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Government failing forestry


Government failing forestry

National's Forestry spokesman Brian Connell is accusing the Government of putting pressure on forestry, failing one of our most promising industries.

His comments follow reports that the current forestry downturn is now worse than that faced by the industry during the Asian currency crisis.

"Forestry companies are struggling to remain competitive in the face of a spiralling dollar, rising compliance costs, RMA restrictions and unworkable OSH legislation," says Mr Connell.

"What has the Government done to help them? Worse than nothing.

"It has introduced a new export levy which will increase exporter costs by between $450 and $650 per shipment.

"And Jim Anderton's been bad-mouthing the industry accusing forestry employers of being 'unreliable' and '...causing significant damage to some of its own workforce...'," says Mr Connell.

"The Government must dump the levy, cut the red tape and costs which are throttling the sector and stop forcing forestry companies to waste time and money struggling with the RMA.

" Labour needs to stop cutting down forestry and start helping it grow," says Mr Connell.

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