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Labour’s associate forestry spokesperson says there are real benefits for Maori in the party’s forestry policy.
Rino Tirikatene says the policy is about adding value in New Zealand rather than sending the bulk of trees offshore as raw logs.
He says it’s going down well in the industry and in provincial areas where people understand the opportunity for jobs.
"It’s not going to be a thing that people in the big cities, Auckland or Wellington, will have much knowledge about, but in timber towns like Tokoroa, Kawerau, down in Nelson and Te Waipounamu, it’s very well received, and there’s not one solution to everything but trying to come up with a range of policies that can really move that industry forward and add the value here and create the jobs here," he says.
Mr Tirikatene says iwi are significant investors in forestry, and the policy includes incentives that will encourage more planting on Maori land, including restoring indigenous forests.
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