Thursday, 15 August 2019

 Ms BATH (Eastern Victoria) (18:20): My adjournment matter this evening is for the Minister for Agriculture and it relates to the regional forest agreements and in particular the phase 1 engagement process. In March 2018 the Victorian government and the commonwealth of Australia signed a memorandum of understanding to deliver modernised and harmonised RFAs by 31 March 2020. What this MOU has in its objectives is to provide for a comprehensive, adequate and sustainable reserve system, to provide for the ecologically sustainable management and use of forest areas in a region or regions and to provide for the long-term stability of forests and forest industries. The process has been run by the Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning. I believe the Future of our Forests engagement process is flawed, as do many of my constituents who have contacted me. It is flawed insofar as the agenda around this process is heavily weighted against the native timber industry.

In the Future of our Forests report, about eight pages talk about a youth symposium and trumpet how wonderful it was. It was based in Footscray and 49 youths attended. The point was to gain an understanding of the views of young Victorians to inform the renewal process for the RFAs and Victoria’s forest management systems. When we look at the 49 people who attended the symposium in Melbourne we can see that less than a handful of people were actually from regional Victoria. There were three from the Stratford logging area—that is, in Bullen Bullen—and a couple from the Sporting Shooters Association of Australia, and I am not exactly sure where they have come from. But the overwhelming majority of these people have come from environmental groups, such as the Wilderness Society, the Victorian National Parks Association, Environment Victoria, the Australian Conservation Foundation and others. I am not saying that these young people should not be at the table, but there is a huge bias in the lack of representation from country Victoria. Indeed there were students from Williamstown High represented. Why wasn’t there representation from Orbost Secondary College?

The action I seek from the minister is that she hold a youth symposium in country Victoria. I specifically ask the minister to organise a symposium in Heyfield in the heart of the forestry region and to include widespread representation of students and young people from country Victoria.