Anderton Must Implement Industry Plan or Resign

MEDIA STATEMENT
Tuesday 27 February 2007
For Immediate Release

Disastrous Deforestation Data Demands Anderton Implement Forestry Industry’s Six-Point Plan Or Resign

Today’s disastrous deforestation data demands that Forestry Minister Jim Anderton implement the New Zealand forestry industry’s six-point plan to get tree planting underway again, or resign, the Kyoto Forestry Association (KFA) said today.

“The Government’s policies have caused this,” KFA spokesman Roger Dickie said.

“The decision to confiscate carbon credits legitimately owned by forest owners has caused a crisis of confidence in the forestry industry, so that investment in new planting has fallen from around $400 million a year in the 1990s to effectively nothing today.

“Mr Anderton’s $20-million-a year planting-subsidy scheme will not reverse deforestation – only restoring industry confidence will, and that requires the Government to reverse the confiscation."

Mr Dickie said forestry investors operated over a 25- to 30-year investment horizon and the crucial factors driving investor confidence were stability in Government policy and certainty that property rights would be respected over the long term.

“Under Mr Anderton, there is no policy stability and the Government’s decision to confiscate carbon credits and consider massive new taxes make any potential investors wonder what on earth could be next.”

Mr Dickie said that, since April, Mr Anderton had had the solution to deforestation, in the form of the six-point plan to get planting underway again agreed by a united forestry industry, including the New Zealand Forest Owners Association (NZFOA), the New Zealand Farm Forestry Association (NZFFA), the Federation of Maori Authorities (FOMA) and KFA, after many months work with Government officials.

“Mr Anderton has rejected every one of the six points and in recent days has resorted to personal abuse against the more than 1,000 forest owners and farmers who have turned up to MAF consultation meetings to tell him his policies are wrong. If he is not prepared to work with the industry to address deforestation, he should resign."

ENDS

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