Why does the Andrews Government want to make it easier for VicForests to flout the long-term planning principles in the 2014 Code of Practice for Timber Production?
The decisions that VicForests make when they plan their logging (in drafting and adopting their Timber Release Plan or TRP) have big implications for biodiversity, scenic landscapes and preserving space for other uses of our forests.
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?
The Government's announcement of the code revision consultation was launched on 30 June 2021 with 28 days allowed for stakeholder submissions. The consultation document is here: https://engage.vic.gov.au/code-practice-timber-production
Community based forest conservation groups around Victoria have extremely critical about this proposed code revision in relation to both process and content.
The process has been appalling:
The Andrews Government has a selective ear for ‘the science’. While following the science in relation to Covid-19, Dan Andrews turns a blind eye to the science regarding logging and megafires.
Bushfire Facts is a new website focusing on the science of forests, fires and climate change. It is sponsored by the Bushfire Recovery Project which is a collaboration between the Fenner School of Environment and Society at the ANU, the Griffith University Climate Change Response Program and the Great Eastern Ranges Initiative.
Since 2015, the Rubicon Forest Protection Group has engaged in good faith with DELWP as the regulator of timber harvesting in Victoria. However, it is increasingly clear that the principal function of the Office of the Conservation Regulator (OCR) is to protect VicForests from regulation rather than ensure that the principles of ecological sustainability are realised. It is increasingly apparent that participating in what is clearly a farce only serves to shore up its claim of legitimacy.
RFPG has today written to the Secretary of DELWP in his legal role, as the ultimate regulator of VicForests, urging him to take immediate action around a key bushfire control regulation.
DELWP's Management Standards and Procedures (part of the Code of Forest Practice) restricts logging in areas declared to be 'bushfire management zones' (Clause MSP 5.8.1.5(a))*.
13 Sept 2020
The once glorious scenery along the Acheron Way, already badly impacted by fire and logging over the last two decades, will be further degraded if VicForests’ recent Timber Release Plan gets the go ahead. (See RFPG TRP (7/9/20) submission and addendum to submission, 13/9/20).
11 September 2020
The RFPG has written to the Victorian Auditor-General regarding his current audit of the Government's biodiversity plan, 'Biodiversity 2037'.
The submission (here) sets out five broad propositions for the AG to consider:
“The only way that VicForests’ logging could be made lawful would be to repeal the protections that the Code of Forest Practice, the Sustainable Forests (Timber) Act 2004 and the Regional Forest Agreements have put in place.” Ken Deacon, Convenor of the Rubicon Forest Protection Group (RFPG) said today.
Updated 11 September 2020
Attempts by VicForests and the Department of Jobs Precincts and Regions to hide decision-making and advice about the development of VicForests’ Timber Release Plan (TRP) has been over-ruled by the Victorian Information Commissioner.
