{"id":30772,"date":"2025-12-04T15:24:24","date_gmt":"2025-12-04T05:24:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/woodcentral.com.au\/?p=30772"},"modified":"2025-12-04T17:44:30","modified_gmt":"2025-12-04T07:44:30","slug":"rfas-arent-going-anywhere-forestry-agreements-are-strong-and-robust","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/woodcentral.com.au\/rfas-arent-going-anywhere-forestry-agreements-are-strong-and-robust\/","title":{"rendered":"RFAs Aren\u2019t Going Anywhere \u2014 Forestry Agreements are \u2018Strong and Robust&#8217;"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Australia\u2019s management of forests and its $23 billion forest products industry is starting from a position of strength, with strong and robust arrangements to support environmental standards. That is according to Matt Lowe, Australia&#8217;s Deputy Secretary, Agriculture, Fisheries &amp; Forestry Policy Group, when quizzed by Senator Richard Colbeck, a Tasmanian Liberal Senator and former Assistant Minister of Agriculture and Water Resources, during the Rural and Regional Affairs and Transport Legislation Committee estimates committee this week.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<div class=\"youtube-embed\" data-video_id=\"KgJQ-tjSHVY\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Senate Rural, Regional Affairs and Transport Legislation Committee  | 02\/12\/2025\" width=\"696\" height=\"392\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/KgJQ-tjSHVY?feature=oembed&#038;enablejsapi=1\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/div>\n<\/div><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\"><em>Senator Colbeck&#8217;s questioning of the EPBC starts at 5 hours and 14 minutes. Footage courtesy of AUSParliamentLive.<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Last week, Wood Central revealed that Australia&#8217;s five remaining regional forestry agreements (RFAs) &#8211; three in New South Wales and one each in Western Australia and Tasmania will be brought under the wing of the new Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act from July 2027. The five Victorian RFAs were terminated on 31 December 2024, following the Victorian Government\u2019s decision to cease native forestry in that state, whilst the Queensland government never signed the RFA agreement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>On Monday, Murray Watt &#8211; the Minister for Environment and Water \u2013 who did the deal with the Greens to pass his complex set of seven EPBC reform Acts late last week, and Julie Collins &#8211; Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry, stressed that the new EPBC reforms will not lead to the death of native forestry in Australia.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-pullquote\"><blockquote><p>&#8220;I need to be very clear, we&#8217;re not ending native forest timber,&#8221; Minister Collins said during a Doorstop at Western Junction Sawmill in Tasmania, with Minister Watt stressing that the RFAs are not going anywhere. &#8220;What the legislation says is that, just like every other industry in Australia, RFAs will need to meet the new national environmental standards and that the arrangements for RFAs will become accredited by the Federal Government.&#8221;<\/p><cite>Murray Watt &#8211; the current Minister for Environment and Water &#8211; and Julie Collins &#8211; Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry at the Western Junction Sawmill on Monday.<\/cite><\/blockquote><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Speaking about the RFAs, Lowe said the current system &#8211; which stood the test of a High Court judgement, after being challenged by environmental groups &#8211; has got strong processes around managing and avoiding unacceptable impacts on threatened species: &#8220;We think the RFA system and RFA states are coming to this from a position of strength given the robust arrangements that are already in place,&#8221; he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1497\" src=\"https:\/\/woodcentral.b-cdn.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/map-region-large.jpg\" alt=\"map region large\" class=\"wp-image-30773\" srcset=\"https:\/\/woodcentral.com.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/map-region-large.jpg 2000w, https:\/\/woodcentral.com.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/map-region-large-300x225.jpg 300w, https:\/\/woodcentral.com.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/map-region-large-1024x766.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/woodcentral.com.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/map-region-large-768x575.jpg 768w, https:\/\/woodcentral.com.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/map-region-large-1536x1150.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/woodcentral.com.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/map-region-large-561x420.jpg 561w, https:\/\/woodcentral.com.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/map-region-large-80x60.jpg 80w, https:\/\/woodcentral.com.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/map-region-large-696x521.jpg 696w, https:\/\/woodcentral.com.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/map-region-large-1068x799.jpg 1068w, https:\/\/woodcentral.com.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/map-region-large-1920x1437.jpg 1920w, https:\/\/woodcentral.com.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/map-region-large-265x198.jpg 265w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Matt Lowe, Australia&#8217;s Deputy Secretary, Agriculture, Fisheries &amp; Forestry Policy Group: &#8220;Certainly, the government&nbsp;has no commitment&nbsp;to ending native forestry. It&#8217;s committed to the sustainable continuation of forestry.&#8221;<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>And whilst there is some work to\u00a0be done\u00a0to define those national environmental standards, Lowe suggested a gap analysis approach was ahead &#8220;I think that, for us, the important thing is to support RFA states with a transition to that accreditation by basically going: &#8216;Okay, here&#8217;s what the RFA achieves. Here&#8217;s what those national environmental standards are asking for, and here&#8217;s what we need to do to address what those national environmental standards are asking for.'&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/woodcentral.com.au\/native-forestrys-death-greatly-exaggerated-union-corrects-the-record\/\">On Friday,<\/a> Wood Central revealed that Michael O&#8217;Connor &#8211; the National Secretary of the powerful Timber, Furnishings and Textiles Union and current member<em>&nbsp;of the Responsible Wood board, which manages the Australian Forestry Standard said the union &#8220;<\/em>fully expects the&nbsp;industry&#8217;s&nbsp;environmental management system to stack up when assessed against the new standards.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"600\" height=\"412\" src=\"https:\/\/woodcentral.b-cdn.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/FILE-20190522-1848KRC9ZSQKT3T7.jpg\" alt=\"FILE 20190522 1848KRC9ZSQKT3T7\" class=\"wp-image-30774\" srcset=\"https:\/\/woodcentral.com.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/FILE-20190522-1848KRC9ZSQKT3T7.jpg 600w, https:\/\/woodcentral.com.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/FILE-20190522-1848KRC9ZSQKT3T7-300x206.jpg 300w, https:\/\/woodcentral.com.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/FILE-20190522-1848KRC9ZSQKT3T7-218x150.jpg 218w, https:\/\/woodcentral.com.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/FILE-20190522-1848KRC9ZSQKT3T7-100x70.jpg 100w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Senator Richard Colbeck, a Tasmanian Liberal Senator and former Minister of Agriculture and Water: <em>&#8220;What&#8217;s going to be the effect of\u2014let&#8217;s call it\u2014a new environmental standard, which is a completely nebulous concept at this stage, <strong>given that the forest industry actually has a national standard, the Australian forestry standard, which&nbsp;is made&nbsp;to ISO 14000 principles<\/strong>, so it&#8217;s based on global benchmarks. You already have, as you&#8217;ve already acknowledged, a comprehensive reserve system. Is there going to be another cycle of &#8216;let&#8217;s grab some more area to add to the reserve system&#8217; as part of this, because that&#8217;s what the environmental standards&nbsp;say, or are we going to recognise the fact that we already have a comprehensive, representative reserve system&nbsp;that&#8217;s already been&nbsp;set up as a part of previous processes?&#8221;<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cOur union expects the sector to do well if the new standards are sensible and applied in a reasonable, evidence-based way \u2014 which we\u2019ll be pushing for,\u201d O&#8217;Connor said. Under the reforms, environmental assessments of forestry operations \u2014 currently managed through the Regional Forest Agreement (RFA) framework, which complies with the current EPBC Act requirements under that well-established Federal-State arrangement \u2014 will shift to an alternative accreditation pathway aligned with the yet-to-be-finalised National Environmental Standards.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>According to O\u2019Connor, \u201cour call is simple. The finalisation of the standards \u2014 and the assessment of operations against them \u2014 must ensure ongoing active and sustainable forest management, support sustainable development in timber communities, and deliver a stronger future for the workers who manage these forests and those whose livelihoods they sustain.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Please note<\/strong>: The exchange between Senator Colbeck and Departmental Officers is significant for the Australian native forestry industry.&nbsp; The full transcript will be run next week in a series of articles picking up further material from the Department of Climate and material that is contrary to what Officers of the Department of Agriculture and Forestry are saying.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Australia\u2019s management of forests and its $23 billion forest products industry is starting from a position of strength, with strong and robust arrangements to support environmental standards. That is according to Matt Lowe, Australia&#8217;s Deputy Secretary, Agriculture, Fisheries &amp; Forestry Policy Group, when quizzed by Senator Richard Colbeck, a Tasmanian Liberal Senator and former Assistant [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":30775,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_wpscppro_dont_share_socialmedia":false,"_wpscppro_custom_social_share_image":0,"_facebook_share_type":"default","_twitter_share_type":"default","_linkedin_share_type":"default","_pinterest_share_type":"default","_linkedin_share_type_page":"","_instagram_share_type":"default","_medium_share_type":"default","_threads_share_type":"default","_google_business_share_type":"default","_selected_social_profile":[],"_wpsp_enable_custom_social_template":false,"_wpsp_social_scheduling":{"enabled":false,"datetime":null,"platforms":[],"status":"template_only","dateOption":"today","timeOption":"now","customDays":"","customHours":"","customDate":"","customTime":"","schedulingType":"absolute"},"_wpsp_active_default_template":true},"categories":[50,113,33,46,85,84,54,83,45,44,59,31,56,82],"tags":[],"ppma_author":[70],"class_list":{"0":"post-30772","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-australia","8":"category-australian-capital-territory","9":"category-editors-picks","10":"category-industry","11":"category-new-south-wales","12":"category-northern-territory","13":"category-queensland","14":"category-south-australia","15":"category-sustainability","16":"category-sustainable-forest-management","17":"category-tasmania","18":"category-top-stories","19":"category-victoria","20":"category-western-australia"},"authors":[{"term_id":70,"user_id":2,"is_guest":0,"slug":"jason","display_name":"Jason Ross","avatar_url":{"url":"https:\/\/woodcentral.com.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/J-Ross-headshot.jpeg","url2x":"https:\/\/woodcentral.com.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/J-Ross-headshot.jpeg"},"0":null,"1":"","2":"","3":"","4":"","5":"","6":"","7":"","8":""}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/woodcentral.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30772","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/woodcentral.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/woodcentral.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/woodcentral.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/woodcentral.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=30772"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/woodcentral.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30772\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":30787,"href":"https:\/\/woodcentral.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30772\/revisions\/30787"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/woodcentral.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/30775"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/woodcentral.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=30772"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/woodcentral.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=30772"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/woodcentral.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=30772"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/woodcentral.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/ppma_author?post=30772"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}