Community Consultation on RFAs

Consultation activity was structured around the Independent Consultation Paper ‘Modernising the Victorian Regional Forest Agreements’ developed by Dr William Jackson which provided information about what the Victorian RFAs are, how they operate, how effective they have been and recommended areas for improvement to the Victorian RFAs.

Participation was open to all Victorians.  

Consultation was designed to elicit the views Victorians on how the RFAs could be improved.

This included environment groups, industry groups, recreational groups, local government and members of the community who wanted to have their say. Participation was conducted face-to-face in the regions and in Melbourne, along with an online survey and submission process via Engage Victoria.

Extensive state-wide community consultation was conducted by the Victorian and Australian Governments.  

This included:

• an online survey (733 participants),  
• public submission process (135 submissions received),
• and  47 face-to-face engagement events in regional Victoria and Melbourne including stakeholder workshops, meetings and community drop-in sessions.

Through these processes we heard that overall Victorians believe biodiversity, flora and fauna and old growth forest should be protected. Participants recognised the many benefits and uses of Victoria’s forests, including environmental and economic, and supported a transition to plantation timber supply and as well as the ongoing development of other emerging industries such as carbon sequestration and tourism.

This feedback is reflected in the modernised RFAs.

State and Federal Government representatives from the RFA Joint Government Working Group were present at all face to face engagement events which were facilitated by independent facilitators, Cloud Catcher and the subsequent regional reports were produced by Cloud Catcher.

The Victorian and Australian Governments also engaged Converlens (a qualitative data analysis company specialising in consultation processes) to collate and analyse the input received via all engagement activities - the online survey, written submissions and face-to-face engagement – and produce the consultation report.

Converlens has produced The Independent Report on Joint Victorian and Australian Government Consultation on Modernisation of the Victorian Regional Forest Agreements (RFAs) that reflects the views and responses received from those who participated in the engagement opportunities offered. The report identifies the issues, themes and topics of importance raised in responses from consultation participants.

Face to face events were independently facilitated, data gathered from all engagement activity was independently analysed and detailed reports were independently produced and are available via the links above.

Most of the 135 written submissions received have been published on the DELWP website the exception being those where authors chose to opt-out from sharing their submission.

Victorian Traditional Owners have been involved in the RFA modernisation process through meetings on Country, roundtables with representatives from Traditional Owner Corporations, ongoing engagement between Traditional Owners and DELWP staff, and Traditional Owner representation on the RFA Reference Group.  

We have heard from Traditional Owners about the need for meaningful partnerships locally and state-wide in forest management and decision making incorporating Traditional Owner values and knowledge.  The importance of upholding cultural obligations to care for Country for future generations and the right to pursue economic, cultural and social development is clear.

Traditional Owners were closely involved in the drafting of clauses of direct relevance and informed the modernisation process more broadly with the above insights.