7. Question No. 7—ForestryHon PAUL GOLDSMITH (National) to the Minister of ForestryQuestion No. 7—Forestry7. Hon PAUL GOLDSMITH (National) to the Minister of Forestry: Does he stand by all his statements and actions regarding the One Billion Trees Programme?Hon SHANE JONES (Minister of Forestry): Yes within the context they were provided.Hon Paul Goldsmith: Why did he tell the House in August that the $485 million injection into forestry from the Provincial Growth Fund would lead to at least 2000 jobs." when his own department's estimate is less than half that with 1000 forestry jobs replacing the unknown number of jobs that the land is currently supporting?Hon SHANE JONES: Well obviously the member has taken a remarkably short period of time to focus upon given it takes 28 years for a pine forest to mature 100 years for tōtara and kauri. So if he waits a bit longer that figure will come true.Hon Paul Goldsmith: Is it possible that once we account for the job losses in the pastoral sector if land is converted from sheep and beef to forestry that there will be fewer than 500 genuinely new jobs for our $485 million investment—around $1 million a job?Hon SHANE JONES: The vision of the right tree the right place at the right time embraces both the desire to see further farming practices take place—that in this case will include more trees. It is wrong to scaremonger that men and women are being driven off the land as a consequence of this visionary billion-tree strategy.Hon Paul Goldsmith: When he told the National Business Review that we have to make sure that "We've got enough nephs or if necessary a few Melanesians to help plant the trees." what proportion of any new forestry jobs does he expect to be filled by Melanesians presumably by the way of the Recognised Seasonal Employer (RSE) scheme?Hon SHANE JONES: Yes well from Melanesia we already draw a host of RSE workers and policy is being looked at but the preference is to get the proverbial nephs off the couch. It is proving to be a challenge as a consequence of the last nine years of Kaikohe Kaitāia Gisborne Hastings and a whole host of other places—and I would remind the member that $50 million was put aside by his Government and not a single neph got off any couch because they never spent any of that money.Hon Paul Goldsmith: I raise a point of order Mr Speaker. The question was what proportion and he made no reference to anything like that.SPEAKER: Right I think the Minister can have another go.Hon SHANE JONES: In terms of proportions between workers that may or may not come from Melanesia and the nephs such a policy is under active consideration.Rt Hon Winston Peters: Can the Minister confirm that the fame of this visionary policy has been so far-reaching that countries in the Pacific and Pacific Islands are now mustering their workforce to assist the member in the implementation of his plan?Hon Gerry Brownlee: Come off it. What a load of rubbish.Rt Hon Winston Peters: I know you are.SPEAKER: Order! Order! Come on. That's not how I like to be described.Hon SHANE JONES: It's well known that under the last regime the RSE scheme could have been expanded but it was thwarted and there is considerable scope to expand the RSE as a part of our Pacific reset and—who knows?—a significant portion of them would be very convenient in terms of the leaders' aspirations of the Pacific to see a friend like New Zealand absorb some of their people whilst training our own indigenous people. Hon Paul Goldsmith: Why does he think it's a priority to spend hundreds of millions of dollars to provide work opportunities for itinerant overseas workers?Hon SHANE JONES: More of this Epsom-based scaremongering. The policy associated with the billion-tree strategy has a clear focus. Along with my well-known social crusader colleague Mr Willie Jackson and where necessary as the industry seeks additional workers if it's appropriate we will find a way to blend both an indigenous workforce and a Melanesian workforce but that policy is under active consideration—something that was sadly absent from the last nine years of Pacific RSE development.Hon Paul Goldsmith: Can he give the House an assurance that the 400000 seedlings mulched after they couldn't be planted on the Ngāti Hine site are the only ones purchased with Government money that haven't been mulched or wasted?Hon SHANE JONES: This reference to the 400000 seedlings is best described as a hiatus. By and large the majority of such seedlings were planted and it's a sad consequence for the Crown's partner Ngāti Hine that as a consequence of their enthusiasm they are going to bear a substantial portion of the cost of that $160000 and it's my expectation going forward we will not be applying Masport mowers to seedlings in the future.Hon Paul Goldsmith: I raise a point of order Mr Speaker. He didn't answer that question at all. SPEAKER: Well I think he did actually.Hon Paul Goldsmith: Really? OK all right. If he is still worried about getting the nephs off the couch—returning to the couch—in Northland why is he supporting his Government's proposal to remove or weaken sanctions against beneficiaries who are not prepared to work?SPEAKER: Order! That's not the responsibility of the Minister of Forestry. Further question?Hon Paul Goldsmith: Could I reword it or not?SPEAKER: Oh have a go. I'm generous today.Hon Paul Goldsmith: I'll reword it quite substantially. How does he think the jobs created by the $1 million Lake Ellesmere restoration project for example will be filled when up the road in Ashburton there are currently 500 job vacancies that employers are struggling to fill?SPEAKER: That was more than a fine-tuning.Hon SHANE JONES: In terms of Ashburton I can only comment on the fact that his information obviously is coming from the member of that area so I'm not confident that it's fully accurate. Secondly the Lake Ellesmere Waihora kaupapa is well and truly supported by the community the tangata whenua and already great steps are being taken."