We continue to see Māori across the motu standing up for our landowner rights regarding our Treaty whenua.

In a newly published opinion piece on Stuff, Te Aupōuri Operations Manager, Penetaui Kleskovic, has detailed how the Government’s latest moves to regulate exotic forestry are stripping us of any flexibility in our land-use decision-making.

While Government had, earlier this year, committed to shelving its plans to remove exotic forests from the Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS), it is now looking to reform the national environmental standards for forestry.

In short, these reforms will require Māori landowners to seek resource consent to convert land from grazing into forestry plantations.

This added red tape will, in turn, result in fewer jobs, more pests and less income for both Māori and our nation.

Penetaui does an excellent job of honing in on our concerns as landowners and the consequences of these Government decisions.