Responses from the Te Tai Tokerau electorate candidates who submitted their response within the deadline given. Question 1: With our current high level of unemployment, what are your policies around taking our raw materials to finished goods to add jobs and value to our region?
Kelvin Davis, Labour:
High unemployment and the processing of our goods overseas are two important issues Labour will address. We're very concerned that the proportion of our forestry products exported as higher value processed goods is decreasing. Every year, New Zealand is exporting more and more raw logs; millions each year. A Labour Government will change that. We will give targeted tax incentives to encourage much-needed capital investment in the wood processing industry.
This is needed to overcome the increased risks which wood processors face in a small economy. This will encourage the substantial capital investment needed to maximise value from our wood industry.
Labour wants to partner with industry to ensure an increasing amount of the output from forestry moves up the value chain - from raw product to light processing; from light processing to elaborate processing; and from elaborate processing to high-technology and product innovation. We will also make suspensory loans available (repayable on harvest) to cover the costs for planting new forests, with the option of joint planting ventures with iwi. We'll establish forestry taskforces for the long-term unemployed. We'll support iwi forestry clusters to analyse options for their land. We'll provide business stability for the forest and wood products industry and complete the National Environmental Standard for Plantation Forestry. Labour will formalise the Government's approach to the forestry sector in a New Zealand Forestry Policy document. And we'll ensure the sector is underpinned by suitable infrastructure and a skilled and safe workforce. Ultimately, all these improvements don't matter, and won't happen, if our workers aren't safe.
