Commonwealth and Victoria flout the principles of the RFAs: RFPG submission to third five year review
The RFPG Submission (29 Jan 2018, in full here) focuses principally on the Central Highlands Regional Forest Agreement (CH RFA) but the issues we raise here are relevant to the four other Victorian RFAs.
This submission addresses matters arising from 2009 to 2014, but as the review is also to form the basis of decisions on revising and extending the RFAs, we also address matters arising since then.
See also separate submission by Ann Jelinek which provides a close ecological analysis of the failures of the RFAs and what is urgently required now.
Key findings
The Rubicon Forest Protection Group (RFPG) considers that the Victorian Government has failed to abide by fundamental undertakings under the Central Highlands RFA. These are:
- the failure to abide by the principles and practices of ecologically sustainable forest management (ESFM) as required by the RFA;
- the failure to adopt sustainable harvest levels by FMA as required by the RFA;
- the failure to comply with the Code of Practice for Timber Production 2014 (the Code) as required by the RFA, and
- the failure to fully implement a system of forest reserves that meets the JANIS criteria as required by the RFA.
The Rubicon Forest Protection Group (RFPG) therefore also considers that the Commonwealth Government has failed to abide by its undertakings agreed under the RFA, specifically by maintaining accreditation of Victoria’s forest management system despite it breaching the above provisions.
Recommendations
The RFPG considers that any future Victorian RFAs should require Victoria to establish a proper, legally enforceable, forest management and planning system, including financial penalties for non-compliance and with better opportunities for public interest input.
In support of this, Victoria should also commit to publishing on the web, in a timely fashion, a comprehensive data set, including coupe plans, maps and harvesting schedules.
These revised arrangements should include the establishment of a new forest management planning division of the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal with powers to modify, or order a halt to forest operations found to be non-compliant with this system.
In the meantime, the Central Highlands RFA should not be renewed until a VEAC review of the area has been undertaken, the Code of Practice for Timber Harvesting has been revised and strengthened following an independent review and a new Forest Management Plan developed.
