Thursday, 11 September 2025

 Gaelle BROAD (Northern Victoria) incorporated the following (1974):

My adjournment is to the Minister for Environment.

Local residents around Bendigo are increasingly frustrated by the lack of accessible firewood collection points.

We have record fuel loads in our forests, debris piling up everywhere, yet current government policy continues to restrict community access to this renewable resource.

As DEECA field-based crews are undertaking protected industrial action which includes a ban on the felling of trees to be used as firewood, and without contractors, no wood is available for collection.

Bendigo is a major regional centre and used to have firewood collection spots nearby, but now residents are being forced to drive hundreds of kilometres in a round trip, hoping to find some firewood.

That’s unacceptable, especially when many families rely on firewood to heat their homes and the fuel required to travel to collect firewood is so expensive.

Previously thinned areas in the Wellsford forest are thriving, with a healthy understorey and reduced fuel loads.

With electricity and gas prices soaring, people are desperate for firewood to heat their homes.

I ask the minister to review this matter and take action to make firewood more accessible and ensure responsible fuel load management in our forests.