Now that the Nationals have come to power in New Zealand it is ‘wait and see’ if they will honour the promises made for forestry. Before the election the Nationals said that New Zealand’s economy depended on primary production saying that’s how the country pays its way in the world and helps fund public services including health and education. Source: Timberbiz
Forestry, including wood processing, is New Zealand’s third-largest exporter, after dairy and meat. Last year, the forestry sector earned NZ$6 billion of export revenue, generated 1.6% of GDP, and employed more than 35,000 people. Forestry will play a crucial role in delivering New Zealand’s climate change targets.
According to the Nationals forestry has been hit by a perfect storm of falling sales to China, extreme weather, a collapse in carbon prices, a weak economy, and the Labour Party.
The National’s goal was to restore confidence and support further investment in forests and wood processing as part of its plan to rebuild the economy. The vision was for a growing forestry sector that processes more logs into timber and other valued added wood products to create jobs and move this country up the export value chain.
New Zealand’s economic recovery starts in rural New Zealand the Nationals stated and said that they would:
- Boost wood processing by introducing one-year consents to establish new wood processing facilities.
- Build confidence in forestry by restoring the stability of Emissions Trading Scheme revenues for the sector.
- Mitigate slash and other environmental challenges with new fit-for-purpose rules for managing forests.
- Restore regional control of skills development for forestry by undoing the failed polytechnic mega-merger and returning control to the regions.
