As mentioned earlier in the show Phil Twyford
has just met with forestry workers in Te Tairawhiti.
Irena Smith is standing by in Tolaga Bay
where she's been talking with one forestry business owner
who has been struggling as the slowdown in forestry continues.
Irena just how bad is the situation on the East Coast getting?
Well the pine industry is a main income provider for communities
on the coast which in turn allows workers
to feed their workers.
COVID-19 has had a major impact on the region.
I've spoken with a Maori business that's involved with pine.
They've advised their biggest expense is their workers.
They've had to let some of their workers go
which has led some to move
to other regions to try and find employment.
Here's what Matanuku Parata,
owner of Parata Contracting Ltd, had this to say earlier.
I can say that we are taking hit but the majority of workers
are still on the job.
So we've probably gone from 100% to 55% productivity level
in terms of daily tasks.
Every single forestry business is different.
The ones taking the biggest hits are the small businesses
and those who sell exclusively to China.
Economic Development Minister Phil Twyford has met
with forestry workers in Gisborne today.
Based on what you saw today,
was he a welcome sight?
Well, let's just say that Government Ministers
are an uncommon sight in this part of the world.
So some minds are open to the Minister,
and there was some acknowledgement that he had come first to Tolaga Bay
before heading to Gisborne to listen to the concerns
workers held.
He also listened to some of their ideas and suggestions
as to what could be done to help deal with the situation.
So, four million dollars and some strategies have been set.
They are a bolster,
hearing the workers,
and we might be able to find out soon what the outcomes
of today's discussions were.
The Government says it's focused on protecting jobs,
supporting impacted workers and businesses
- do you get that sense on the ground there?
Having someone come here and listening actively
is a good move.
It's not that they've just been made aware of the impact,
rather, they've been hearing about the impacts
over the last few months such as logs being left on wharves,
and then you have trees in the forest which can't be cut down
because they've got nowhere to go.
So there were good things with what he said
and also in terms of his intentions.
On top of the funding announcement he told them
that there are services available
to workers to reach out to such as Horouta Whanau Ora
who have actually made an announcement today
that they are teaming up with MBIE
and that's going to be something that will have a direct impact
on the community right now.
The most important thing for companies, on top of funding,
is ensuring the funding reaches them in a timely manner.
That's probably today's major challenge.
Cut the red tape.
Provide access to the funding Shane Jones announced
easier to access in this area.
Things like building roads,
that money is still sitting behind red tape.
I'm asking that that funding
come to us workers so we can go and fix up the roads.
So while I've been here in Tolaga Bay
I've seen trucks hauling pine wood on the roads here.
So it's good to see that some businesses are still up and running.
But going back to what Matanuku said,
the distribution of funds does need to happen a lot quicker,
such as what Shane Jones has pledged so works can get underway.
Thank you for that update,
Irena Smith in Uawa.