The bill repeals the mandatory registration system and associated requirements for log traders and forestry advisers introduced under 2020 legislation, and directs the Ministry for Primary Industries to refund fees and levies already paid and waive any due at commencement.
Parliament advanced this bill under urgency (committee of whole house, first reading, second reading, third reading) — moving it through faster than usual, with less time than normal for public submissions.
These are claims MPs made in Parliament’s debate — not verified facts.
This bill repeals a registration scheme for log traders and forestry advisers that was added to the Forests Act 1949 by an amendment in 2020. Under that scheme, businesses that buy and sell logs, and people who give professional forestry advice, are required to register with a government registrar and meet obligations intended to improve the reliability and integrity of the log supply chain. The bill removes that mandatory registration and the associated rules, so that operating as a log trader or forestry adviser would no longer require being on an official register. The government's view is that the scheme has not delivered worthwhile results and imposes compliance costs and paperwork on forestry businesses without a matching benefit. It affects log traders, forestry consultants and advisers, forest owners and growers, and the wider timber and wood-processing sector, particularly smaller operators for whom the registration burden weighs most heavily.
The scheme being repealed was championed by the previous government's forestry minister as a way to build confidence in log supply and the quality of forestry advice. The current government argues the regime failed to achieve those aims and prefers a voluntary approach, such as registration through the New Zealand Institute of Forestry, which it considers more effective and less costly. Supporters of repeal, including forest-grower groups, welcome the removal of what they see as unnecessary red tape and expense during a difficult period for the industry. Opponents argue the registration system was meant to provide better information about log supply, professional standards and continuity, and that scrapping it removes oversight and hard-won transparency from a sector important to exports and regional economies. The disagreement is essentially about whether formal regulation or a lighter voluntary model better serves the forestry supply chain.
See the Parliament.nz ↗ site for the full bill.