Henare PeeniHon PEENI HENARE (Labour): Thank you Madam Speaker. Before we all join hands and pat each other on the back about support breaking out across the House I sat here and listened to a number of the speeches and I thought it interesting when over the last six years the ACT Party took a very clear stance—pro farmer—to say no more farmland will be put into forestry. And I remember my matua Shane Jones saying More forestry is good." And so I wonder if later on in the debate as we progress this bill through the House we might get a far more honest view—or a far more open view I apologise Madam Chair—and a far more transparent view on whether or not—DEPUTY SPEAKER: Good choice of words.Hon PEENI HENARE: —the relations between the coalition partners certainly indicate the words or support the words that were uttered by the Minister.We will be supporting this bill. There are a number of things in the bill that the Minister spoke to that of course we'll continue to look for safeguards on and he mentioned the date August 2027. And I take his point that it is a long period of time when we look to the forestry sector for those that do the planning those that do the planting the growing and of course the harvesting.Of course we're putting a lot of trust into the sector to ensure that those safeguards will continue to be there for those that are small operators in the system but also those who might wish to come into the system. And I think that's an important thing to support the sector to make sure that they've got that system right. What we did find—and I speak as a former forestry Minister here—was that there was a lot of frustration with the burden that was placed on those particular forest owners forest growers and wood harvesters with respect to some of the legislation that was put in place to make sure that we have those safeguards.But I want to be very clear that those safeguards with respect to international trade looked to do a number of things. One of them was to protect indigenous species so that for those who might be selling indigenous species offshore illegally we can keep a track of these things. We can make sure that through clear registration knowing who's who in the field knowing who is brokering these deals as we export logs from New Zealand offshore that they weren't breaking the rules with respect to indigenous species which are a very lucrative market right across the world in indigenous species. In fact I know of a number of traders from the far north who have entered into swamp kauri or harvesting swamp kauri and have made a heck of a lot of money as they've exported that particular timber offshore. What we don't want to see though is people going out and trying to raid paddocks or raid areas or raid land that they might think have those indigenous species like swamp kauri and look towards profiting offshore.That's why it was important that we have checks and balances. We're not simply saying "Yes we tried something and it didn't work in its entirety."; we're saying "Yes this is why we did it." And it was to do a number of things like I've already mentioned about protecting indigenous species. One of the other things too that what we tried to do with the legislation that this bill is repealing was to make sure that—we've heard the term "cowboys" in the sector here—there was a code of ethics in the way that they were operating in the field. Now not only did we want to see that with respect to the trade and trade brokers that might be involved in the forestry sector; we want to continue to see a strong code of ethics across the entire forestry sector. The Labour Party most certainly have always been very staunch about workers' rights certainly staunch about the way that we can continue to protect workers in the field of forestry. We know that in forestry workers the death rate is just far too high. In fact I think it's the highest in working professions in this country. So we were trying to do far more than just specifically what this bill is repealing. It was about trying to set a good tone across the entire sector so that we have it from growth to harvest to export. And every single part of that machinery needs to be cognisant that these rules were in place for a reason.But I take the Minister and his word in our discussions that we had and in the discussions that I too had with the wood councils a number of them across the country who do have Māori representation on those wood councils. Recently we were in Gisborne at the Te Tairāwhiti Wood Council Awards where a number of traders a number of growers and harvesters had the opportunity to speak to my colleagues and the following day I caught up with them where they expressed an opportunity to do things better. And what we're doing here is repealing a bill repealing a piece of legislation with the hope that they will get it right moving forward.The Minister has offered some safeguards. We will continue to look towards supporting and making sure that those safeguards are adhered to. We acknowledge the time that it takes in order to make sure that these filter out across the sector. So from my perspective I think the Minister has the timing about right with respect to August 2027 which is the amendment that he's made to his bill. And it's the support of that sector that I think is going to make it even stronger for the future. Why I say that is because as my colleague had already mentioned at the moment log prices are stable and low. As they rise the market changes. And we want to make sure that everyone has an opportunity here to still be able to trade in what will be and has proven in the past to be a very lucrative export for our country.And in order to do that what we don't want to see is simply large owners taking over a small player in the field—in particular in places on Māori land and it's already been made clear by members across the House that Māori land under the stewardship of the stewardship of the former forestry Minister the Hon Shane Jones who went around to look towards land that was—I can't remember the word exactly but it was land that couldn't be used for much more. And they were used to plant and to grow trees in order to create carbon sinks as well as make sure that there was opportunity for Māori land owners trust-land owners to be involved in forestry exports into the future. And they look for those safeguards which is why we put in place the legislation that we did.The bill now is going to repeal that. The Minister has made clear some of the safeguards—and we've already expressed that through the committee of the whole House that will continue to seek those assurances to make sure that as we go through the debate on the bill we can come to a consensus certainly for the support that we offer as the Labour Party to this particular bill and make sure that it can be the best base for forestry sector to grow.In conclusion I want to just continue to reiterate though that the Labour Party has always stood for manufacturing and processing wood locally. Well I want to make that point clear. We want to yes support exporters. Of course. We want to make sure that the regime is in place to support exporters but as my colleague had already mentioned when we look to build in this country when we want to build ourselves out of a housing crisis when we want to build more schools it just makes more sense to have the timber locally.I always found it odd and most members in the House will come across members in the community who will say "I find it odd we export our logs and then we purchase back processed timber." I'm not the only one who says that in the House. I'm sure members have experienced their constituents or the sector saying the same thing. So I want to make it very clear: we in our time as Government invested in that particular sector and those are more of the opportunities that will look towards this Government in hoping that they're true to their word in order to support the forestry sector moving forward.So on this side of the House the Labour Party will be supporting this bill but we will continue to look towards the safeguards that the Minister outlined in the first reading of this bill."