Forests commitment stands—Mr Bolger

Press, 24 April 1987, Page 2

Forests commitment stands —Mr Bolger

PA Wellington The National Party would not overturn a commitment to protect Crown forests south of the Cook River in South Westland, said the party’s leader, Mr Bolger, yesterday. The commitment was given last week-end by National’s spokesman on the environment, Mr Simon Upton, prompting threats by West Coast National Party officials to resign en masse. Mr Bolger said he had advised yesterday’s National Party caucus meeting on discussions he had held with the West Coast electorate chairman, Mr Colin Jackson. He said Mr Jackson “and one or two others” had agreed to go to Wellington to discuss the issue and options for developing the Coast. The date had >, , not been finalised. Mr Upton’s . commitment was made after very careful consideration and “we are not proposing to . overturn it,” Mr Bolger W d '

“It was a commitment to extend the original decision taken back in 1980 to preserve the forests. “A further decision had to be made before the existing protection expired in 1990. We discussed it, we made a decision and Mr Upton announced it.” Mr Bolger’s comments followed on those of National’s West Coast deputy chairman, Mr Brian Piner, who said that if Mr Upton’s commitment was party policy “it has blown all chance it (National) ever had of succeeding in the electorate.” Mr Piner said on Wednesday that the “bright boy junior” had made pre-emptive comments and had to be ‘‘pulled into line and flapped down.” Mr Bolger told reporters that the concerns of the West Coast were much wider than some forest in remote South Westland. H?. said* that he hoped i* ‘ X J. ’

the local party officials would on reflection decide that resigning would not be “a particularly positive step.” “The policy stays,” Mr Bolger said. “We couldn’t run policy on the basis that if people threaten to resign we change the policy.” Meanwhile, the pledge has been welcomed by the Royal Forest and Bird Protection Society. The society’s president, Dr Alan Mark, said it was a “magnificent and realistic pledge” which would be sure to have electoral repercussibns throughout New Zealand. Mr Upton said yesterday that in light of a recent combined Lands and Survey-Forest Service report saying 86 per cent Of those forests should be reserved as a national asset, logging the other 14 per cent was considered to have “such small economic benefits that in our view it is not worth the risk to the environment.”

He also defended himself against the member of Parliament for West Coast, Mr Kerry Burke, who said National’s policy was extreme. “In pronouncing this stand to be extreme, Kerry Burke has revealed that Labour does consider that logging south of the Cook River should be permitted. “If Labour intends to lift the moratorium (which stops development of the forests until 1990) it should tell the public direct, since whoever wins this year’s Election will have to make a decision when the moratorium expires,” Mr Upton said. The director of the Joint Campaign on Native Forests, Mr Guy Salmon, said yesterday that National’s decision (to protect Crown forests south of the Cook River) was “superb.” “It represents a historic turning point in the long debate over the future of these: forests,” he said.