Fitzsimons Jeanette: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to Ministers 
Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume 
Fitzsimons Jeanette: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to Ministers 
[Sitting date: 11 September 2007. Volume:642;Page:11707. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.] 
7.  
JEANETTE FITZSIMONS (Co-Leader—Green) 
 to the  
Prime Minister 
: Does her Government agree with Labour’s 2002 election promise to “Work towards ensuring that only sustainably produced timber is imported into New Zealand”; if so on what date will this goal be achieved? 
Hon Dr MICHAEL CULLEN (Deputy Prime Minister) 
 on behalf of the 
 Prime Minister 
: Yes. We are making good progress. A work programme under way at the moment will culminate in a full-scale review in February next year of the actions taken so far. 
Jeanette Fitzsimons 
: Does the Prime Minister believe that the massive increase in imports of wooden furniture and furniture parts from $90 million worth to $236 million worth in just 2 years much of it from unsustainable sources is evidence that we are clearly moving further away from rather than closer to Labour’s 2002 election goal? 
Hon Dr MICHAEL CULLEN 
: It is difficult to know as I think the member realises just exactly where some of that timber is coming from and the nature of the logging practices surrounding it. That is why a lot of work is going on at the moment working with the private sector in relation to things like the practicality of regulatory and voluntary supply-chain requirements for legality and from next month a major programme around international strategy working with other countries to seek ways to prevent illegally sourced timber from coming into New Zealand. 
Jeanette Fitzsimons 
: Why does the Government’s sustainable procurement policy still allow the use of tropical timber like kwila for Government buildings when Norway has recently banned the use of all tropical timber in Government projects because it cannot be sure of whether it is sustainable and legal? 
Hon Dr MICHAEL CULLEN 
: I think the member’s question almost answers itself in the sense that there is a difference between being illegal and being unsustainable. The difficulty is telling the difference between the two which is why Norway has taken that action. At this stage we have not taken that action because at the end of the day it is not in our view necessary to ban sustainable logging in other countries that wish to engage in it. It may be advantageous economically from their perspective. Of course from the perspective of Kyoto Protocol obligations there is nothing wrong with sustainable logging. 
Hon Dr Nick Smith 
: How can the Prime Minister credibly call on other countries to reduce emissions when New Zealand’s emissions are growing at the fastest rate ever in our history when we have a trebling in the amount of unsustainable timber being imported and when over the last 3 years we have seen the clearing of 20 million trees—the first time we have seen a net loss of forestry in 50 years? 
Hon Dr MICHAEL CULLEN 
: There are many different questions there; I will take one of those. There has been a sustained reduction in plantings in New Zealand since about 1993-94 and the high levels— 
Hon Dr Nick Smith 
: It went negative just 2 years ago. 
Hon Dr MICHAEL CULLEN 
: —oh shut up just for a moment—and the high levels— 
Hon Dr Nick Smith 
: Just tell the truth. 
Hon Dr MICHAEL CULLEN 
: He does not want to hear. 
Jeanette Fitzsimons 
: Can the Prime Minister tell the House whether achievement of Labour’s 2002 goal has been stalled due to free-trade talks with China bearing in mind that over $100 million worth of furniture was imported from China into New Zealand last year and that the Government’s own reports show that between a quarter and a third of all Chinese wood exports are derived from illegally logged timber? 
Hon Dr MICHAEL CULLEN 
: No not in the least! To believe that would be the same as to believe that pyjamas were 2 percent formaldehyde in content which was shown to be a complete lie by the TV programme that put it out. 
Jeanette Fitzsimons 
: Was the Minister saying in his last reply that the Government’s own reports are a complete lie when they say that between a quarter and a third of all Chinese wood exports are derived from illegally logged timber—information we were relying on in good faith? 
Hon Dr MICHAEL CULLEN 
: I was saying that the trade talks with China are not held up by any consideration of illegal logging of timber in China. What I was saying was a complete lie was the matter that the Green Party did pick up and run with which was the extraordinary claim that imported pyjamas from China were 2 percent formaldehyde in content. That was about as realistic as Ms Kedgley attacking the dreaded dihydrogen oxide content as she did once famously in the past.