Thursday, 5 October 2023

Firewood collection

Wendy LOVELL (Northern Victoria) (18:07): (486) My adjournment matter is directed to the Minister for Environment, and it concerns the Labor government’s recently announced firewood collection rules. The action that I seek is for the minister to immediately change the designated firewood collection points that were published on the Forest Fire Management Victoria website on 1 September 2023 to include firewood collection points within the Moira shire local government area to allow residents of this local government area to collect firewood from regional parks within the shire.

In 2021 the Andrews Labor government placed a ban on the collection of firewood in the Barmah area, ending a tradition for generations of local residents who accessed firewood from a forest located right on their doorstep. With no natural gas supplied to the area, many residents throughout the Barmah region historically rely on wood as an energy source to heat their homes and, in some instances, cook their meals. The ban meant that Moira residents had to travel to their closest firewood collection point, known as Alf’s Dam, south-west of Rushworth, just to get their wood, a round trip of just under 3 hours from the Barmah township.

Not content with forcing this appalling impost on Moira residents, the new rules that came into force on 1 March 2022 excluded residents of the shire from being able to access wood at the Alf’s Dam point. This ridiculous decision meant that Moira residents – many elderly – were forced to drive even further to obtain firewood at Wilkinson Track, located west of Warrenbayne. Can you imagine how galling it would be for a Barmah resident living on the edge of the Barmah forest to be told to drive 3½ hours to get wood to heat their home?

The situation is so ridiculous you would think the minister would intervene and ensure residents of Moira shire could access firewood closer to home, but alas that is not the case. In 2023 the spring firewood collection season commenced on 1 September, and the designated firewood collection points were again published on the forest fire management website. Inexplicably the collection rules are even worse, with some Moira shire residents now being forced to drive even further than before to a collection point on the eastern side of Warrenbayne, a near 4-hour round trip. There are copious amounts of fallen wood lying in regional parks within the Moira shire local government area that would be suitable for collection by nearby residents. Once again, I call on the minister to exercise some common sense and allow residents of Moira shire to collect firewood from regional parks closer to home.