Smith Nick: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to Ministers 
Smith Nick: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to Ministers 
[Volume:629;Page:1454] 
12.  
Hon Dr NICK SMITH (National—Nelson) 
 to the  
Minister responsible for Climate Change Issues 
: Will the Government drop the policy of a 10 percent cap on deforestation; if not why not? 
Hon DAVID PARKER (Minister responsible for Climate Change Issues) 
: 
 No decision has been made. We have 15 comprehensive work programmes to be reported back to Cabinet within a month. As I have said previously I am not prepared to pre-empt decisions on those. 
Hon Dr Nick Smith 
: Is it any wonder that New Zealand’s fourth-largest export industry the forestry industry is in crisis and that Weyerhaeuser which is one of the world’s largest forestry companies announced last week that it will abandon New Zealand and sell all its forests when this Government’s Kyoto policies involve taking billions of dollars of carbon credits from those forest owners but through the 10 percent cap on deforestation making them responsible for the debits; why does he not just biff this stupid policy in the same bin that the carbon tax and the “fart tax” went into? 
Hon DAVID PARKER 
: As I said last week there is no doubt that the overall state of the forestry industry is more attributable to the state of international commodity prices and the level of our dollar than it is to Kyoto policies. But having said that I point out that the Government has clearly signalled that addressing both deforestation and new forest planting is amongst its priorities for future climate change policy. 
R Doug Woolerton 
: What guarantees can the Minister give that the Government’s intended policy settings will lead to afforestation and investment not deforestation? 
Hon DAVID PARKER 
: As I have already indicated we have signalled that we are concerned to address both deforestation and new plantings as part of our future climate change policy. I would say that these issues are both complex and interlinked with other broader climate change policy and I do not think we should make decisions on individual parts of that policy without considering the full suite of policies. 
Hon Dr Nick Smith 
: Which report is correct from Tuesday’s crisis meeting of the forest sector with the Government: the report by Jim Anderton that the meeting was positive and that talks between the forestry industry and the Government would be resumed or the report by the forestry industry that Mr Anderton had not accurately reflected what occurred at the meeting and that there would be no resumption of talks with officials; who is telling the truth? 
Hon DAVID PARKER 
: There would be no stronger supporter of the forestry industry including the forest-processing industry in New Zealand than the Hon Jim Anderton. He has shown that over many years. He knows as I do that the forestry sector has raised concerns about the deforestation cap issues but he agrees with me that we cannot resolve these issues without resolving the wider climate change issues at the same time. 
Hon Dr Nick Smith 
: Does the Minister stand by his answer yesterday: “Climate change policy is in a state of flux” noting that the  
Oxford English Dictionary 
 defines “flux” as “constant change and instability”; if so how can those in the forest sector the energy sector and the agricultural sector make any sorts of investment decisions when in his own words the policy is in constant change and instability? 
Hon DAVID PARKER 
: What I said yesterday was that climate change policy worldwide is in a state of flux in no small part because there is not unanimity worldwide as to what is the appropriate policy way to address it. That statement is true. 
Hon Dr Nick Smith 
: I seek the leave of the House to table the  
Hansard 
 of yesterday in which Mr Parker said that it was the New Zealand policy that was in a state of flux. 
Madam SPEAKER 
: Leave is sought to table that document. Is there any objection? There is objection. 
Hon Dr Nick Smith 
: How is the 10 percent cap on deforestation fair when the Government’s own State-owned enterprise Landcorp is proposing to clear 25000 hectares of forest in the Waikato and replace it with dairy farms; and how can he expect anybody else to take a lead from the Government when it is in fact leading the deforestation? 
Hon DAVID PARKER 
: Policy settings as they are currently allow State-owned enterprises and departments like the one the member mentioned to take their own decisions without interference from me.