Luxton JoHon JO LUXTON (Labour): Thank you Madam Speaker. I'm pleased to rise and take a call in support of this piece of legislation the Forests (Log Traders and Forestry Advisers Repeal) Amendment Bill.Before I begin my contribution I would just like to acknowledge those on the East Coast that are suffering with the severe weather events that we're seeing unfold at the moment. And I know—we all know I guess—that the forestry sector is a big part of industry on the East Coast and I have no doubt that there'll be some serious impacts there with these weather events. So I do just want to acknowledge all those folk who are being affected by these severe weather events and I hope that everyone stays safe during this time. Dan Bidois: Tautoko. Hon JO LUXTON: Thank you. This piece of legislation is an interesting piece of legislation and Labour does support it but we do want to ensure that there are certain provisions continued during the time between now and 2027 when it commences and we are really keen as a party to work with the Minister to support him and work towards getting some really good systems in place where this piece of legislation is concerned.This piece of legislation was introduced initially because it was something that the sector themselves were asking for. We've had some as we've heard in the House tonight terminology used around the word cowboys" in the industry. I think it was a way of the industry to I guess professionalise itself and put some safeguards in place for the sector because we do know that we want this sector to be a prosperous sector. We want to support exports and we want to support our foresters our loggers our traders in all aspects of this area. It's really important for New Zealand because it brings in a large amount of money to the economy.What we have seen since this legislation was brought into place is that perhaps it hasn't achieved quite necessarily what it was intended to achieve. I note that the sector now itself who had originally asked for this piece of legislation in the first place are now asking for it to be repealed. I guess some of the reasons for that that we've seen is that perhaps the size of the problem  or perceived problem wasn't quite as large as it was anticipated. So I understand that it was initially thought that there was a huge amount maybe thousands of forestry advisers out there but it seems that there's only from what I have seen been about 500 that have registered under this piece of legislation. I also note that within the first couple of years of this legislation coming into place there has only been two complaints and both of those were not upheld. When I come back to the terminology around "cowboys" I'd like to acknowledge the point that Minister Mark Patterson raised as far as when there are cowboys in the sector they don't tend to last very long in rural areas because rural folk talk to rural folk and you act as a cowboy at your own peril when it comes to those involved in the primary industries. You certainly—not you Madam Speaker but cowboys—will not last very long when it comes to that kind of behaviour.I note that this piece of legislation also refunds fees or levies that have been paid under the system and I guess that's fair because I guess they weren't due to come into force until 1 July and perhaps those that have been very keen or very organised may have already paid those fees. It is only fair that if this legislation is being repealed that they are refunded in that way.The idea of voluntary registration is an interesting one. I do think that given that the sector originally asked for it the sector are now asking for it to be repealed because they're not seeing the need or the necessity for it as such there is going to be a bit of an onus on the sector to ensure that those that are registered in a voluntary capacity continue to uphold the expectations and the professionalism that has been required of them should they have done it under the mandatory process. So I think that's just something that we need to really bear in mind—that the professional responsibility is absolutely upheld that there is a responsibility to their clients and that there is professional work standards upheld by these forestry advisers whom are going to be doing this on a register on a voluntary basis. I mean registering on a voluntary basis isn't a new concept. There are those that do that on a voluntary basis and provided by such as those in the building industry or the meat industry.We do want to ensure though that WorkSafe practices are completely upheld. We know that this sector has been one that has been fraught over the years with tragic accidents and we do want to ensure that we reduce and continue to reduce those as much as possible.The other thing that I wished to talk about is—if I could just find my notes around this. Oh yes we talked a bit about the legal harvest assurances system—that was the next point I wanted to get to—because we do need to protect the industry. We need to protect our traders and those that are exporting the logs to ensure that when they export they can prove that they have legally harvested the timber because it has been an issue for the sector for quite some time. I was part of the select committee that dealt with the legal harvest assurance system; it feels like it was quite some time ago now. But what we do know is that it has been a real issue in the past and we do want to ensure that whilst the reference to the forestry advisers in a registered capacity is removed from the legal harvest assurance bill we do need to ensure that this is something that is still continued. I think that the Minister has said that this is an area that will still continue as it is just simply with the removal of the advisers having been mandated to be registered.One of the things that has arisen from this the advisers having to be registered is that there's been the concern around the cost being passed on from that to the foresters and such. And that isn't fair when you consider that not all foresters are big large corporate forests. There are a lot of small players in the industry and if we can do whatever we can to ensure that they are not burdened with additional costs then I think that that is good for us to do because it is good for the sector it is good for the economy and it is good for the primary industries overall.So without further ado we do support this piece of legislation but we want to ensure that some of the things that I've talked about as far as concerns that we have as the Labour Party on this side of the House are taken into consideration and I guess there will be the time to ensure that happens between now and the commencement date in 2027. Thank you Madam Speaker."