National Party forestry spokesman hearing industry concerns ahead of election manifesto launch

National Party forestry spokesperson Joseph Mooney is pictured standing amid woody debris at Waikanae Beach on Monday. He was in the region to speak to people in the forestry sector as well as tourism operators. Picture by Liam Clayton

National still working on forestry policy, recognises industry’s importance here

Feedback from the region’s forestry industry will be taken into account as the National Party develops its election manifesto, the party’s forestry and tourism spokesman Joseph Mooney says.

Speaking to The Gisborne Herald on Monday, Mr Mooney discussed the feedback to both the recent Ministerial Inquiry into Land Use recommendations and the state of the forestry contracting industry.

“There’s definitely quite a bit of concern expressed by the forestry sector about the perception of the industry and some of the recommendations that have been made, and also the impact on forestry contractors,” he said.

“A number of them are going out of business or out of the industry and there are flow-on effects from that.”

Mr Mooney recognised forestry was “very important” to the region’s economy.

“In terms of solutions, there’s a general focus on the need to find some economic use for all parts of the trees that are felled.

“That’s the key challenge — to get all the wood out of the hills in this region.”

He pointed out the existing situation was the result of decisions made 30 years ago.

“Today, the effects are quite a challenge.”

National’s forestry policy was still being put together but “a lot of work” had been done on it, Mr Mooney said.

“We are taking into account all parts of the sector and industry, and obviously Gisborne- Tairāwhiti is really important. This is the third time I have been here this year.”

Mr Mooney was in the region to speak to a broad range of industry players.

“We also have some unique challenges in this region with unstable soil types, but there are some innovative approaches that we heard today and will be looking into in more detail.”

With regards to tourism, he met some “amazing” operators with the main message relayed being that the region was open for business.

“Obviously, the infrastructure is a really important part of that proposition because we need to have functional roads so people can travel, because the biggest market here are Kiwis.”

He had received feedback that perhaps the government could make better use of local knowledge and the machinery of forestry contractors to speed up road repairs.

National Party East Coast electorate candidate Dana Kirkpatrick agreed.

“That’s one of the things we highlighted when the recovery announcements were made about the funding. It’s all well and good, but actually getting it delivered and getting that work done is going to be the challenge.

“We were never convinced that there were people on the ground that could get on and do the jobs, or that planning had been done. My greatest fear is that it gets tied up in resource consents and planning and doesn’t actually deliver what this region needs, which is better infrastructure with greater resilience for the future.”

Feedback from the visit would be delivered to party leader Chris Luxon.

“It’s great to have our spokespeople in the regions taking away the learnings from communities and we want to be able to ensure we can develop good policy that works and doesn’t have a disappointing end result.”

Speaking as the party’s associate agriculture spokesman, Mr Mooney said National’s latest election pledge kept its commit ment to the net zero carbon emissions target by 2050 but also allowed landowners to earn Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) credits through other forms of carbon capture besides tree planting, such as restoring wetlands, while keeping agriculture out of the ETS.

“We have the most carbon-efficient farmers in the world and we want to make sure we don’t send that production overseas by pricing our farmers in such a way that we make that production go overseas,” Mr Mooney said.