Reference: 20180333

19 September 2018

Dear
Thank you for your Official Information Act request, received on 14 August 2018. You
requested the following:
“... a copy of all advice or information you or The Treasury has created, sent or
received regarding the decision and yesterday’s announcement of $240m for the
creation of a new grants programme and partnership fund to get more trees in the
ground and provide training and employment opportunities. I would expect this to
include all emails, briefings and aide memoires you or your staff have sent to or
received from Ministers and other government departments as well as all
communications, including meetings and phone calls, you or your officials have
had with any interested parties or their representatives.
I specifically request all Cabinet and Cabinet Committee papers and associated
minutes. I am interested in exactly how the $240m is to be allocated including
any proposed criteria for grant applications and the partnership fund and what
work the government has undertaken in relation to the proposed training and
employment opportunities.
Where information is withheld, I request you provide the title and date of the
communication/document withheld, the reason for refusal and the grounds in
support of that reason as required by section 19(a)(i) and (ii) of the Official
Information Act.”
Following a discussion with a Treasury official on 22 August 2018, your request was
revised to:
“Under the Official Information Act I request a copy of all significant advice or
information you or The Treasury has created, sent or received (excluding MPI)
informing the decision and yesterday’s announcement of $240m for the creation
of a new grants programme and partnership fund to get more trees in the
ground and provide training and employment opportunities. I would expect this
to include all significant emails, briefings and aide memoires you or your staff
have sent to or received from Ministers and other government departments
(excluding MPI) as well as all communications, including meetings and phone
calls, you or your officials have had with any interested parties or their
representatives.”

 Information Being Released
Please find enclosed the following documents:
Item
1.

Date
21 June 2018

2.

3 August 2018

Document Description
Aide Memoire: Advice on the
forthcoming One Billion Trees
funding request
Treasury Report: Briefing for
Cabinet Economic Development
Committee 8 August 2018

Decision
Release in part

Release in part

I have decided to release the relevant parts of the documents listed above, subject to
information being withheld under one or more of the following sections of the Official
Information Act, as applicable:
•
•
•
•
•

personal contact details of officials, under section 9(2)(a) – to protect the privacy
of natural persons, including that of deceased natural persons,
names and contact details of junior officials and certain sensitive advice, under
section 9(2)(g)(i) – to maintain the effective conduct of public affairs through the
free and frank expression of opinions,
advice, under section 9(2)(f)(iv) – to maintain the constitutional conventions for
the time being which protect the confidentiality of advice tendered by officials,
confidential information, under section 9(2)(j) – to enable the Crown to negotiate
without prejudice or disadvantage, and
direct dial phone numbers of officials, under section 9(2)(k) – to prevent the
disclosure of information for improper gain or improper advantage.

Some information has been deleted because it is not covered by the scope of your
request. This is because the documents include matters outside your specific request.
Direct dial phone numbers of officials have been redacted under section 9(2)(k) in
order to reduce the possibility of staff being exposed to phishing and other scams. This
is because information released under the OIA may end up in the public domain, for
example, on websites including Treasury’s website.
Please also note that several documents (including the relevant Cabinet paper and
Cabinet minute) were excluded from the scope of this OIA on the grounds that the
Ministry for Primary Industries authored the documents. The Treasury has been
informed that these documents will be released to you soon as part of MPI’s reply to
your request.

2

 In making my decision, I have considered the public interest considerations in section
9(1) of the Official Information Act.
Please note that this letter (with your personal details removed) and enclosed
documents may be published on the Treasury website.
This reply addresses the information you requested. You have the right to ask the
Ombudsman to investigate and review my decision.
Yours sincerely

Natalie Labuschagne
Policy Manager, Natural Resources

3

 OIA 20180333
Information for Release
1.
2.

Aide Memoire: Advice on the forthcoming One Billion Trees funding request
Treasury Report: Briefing for Cabinet Economic Development Committee 8 August
2018

1
4

 Item 1
Page 1 of 5
IN-CONFIDENCE

Reference:

T2018/1719

SH-12-2-3

Date:

21 June 2018

To:

Minister of Finance (Hon Grant Robertson)

Deadline:

28 June 2018

Aide Memoire: Advice on the forthcoming One Billion Trees
funding request
1.

The Minister of Forestry intends to lodge a Cabinet paper next week for
consideration at DEV on 4 July 2018. The current draft paper seeks agreement to
a total of $273.300 million in forestry initiatives, of which $186.800 million would
be new operating funding charged against Budget 2019. The majority of this
funding includes:
•

New forestry grant schemes ($104.600 million in 2018/19-2020/21), and

•

A partnership fund ($145.700 million in 2018/19-2020/21).

2.

The Treasury does not support funding the grant schemes or the partnership fund
at this stage. The grant scheme proposal is not investment-ready, and the
partnership fund does not yet have eligibility and assessment criteria.

3.

We recommend that this paper is changed to a noting paper for Cabinet on the
costs of the One Billion Trees programme, and that decisions on creating new
grant and partnerships funding is deferred until further work on fund design is
undertaken.

4.

This Aide Memoire sets out our advice, and suggests questions you may wish to
raise with the Minister of Forestry. The Treasury is working with officials to
resolve these points as the Cabinet paper progresses.

Fiscal implications of the One Billion Trees paper
5.

The total cost of these initiatives will count against the Provincial Growth Fund
(PGF). The paper seeks to transfer s9(2)(j)
from the 2018 allocation of
the PGF. This leaves the PGF with around s9(2)(j)
appropriated for
decisions in 2018/19. The paper seeks the remaining s9(2)(j)
to be
charged against the Budget 2019 operating allowance.

6.

It is possible to charge the remaining s9(2)(j)
against the amount
already appropriated for the PGF in Budget 2018, instead of pre-committing
against Budget 2019. This would leave around s9(2)(j)
appropriated in the
PGF for decisions in 2018/19.

Treasury:3972302v1

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1

 Item 1
Page 2 of 5
IN-CONFIDENCE

The grant schemes do not appear to be investment ready
7.

The paper currently does not detail how the funding will be spent. It is stated that
145 million trees will be delivered via grants over 10 years, but there is no detail
around how many trees, or what kind of trees will be delivered in the 2019
planting season.

8.

Furthermore, grant categories and rates, and the operational design of the grant
scheme has not yet been determined. The paper seeks to delegate these
decisions to Forestry Ministers.1 This indicates that there are still several
important details still to be worked through.

9.

Given this lack of detail, the Treasury is not convinced that the grant schemes are
investment ready. We propose waiting until grant decisions are finalised before
appropriating the funding. This would allow, for example, the detailed design work
on the grant scheme to influence the appropriate amount of funding.

10.

The Minister of Forestry may oppose delayed funding on the grounds that this
funding is urgent. However, the lack of detail around grants indicates that the
urgency driving this proposal is not clear. It is also possible that these design
decisions can still be settled in time to ensure the grants are ready for the last
quarter of 2018.

Lack of criteria for the partnership fund
11.

If agreed, partnership funding of $145.7 million would be ring-fenced from the
wider PGF. In principle, we have no concerns with this approach provided the
ring-fenced funding operates under the same conditions as the PGF. It is not
clear, however, what criteria will be used to agree or decline proposals.

12.

It is also unclear whether the partnership fund will operate under current PGF
constraints: for example, the PGF eligibility and assessment criteria are not
explicitly stated as criteria which will govern the partnership fund.2

13.

Provided that all relevant PGF criteria are embedded in the criteria governing the
partnership fund, the Treasury can see no further issues with establishing a
partnership fund.

Unclear why three years funding is necessary
14.

The paper asserts that three years of funding for the partnership fund and the
grant schemes is necessary to ensure landowners, councils and community
groups factor new planting into their planning. We do not agree: the One Billion
Trees target is well known and foresters will understand that more policy
announcements will come in the future.

1 Minister of Forestry, Minister for the Environment, Minister of Agriculture, Minister for Climate Change, Minister of
Conservation, Associate Minister of Forestry; as well as the Minister of Finance.
2 The operational criteria that applies to all tiers of the PGF includes: link to Fund and government outcomes;
additionality; connected to regional stakeholders and frameworks; and governance, risk management and project
execution (CAB-18-MIN-0045 refers).

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2

 Item 1
Page 3 of 5
IN-CONFIDENCE

15.

It is possible that there may be an overall reduction in trees planted if only one
year of funding is provided. However, this must be weighed against the
advantage that no precommitment against Budget 2019 is made, and the
2018/19 PGF will remain at $1 billion (rather than an effective s9(2)(j)
). It
will also limit the amount of funding provided ahead of final design and
implementation decisions being made.

Questions you may wish to raise with the Minister of Forestry:
•
•
•
•
•
•
•

Do you intend for the 2018/19 PGF to effectively be s9(2)(j)
(reducing future the 2019/20 PGF) as a result of this decision?
Will there be further forestry requests for pre-commitments against
Budget 2019?
How long will it take to determine the design of the grant schemes?
What are the risks of delaying funding until this detailed design work
has been undertaken?
Is the partnerships fund intended to be governed differently to the
PGF?
Can clear messaging around the ongoing Government investment in
forestry overcome the downsides of providing only one year of grant
and partnership funding?
Could the paper be deferred until further design work is undertaken?

Graduate Analyst, Natural Resources, s9(2)(k)
Natalie Labuschagne, Policy Manager, Natural Resources, s9(2)(k)

s9(2)(g)(i)

Treasury:3972302v1

IN-CONFIDENCE

3

 Item 2
Page 4 of 5
IN-CONFIDENCE

Treasury Report:

Date:

Briefing for Cabinet Economic Development Committee
8 August 2018
3 August 2018

Report No:

T2018/2194

File Number:

MS-5-3-DEV

Action Sought
Action Sought

Deadline

Minister of Finance
(Hon Grant Robertson)

Read prior to Cabinet DEV
Committee meeting

11:00 am, Wednesday 8
August 2018

Associate Minister of Finance
(Hon Dr David Clark)

Read prior to Cabinet DEV
Committee meeting

11:00 am, Wednesday 8
August 2018

Associate Minister of Finance
(Hon David Parker)

Read prior to Cabinet DEV
Committee meeting

11:00 am, Wednesday 8
August 2018

Associate Minister of Finance
(Hon Shane Jones)

Read prior to Cabinet DEV
Committee meeting

11:00 am, Wednesday 8
August 2018

Associate Minister of Finance
(Hon James Shaw)

Read prior to Cabinet DEV
Committee meeting

11:00 am, Wednesday 8
August 2018

Contact for Telephone Discussion (if required)
Name

Position

Telephone

s9(2)(g)(i)

Analyst, Transition and Regional
Economic Development

Simon McLoughlin

Manager, Economic Strategy and
Productivity

s9(2)(k)

Actions for the Minister’s Office Staff (if required)
Return the signed report to Treasury.
Note any
feedback on
the quality of
the report

Enclosure:

Treasury:3993609v1

No

IN-CONFIDENCE

1st Contact
N/A
(mob)

s9(2)(a)



 Item 2
Page 5 of 5
IN-CONFIDENCE

Treasury Report:

Briefing for Cabinet Economic Development
Committee 8 August 2018

Out of scope

DEV priority work programme items
Description and analysis

Fiscal implications

Treasury
Recommendation

The One Billion Trees programme - actions and decisions for implementation
This paper seeks to establish two new
programmes spanning 2018/19 to
2020/21 which will count towards the
PGF:
- Tree planting grant scheme
($116.3 million) which is estimated to
result in 60 million new trees over
the next three years.
- Partnership fund supporting tree
planting enablers ($127.2 million)
such as scaling up nursery
production, promoting innovation,
and providing information to the
forestry sector.
The Treasury recommends deferring the
funding of these schemes until they are
fully developed. Currently, there is little
detail on exactly what the partnership
fund will deliver or how bids for it will be
assessed. Similarly, for the grant scheme,
appropriate rates and categories have not
been determined yet. The Cabinet paper
proposes that these decisions be
delegated to a group of Ministers
(including the Minister of Finance).
s9(2)(f)(iv)

This paper seeks appropriation of
$235.079 million operating
expenditure across 2018/19 to
2020/21. This will be funded from:
- $40.26 million reprioritised from
the Hill Country Erosion
programme out year funding
which was agreed through
Budget 2018,
- Draw-down of the $13.500 million
contingency for planting native
trees established as part of
Budget 2018;
- $84.014 million pre-commitment
against Budget 2019 (will count
against PGF 2019), and
- $97.305 million pre-commitment
against Budget 2020 (will count
against PGF 2020).
An additional $8.4 million will be
transferred from the PGF
appropriation within Vote Business,
Science and Innovation, to Vote
Forestry via a separate jointMinisters letter. This funding is for
partnership programmes which have
already been approved through the
PGF.

Do not support and
Invite the Minister of
Forestry to seek
funding for grant and
partnership schemes
when design and
implementation
details have been
worked through.
However, if the paper
is to be agreed, we
recommend precommitting against
only Budget 2019.
Pre-committing
against future
allowances is not
recommended as it
impacts the
government’s ability
to make decisions in
2020.

s9(2)(f)(iv)

T2018/2194: Briefing for Cabinet Economic Development Committee 8/08/2018 11:00 AM

Balance of document deleted as material not covered by your request

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