Forest owners get an earful from Anderton

By PAM GRAHAM

Economic Development Minister Jim Anderton scolded forest owners yesterday for being bad employers and variable suppliers of wood to the domestic market.

Many of them took the brickbats on the chin as it emerged that the industry is working on extracting development money from the Government in recognition of forestry's role in creating carbon credits.

Anderton told forest owners at their association's annual meeting in Wellington that the shedding of workers when commodity prices fell was damaging its workforce.

Also, very little was being done to improve the supply of, and cost of, logs to the domestic market.

"My message to you as an industry is that you must change."

He said "bashing the Government every other week" was not helpful. "If you seriously want the Government to pack up and go away, then sooner, or later, you will probably get your wish."

John Stulen of the Forest Industry Contractors Association said there was a quiet recognition of some of the points made.

Carter Holt Harvey's senior forest executive Devon McLean said: "I think what he is trying to do is lift the industry's sights and say there is a lot more

to be done and I would agree with him."

Timber Industry Federation chief Wayne Coffey said the Government should concentrate on reducing costs to business, though his group was working on a marketing initiative in Europe with the Government.

Anderton promotes the forest industry as a prototype for Government business partnerships.

But he has been roundly criticised for announcing initiatives too early and over-hyping them at a time when poor export market conditions and the high kiwi dollar are driving existing businesses to the wall.

The most recent development has been a push to get funding from the Government in recognition of the industry's contribution to carbon credits.

"We are negotiating for arrangements under the Forestry Industry Framework Agreement which will compensate forest owners," Forest Owners' Association president Peter Berg said.

The industry itself is investigating the idea of an industry-wide levy to fund research to show it is willing to match new Government funding.

This does not have Coffey's support. "We need to get rid of taxes not put more on," he said, describing the idea of a levy as absurd.