 
Consistent with the 1993 amendment Act which precluded compensation to all other forest owners this bill precludes compensation to South Island Landless Natives Act landowners for the impact of the changes on them. This impact is expected to be insignificant however as the only relevant change is the reapplication of export controls and there is little or no foreseeable export market for the hardwood chips exported from the South Island Landless Natives Act forests in the past. 
The bill does provide a mechanism for assistance with financial loss if export contracts signed before the bill’s introduction are frustrated by its enactment. Few if any such claims are expected. 
To the benefit of South Island Landless Natives Act landowners provisions have been added to the bill to ensure that payments made to them for conservation covenants will be tax exempt. The bill also clarifies that the $18.5 million Waitutu Forest settlement in 1997 is tax exempt as was intended at the time. 
The bill as introduced contained considerable liberalisation of export controls in order to allow export of all sustainably produced indigenous timber products. However consistent with an election promise the Government has decided to retain the existing controls on the export of indigenous timber. These prohibit the export of woodchips and logs but allow the export of some items including sustainably produced sawn beech or rimu finished or manufactured products and personal effects. The existing export controls have been in the Forests Act since 1993 and are a publicly acceptable compromise on an issue that historically has been highly controversial. Indigenous timber is regarded as a heritage material which should not be exported in low-value-added form. The Government considers that indigenous timber production should be a low-volume high-value business with an emphasis on domestic use but with opportunities for exporting finished products of high value. The existing export controls serve this purpose and the bill streamlines administrative requirements for finished or manufactured products by removing the need for the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry to approve each export consignment. 
The Government has confirmed some technical amendments proposed in the original bill and has added others to improve administration of the Forests Act. The transitional provisions in the bill relating to the West Coast indigenous production forests have been dropped because these former Timberlands-managed forests are now as a result of this Government’s policy part of public conservation land. 
On introduction in 1999 the bill was referred to the Transport and Environment Committee. It was subsequently referred to the Local Government and Environment Committee of the last Parliament and this Parliament. On behalf of the Minister I want to thank members of the committees for their diligent work on this bill. I also want to thank those who made submissions on the bill in 1999 and again last year. I commend this bill to the House.