Swain Paul: Forests Amendment Bill —  
Swain Paul: Forests Amendment Bill —  
[Volume:617;Page:12946] 
Hon PAUL SWAIN (Minister of Labour) 
 on behalf of the 
 Hon Pete Hodgson Minister in charge of the bill 
: I move  
That the Forests Amendment Bill be now read a third time 
. The bill amends Part IIIA of the Forests Act 1949 which relates to indigenous forest and was inserted into the Act in 1993. The bill was introduced into the House in July 1999 by the then National Government. The bill as now reported from the Committee of the whole House has confirmed modified and added provisions. 
The bill implements Government policy on SILNA land which was allocated to Maori under the South Island Landless Maoris Act 1906. Of the land still under SILNA ownership about 17300 hectares are forested. SILNA land was exempted from the 1993 amendment to the Forests Act because the Government of the day had not determined its policy on that land. The current Government’s SILNA policy package is a balanced one which provides $19.7 million over a number of years for conservation covenants sustainable forest management plans and improved application of the Resource Management Act. It also funds moratorium payments for SILNA owners in exchange for forest protection giving those owners some income while they consider the options for the future of their forests. Areas of SILNA forest at Waitutu and Lords River are excluded from the policy as they have been dealt with under separate conservation agreements in legislation. 
SILNA owners have a very firm view of their ownership rights a view reinforced by the approach that Governments have taken to the SILNA issue over a number of years. Considerable consultation and discussion with SILNA owners made it clear that they would not accept any legislative measures that made no distinction between SILNA forests and other indigenous forests. The bill therefore makes such a distinction. 
On the domestic timber market SILNA 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 owners of SILNA land can voluntarily place their forests under these provisions and receive Government assistance to develop sustainable management plans. The domestic timber market exception does not extend to exports of timber from these lands. The bill reimposes controls on timber exports from those lands so that the same statutory controls will apply equally to all indigenous timber exporters. 
The bill precludes compensation to owners of SILNA land for the impact of the changes on them. That was the subject of some comment in the Committee of the whole House. However the provision is consistent with the 1993 amendment Act which precluded compensation to all other forest owners. In any event the impact of this no-compensation provision is expected to be negligible. 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 SILNA forests in the past. Also there is already a domestic market for sawn indigenous timber. 
The bill does provide a mechanism for assistance for 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 owners of SILNA land a provision has been added to the bill to make payments for conservation covenants income tax exempt. The bill also provides that the $18.55 million Waitutu Forest settlement is income tax exempt. A Supplementary Order Paper made it clear that this provision applies to the whole $18.55 million settlement including the $5 million in kind component of it. This is as Parliament intended in 1997 when it legislated on the settlement and as the select committee that considered the current bill also intended. 
The bill as introduced contained considerable liberalisation of the export controls in order to allow export of all sustainably produced indigenous timber products. However consistent with an election promise the Government 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 that 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 an opportunity 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. Also the Government has proceeded in the bill with an exemption from export controls for planted indigenous forests. 
The Government’s position on export controls is consistent in important respects with the recommendations of the Primary Production Committee in its 2002 report  
A Sustainable Future for Our Indigenous Forests 
. In particular the committee recommended retention of the ban on exporting indigenous logs and chips. 
Before I sum up there are just one or two little technical amendments proposed in the original bill that have been confirmed and others have been added. The aim is not only to improve the administration of the Forests Act but also to foster best practice in sustainable forest management. The transitional provisions originally in the bill relating to the West Coast indigenous production forests have been dropped because those forests form a Timberlands-managed forest and are now part of public conservation land. Consequently a Supplementary Order Paper deleted the redundant term “West Coast indigenous production forest” from the interpretation section of the Forests Act. 
In conclusion I would like to thank all of those involved in developing this legislation particularly members of the Local Government and Environment Committee of this Parliament members of previous select committees and departmental officials. I also want to acknowledge the support that the bill has received from other parties in the House. I welcome the enactment of the bill and I look forward to the improvements it will facilitate in the protection management and use of New Zealand’s privately owned indigenous forests.