Feds make case for rural bank lending probe
Bankers have been making record profits in the last few years, but those aren’t the only records they’ve been breaking, says Federated Farmers vice president Richard McIntyre.
Federated Farmers forestry spokesperson Toby Williams says that changes to forestry rules announced yesterday will put power back into the hands of local communities.
Environment Minister David Parker, in announcing the policy, claimed the new national standards will give local councils more power to decide where new commercial forests are located.
Williams says the new rules will give local councils more say over what is planted and where it’s planted.
“We’ve seen in Gisborne and Hawke’s Bay the kind of damage that can be caused when forestry slash is mismanaged – it was totally devastating for our communities and we’re still recovering,” he says.
The standards create a requirement to remove slash from erosion-prone land, and the environmental effects of permanent pine forests would need to be managed in the same way as plantation forests.
"Federated Farmers have been pushing really hard for this for some time now, so it’s great to finally see some action that will make a difference for our rural communities,” Williams says.
"Farmers have been incredibly frustrated with the amount of productive farmland that’s being lost to blanket pine tree plantations."
However, the Forest Owners Association (FOA) says it is concerned that local government does not have the resources to manage the forestry slash issue.
FOA president Grant Dodson says the announcement comes “with a pre-election rush”.
“We are told the new rules will be in effect within a month, which is way too quick to develop the risk assessments and management tools which landowners and councils will have to comply with,” he says.
Dodson says foresters are aware that forestry slash can be an issue on erosion-prone land and land which is hit with storms of unprecedented severity driven by climate change.
“We are putting a lot of work into ways which together can reduce the risk of post-harvest wood going down rivers, from different species of tree to using as much waste as we can for biofuels,” he says.
“But there will be debris left after harvest and we need to get as much as we can secure or remove it. That removal has to be practical and safe,” he says. “Councils don’t have the health and safety operational knowledge and capacity to make that assessment.”
Fonterra says the sale of its global consumer business and its Oceania and Sri Lankan operations could take 18 months to complete.
The lobby group the Methane Science Accord (MSA) says it welcomes a recent government move to seek outside advice on reducing biological methane targets, rather than relying on recommendations made by the Climate Change Commission.
Well-known scientist Jock Allison has passed away.
After a decade of consultation and court battles, Environment Southland has officially adopted a plan to prevent further decline in the region's water quality.
Farmers are throwing down the gauntlet to politicians - hold an independent inquiry into rural bank lending or face tough questions from the farming sector.
China’s Ambassador Wang Xiaolong says bilateral economic and trade cooperation between China and New Zealand has made significant and rapid progress.