VicForests' latest revision of its Timber Release Plan (draft TRP) clearly flouts the long term planning principles of the Code of Forest Practice.

So why is the State Government so desperate to explicitly remove the obligation on VicForests to abide by the long term planning provisions of the Code of Practice for Timber Production 2014?  

Clause 2.1.1.1 of the Code of Practice for Timber Production 2014 includes the following Mandatory Actions: "Long-term forest management planning must:

i. meet the requirements of this Code and the Management Standards and Procedures;
ii. provide for the perpetuation of native biodiversity;
iii. maintain a range of forest age classes and structures;
iv. identify and mitigate impacts on all cultural heritage values;
v. minimise impact on water quality and quantity within any particular catchment;
vi. minimise adverse visual impact in landscape sensitivity areas; and
vii. facilitate effective regeneration of harvested forest."

The RFPG submission to VicForests regarding their latest revision of the Timber Release Plan identifies:

• 11 blocks with coupes where to proceed with logging would carry an unacceptable biodiversity risk including coupes which currently serve as wildlife refugia which can serve as staging posts for recolonisation and coupes in regions which already have a highly skewed age class;  
• 4 blocks where to proceed with logging the proposed coupes would have a highly detrimental impact on the possible development of forest based tourism; 
• 6 blocks with coupes where logging would have a highly detrimental impact on scenic values from a range of highly traversed viewpoints;  
• 2 blocks where several coupes proposed for logging are in bushfire moderation zones.

In recent years DELWP's conservation regulator has insisted that the long term planning provisions do not apply to VicForests and has refused to consider breach allegations based on these provisions! But if the LTP principles do not apply to VF, to whom do they apply, since the Code is directed to regulating the managers of logging?  Clause 1.2.6 provides that

"compliance with this Code is mandatory for any person planning for or conducting a timber harvesting operation on State forest."

The 2007 Code specified that the long-term planning requirements applied to the TRP. In the 2014 revision of the then Liberal government removed the explicit reference to TRPs under this provision but there was no statement excluding the TRP from the application of the long-term planning requirements and the minister of the time stated that the TRP remained subject to those requirements.

Now, in its draft revision of the Code (2021) the State Government is proposing to explicitly remove any obligations on the part of VF to ensure that the TRP conforms to the long-term planning principles.

DELWP now claims that the long term planning principles in the Code will remain operative, but will be implemented via the new Zoning Scheme Accountability Framework which actually lies outside the Code and is largely aspirational. See our submission to the Code revision consultation at section 3 about this.

It is evident that DELWP is not confident that it can continue to protect VicForests through the "conservation regulator" and that if it came to court the judge might well rule that Clause 2.1.1.1 does apply to the TRP.  So in order to protect VicForests from Clause 2.1.1.1 the Government now proposes to revise the Code to put it beyond doubt.

The concerns listed in RFPG's critique of the revised TRP illustrate what is at stake in the proposed changes to the Code. RFPG has listed significant questions regarding biodiversity, landscape protection, forest tourism and bushfire moderation. The removal of, or refusal to enforce, Cl 2.1.1.1 means that VicForests is not held accountable for considering these issues and no one else is either. 

Members and friends of the Rubicon Forest Protection Group are urged to convey their views on these issues to the Minister (9637 5171; lily.dambrosio@parliament.vic.gov.au).

*See RFPG's interactive regulatory map for guidance to the regulatory framework governing logging in Victoria's native forests. 

Posted 30 July 2021