Hansard debates

Ms D’AMBROSIO (Mill Park—Minister for Energy, Environment and Climate Change, Minister for Solar Homes) (10:41:35): I move: That this bill be now read a second time. I ask that my second-reading speech be incorporated into Hansard. Incorporated speech as follows: The management of Victoria’s public native forests is important to Victorians from all walks of life. Victoria has approximately 6.4 million hectares of forests on public land, which are managed for the benefit of all Victorians. Forests provide vital ecosystem services, support biodiversity and create a diverse range of jobs and economic, recreational and social opportunities for all Victorians. The connection that Victoria’s Traditional Owners and Aboriginal communities have with Country—including Victoria’s forests—is core to their culture and wellbeing. Effective regulatory frameworks are essential to ensure that we balance the range of values and uses of Victoria’s forests. This is key to ensuring that the environmental, cultural and economic values of our forests are protected and enhanced for current and future generations. This Bill will improve the regulation of timber harvesting and firewood collection, two key uses of Victoria’s State forests, to ensure that Victoria’s forests can be maintained and improved into the future. The amendments made by the Bill will improve the regulation of timber harvesting and firewood, to ensure the regulatory framework becomes progressively more contemporary and holds people to account for illegal activities. Recent challenges with timber harvesting regulation Timber harvesting regulation has not kept pace with community expectations for how our forests are protected and managed. In late 2018, I directed the Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning to initiate an Independent Review of Timber Harvesting Regulation. As part of its terms of reference, the Independent Review was tasked with an initial assessment of whether further regulatory or legislative reform was required to ensure modern, best practice regulation of timber harvesting in Victoria. The Independent Review made several recommendations about legislative changes to ensure the environmental regulator for timber harvesting has modern regulatory powers. It is clear from the recommendations and findings of the Independent Review that the legislation enabling timber harvesting regulation has been a core aspect of many of the recent regulatory challenges. The Bill addresses the most urgent of these issues. Improvements to timber harvesting regulation through the Bill The Bill strengthens and modernises timber harvesting regulation, by amending the Sustainable Forests (Timber) Act 2004, Forests Act 1958 and Conservation, Forests and Lands Act 1987 to improve the tools and powers that facilitate the regulation of timber harvesting. The Bill focuses on ensuring the regulator has proportionate options available to respond to non-compliance. It seeks to ensure the regulator has clear powers and a range of regulatory tools. The Bill targets its reforms to existing regulatory tools and powers, and clear and urgent gaps, to ensure that these tools and powers operate in a contemporary way that is consistent with community expectations. Improving the key offence provisions for illegal timber harvesting The Bill improves timber harvesting regulation by substantially re-writing the key offence provision for illegal timber harvesting: the offence of unauthorised timber harvesting, contained in section 45 of the Sustainable Forests (Timber) Act 2004. The revised offence will prohibit any person from undertaking timber harvesting operations in State forest, unless they are undertaken in accordance with a relevant licence, permit, allocation order or other authorisation. Offences in this form are a key element of a variety of regulatory frameworks. Here, the offence will ensure regulatory oversight of timber harvesting operations and allow conditions on authorisations to be imposed to manage environmental risks. Where timber harvesting occurs in forests on public land, the Victorian community should be able to be confident that appropriate safeguards are in place to deter unauthorised activities, and that there are meaningful consequences for breaking the rules. The Bill increases the penalties for the offence, to ensure the offence will more effectively deter unauthorised timber harvesting, and to ensure that the punishment is commensurate to the potential environmental harm and provides a meaningful deterrent. The Bill also sets out how timber harvesting can be authorised, to ensure consistency with requirements for similar regulated activities, and ensure illegal timber harvesting can be deterred and punished. The Bill specifically clarifies how this offence applies to VicForests and its timber harvesting contractors. Limitations in the drafting of the existing offence provision had put this in doubt, and the amendments made by the Bill are intended to clearly articulate the requirements for VicForests and its contractors. VicForests is a state owned enterprise, established in 2003 to undertake the management and sale of timber resources in Victorian State forests on a commercial basis. Government allocates timber resources for VicForests to harvest and sell through an allocation order made under the Sustainable Forests (Timber) Act 2004. However, as a matter of current practice VicForests typically does not undertake timber harvesting itself. The bulk of timber harvesting in Victoria’s State forests is undertaken by VicForests’ contractors, and VicForests’ typical role is in the planning and direction of these activities. The new offence provision reflects this arrangement and clarifies how the authorisation for timber harvesting applies to both VicForests and its contractors. This provision also clarifies VicForests’ responsibility to ensure that its contractors comply with the relevant authorisation. The changes to the offence of unauthorised timber harvesting regulation in section 45 of the Sustainable Forests (Timber) Act 2004 address Independent Review’s recommendation to improve existing regulatory tools through reviewing sections 45 and 46 of the Sustainable Forests (Timber) Act 2004. Improving graduated and proportionate compliance tools Good practice regulatory frameworks involve a range of enforcement tools that enable the regulator to respond proportionately based on the severity of the breach. The Independent Review identified this as an area where legislative change is needed to ensure that the timber harvesting regulatory framework is consistent with other contemporary legislation. The Independent Review recommended that new tools be developed to allow the regulator to respond to non-compliance in a more graduated and proportionate way. The Bill responds to the need for regulatory frameworks to involve a range of enforcement tools by expanding and strengthening two existing graduated compliance tools: enforceable undertakings and injunctions. The Bill expands the scope of these tools to ensure that they are consistent with the scope of similar tools in other regulatory contemporary frameworks. Expanding these graduated tools will ensure that the Chief Conservation Regulator, as the regulator responsible for timber harvesting, can respond to non-compliance in a way that is proportionate to the severity of the breach of regulatory requirements. Improving investigative powers The laws and regulations for timber harvesting are currently challenging to enforce, as authorised officers lack a range of enforcement powers that enable investigations. This was examined by the Independent Review of Timber Harvesting Regulation, which recommended that new powers and protections be created to assist authorised officers in conducting their duties, including creating a coercive power to obtain information and documents. The Bill addresses this recommendation by creating a power for authorised officers to require the production of documents relevant to compliance with the Sustainable Forests (Timber) Act 2004. This power is vital to ensure authorised officers can investigate compliance with the regulatory framework for timber harvesting. Technical amendments to improve the functioning of the regulatory framework The Bill also makes several technical amendments, to ensure the timber harvesting regulatory framework operates as intended. These include harmonising provisions that contain the obligation to comply with the Code of Practice for Timber Production 2014, and ensuring that instruments that are map-based can incorporate contemporary mapping tools, including spatial data. The Bill also makes a number of repeals and revisions to the Forests Act 1958 and other Acts. Improvements to the regulation of illegal firewood collection Many Victorians rely on firewood collected from State forests for heating during the colder months. Firewood is an important resource for many regional Victorians and is particularly important for low-income earners and those without gas connections. Firewood is also a limited resource and needs to be managed to ensure that the collection process doesn’t adversely impact the environment, and other values and uses of Victoria’s State forests. Firewood can be taken legally from State forests for domestic purposes, within designated firewood collection areas and seasons. The restriction on this scheme ensure that firewood is taken fairly and cannot be illegally sold for personal profit. The Bill addresses existing deficiencies in firewood offences by creating a new offence to prevent the cutting, felling, obtaining, removing or taking of timber from Victoria’s State forests, irrespective of location or the status of the timber, unless the timber is taken in accordance with an authorisation (including in accordance with the scheme for domestic firewood collection). This offence will regulate the illegal taking of timber (including firewood) from State forests for all purposes and ensure that the conditions to authorisations that allow timber to be cut and taken from State forest can be enforced. Creating this offence will strengthen the suite of offences within the Forests Act 1958 and similar legislation relating to the management of other public land categories that prevent the illegal taking of timber. This will allow the illegal taking of timber, including illegal firewood collection, to be regulated consistently across the State. This will provide a consistent deterrent and ensure that firewood can continue to be fairly available to those who need it. Conclusion The Bill will improve the regulation of timber harvesting and illegal firewood collection by strengthening a range of enforcement tools and powers that enable the regulator to respond to breaches of the regulatory framework. By bringing these powers and tools in line with other contemporary frameworks, the Bill will ensure a better balance between the values and uses in Victoria’s State forests, and ensure that these are maintained and improved now and for future generations. I commend the Bill to the house.