Hansard debates

Incorporated speech as follows:
  Firewood is an important source of fuel for heating and cooking  in many parts
  of regional Victoria. The government is committed to  making domestic firewood
  collection on  public land simpler and more affordable by  abolishing the need
  to  obtain  a  firewood  permit. This will  reduce  the  burden  of  red  tape
  associated with personal firewood collection and make it easier for households
  to access an annual supply of firewood.
  The  Forests Amendment  Bill  2012 (the  bill)  will  create  the  legislative
  framework for the new scheme. It  will amend the Forests Act 1958 (the Forests
  Act), make related amendments to the Crown Land (Reserves) Act 1978 (the Crown
  Land (Reserves)  Act) and make  consequential amendments to the  Land Act 1958
  (the Land Act), the National Parks Act 1975 (the  National Parks  Act) and the
  Wildlife Act 1975 (the Wildlife Act).

  Overview of the legislative scheme
  The new legislative scheme will apply to  the  collection of firewood in state
  forest and in those regional parks where firewood collection for domestic  use
  is  currently allowed. The scheme will apply to fallen or  felled trees  -- or
  parts of those  trees -- collected  in  designated firewood  collection  areas
  during firewood collection seasons.
  In summary:
    the bill will abolish the need for a domestic firewood permit;
    it will establish two firewood collection seasons in each financial year;

    it  will establish a  process  for designating firewood  collection areas in
    state forest and those regional parks where firewood collection is currently
    allowed;
    it  will  provide the flexibility  to  ensure that  firewood  supply  can be
    managed over the  long term and local needs and unforeseen circumstances are
    able to be dealt with;

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    it will  create  a series  of  offences  aimed  at  encouraging  appropriate
    collecting  behaviour;  deterring  illegal  commercial  firewood  collection
    activity;  and  providing  checks  and  balances  to  ensure  that  firewood
    collection is sustainable into  the future and  is undertaken in a  socially
    and environmentally responsible manner; and
    it will enable  a person who is unable to collect firewood for themselves to
    nominate another person to do so on their behalf.
  Previously, firewood permits typically contained information on where, and how
  much, firewood could be collected and under what conditions. In the absence of
  permits, these and other matters will now be dealt with in legislation, either
  in the relevant acts or in regulations. In  this  way, the Victorian community
  will have clear, legislatively defined, expectations of the scheme.

  While the bill will  reduce the  red tape  burden on  individuals, it does not
  alter the basic  position  that the government,  through the Secretary to  the
  Department of Sustainability and Environment (the  secretary), retains control
  of the firewood resource in state forest  and  other relevant public land, and
  its supply from that land. The supply of domestic  firewood  from  these areas
  will complement what is available from commercial suppliers  operating on both
  public and private land.
  Establishing firewood collection seasons
  The bill will create two firewood collection seasons in each financial year --
  a  spring season from 1  September to 30 November and  an autumn season from 1
  March to 30 June.

  These seasons will be consistent across  the  state  and  aim  to minimise the
  risks  to people, the environment  and  infrastructure  by  avoiding  firewood
  collection during winter, when the ground is wet and  at risk  of damage,  and
  during summer, in the period of highest fire risk.
  The secretary will be  able to shorten a season, either across the state or in
  part of  the  state, if it is  considered  necessary to do so  for  reasons of
  public safety because of actual or likely fire danger.
  Designating firewood collection areas
  The  bill will enable  the  secretary to  designate  firewood collection areas
  where firewood may be collected.

  Firewood collection areas will  be located, where possible, to avoid sites  of
  environmental  and cultural significance  and  make use of  the by-products of
  activities such as commercial timber harvesting and road construction.
  The bill will provide the secretary  with  the  flexibility  to open and close
  firewood collection areas during  a  firewood  collection  season.  This  will
  assist in managing the  supply  of firewood through a firewood season and also
  the availability of  collection  areas  should  unexpected conditions, such as
  floods, affect particular areas.
  Ensuring a sustainable firewood supply
  The bill includes several features which aim to ensure  that there is a supply
  of firewood for  those who  need it,  particularly in parts of the state where
  the firewood resource is limited.

  These provisions  will assist in managing  firewood supplies from  public land
  over the long term.
  In particular:
    the bill will impose various limits  on the  amount of firewood which can be
    collected, personally or on behalf of another  person or by a household. The
    maximum personal collection limit will be 2 cubic metres per person per day,
    regardless of whether the firewood is collected  personally or on behalf  of
    another person.  The maximum household  collection  limit will  be  16 cubic
    metres per financial  year.  This may be collected by members of a household
    or on behalf of a member of a household;

    the bill will enable  the secretary  to limit the amount of wood a household
    can collect in a financial year from a particular  region,  should  this  be
    considered necessary in  the interests of ensuring  the long-term supply  of
    firewood in that part of the state;
    the bill will also enable the secretary to restrict collection  in specified
    firewood  collection  areas  to  a  class of  persons  --  for example,  the
    residents  of a particular  municipality  -- if required  to manage firewood
    supply.
  Establishing appropriate firewood collection rules
  The bill recognises that the new  scheme  requires  checks  and balances -- or
  rules -- for it to work.

  It  strikes the appropriate  balance  between introducing  a  simpler and more
  affordable system for domestic firewood collection on the one hand and, on the
  other,  ensuring  that  there  is  a  sustainable  firewood   resource,   that
  appropriate environmental safeguards are in place,  and that there  are strong
  deterrents to illegal commercial operations.
  The  bill  will  therefore  create  a  series  of  offences  with  appropriate
  penalties, depending on  the severity of the offence. Currently, the penalties
  for  most  offences  under  the  Forests  Act  relating  to  illegal  firewood
  collection include up to one year's imprisonment.  These offences can only  be
  dealt  with  through the  courts.  Consequently, several new  offences will be
  created  as strict  liability  offences  to  establish  the  basis  for  their
  enforcement through the issuing of infringement notices.

  This will provide a compliance  tool to encourage adherence  to the collection
  rules, while  retaining the option of taking a case to court  if warranted  in
  the circumstances.
  There are two main sets of new offences:
    those relating  to  firewood  collection  outside a firewood collection area
    and/or  outside  a  firewood collection season,  or  otherwise  relating  to
    exceeding the limits imposed by the scheme; and
    others  relating  to  breaches of  the  firewood collection  rules  inside a
    firewood collection area during a firewood collection season.

  In  relation  to  the first category, the bill will  create  offences  in  the
  Forests Act, the Crown  Land  (Reserves)  Act,  the National Parks Act and the
  Wildlife Act in relation to the unlawful collection  of  wood  on  land  under
  those acts.  These  aim to deter  illegal  firewood collection in  areas where
  firewood collection is not permitted. To  ensure that there is no incentive to
  collect  domestic firewood  illegally  in one land  category  or another,  the
  offences and associated penalties will be identical in each of those acts.

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  To encourage compliance,  the bill will  create a strict liability  offence of
  unlawfully collecting up to 2 cubic metres of wood, and more serious offences,
  with penalties consistent with  the existing offences  in the Forests Act,  of
  unlawfully collecting more than 2 cubic metres. The more serious offences also
  aim to deter illegal commercial operations.
  Offences  in  the  second  category  include  those  aimed  at  protecting the
  environment  -- in particular,  cutting  down or damaging  a tree (or  shrub),
  whether dead or alive, and cutting or taking away wood which is visibly hollow
  or growing moss or fungi.
  In addition  to  the serious offences  previously referred to,  the  bill will
  create  several  other  offences  aimed  specifically   at  deterring  illegal
  commercial operations. These include:

    selling wood collected under the scheme;
    requesting or accepting  reward for collecting firewood on behalf of another
    person; and
    collecting more than the maximum amounts per household per financial year.
  The penalties  for most of these offences are high but are equivalent to those
  under the Forests Act currently applying to illegal firewood operations.
  The  bill  will  also  enable regulations to be made which will supplement the
  rules included in the primary  legislation. The regulations will cover matters
  of  an operational nature and additional  measures  to  protect  environmental
  values.

  Informing the public
  The bill will require the scheme to operate transparently. In particular:
    any  determination  of the  secretary  must be  published  in the Government
    Gazette;
    the plans of the firewood  collection  areas  must  be lodged in the central
    plan office; and
    signage must be erected at firewood collection areas.
  In addition, the Department of Sustainability and  Environment is committed to
  placing a range of information on its website and in departmental offices, and
  to publicising key elements of the scheme.

  Consequential and other amendments
  The bill will make several consequential amendments to the Forests Act and the
  Land  Act  to ensure  that  various  provisions, which  previously  applied to
  domestic firewood  collected  under a permit,  will continue to  apply  in the
  absence of firewood permits and associated fees. These  provisions include the
  power in the Forests Act  to apply for a  search warrant when it is  suspected
  that  forest produce has been  illegally taken, and provisions  in the Forests
  Act and the Land Act that deal with the ownership of forest produce.
  Conclusion
  The  bill  reflects the  government's  commitment  to  removing  the  need for
  domestic firewood permits and to creating a simpler and more affordable system
  for domestic firewood collection.

  At the same  time, appropriate checks and  balances, including a  strengthened
  regulatory framework, will ensure that the scheme will be sustainable and that
  firewood will continue to be available to the Victorian community for domestic
  use.
  I commend the bill to the house.
Debate adjourned on motion of Mr LENDERS (Southern Metropolitan).
Debate adjourned until Thursday, 28 June.