New South Wales - RFA Reviews and Annual Reports

Five–yearly Review of NSW’s RFAs

An important element of each of the NSW RFAs is the requirement for a five–yearly review of the performance of the RFAs. Clauses 30, 39, 40 and 41 of the Eden RFA, Clauses 40, 41, 42 and 43 of the North East RFA, and Clauses 38, 39, 40 and 41 of the Southern RFA require the five–yearly reviews to provide an assessment of progress made against the RFAs, and include:

• the extent to which milestones and obligations have been met, including the management of the National Estate
• the results of monitoring of sustainability indicators
• invited public comment on the performance of the Agreements.

A review of progress with the implementation of the three NSW RFAs formally commenced in February 2008 upon signing of the First Review of Progress with Implementation of the NSW Regional Forest Agreements — Scoping Agreement  PDF [2.3mb] for the review by the Commonwealth of Australia and the NSW Government.

The Scoping Agreement provides that the three NSW RFAs will be reviewed simultaneously. The review covers the first period from the date the RFAs were signed for the ensuing five years i.e. 1999—2004 for the Eden RFA, 2000—2005 for the North East RFA and 2001—2006 for the Southern RFA and will satisfy the requirement to undertake a review of the performance of the RFAs for the first five year period.

Further details on the process for the reviews are available on the New South Wales Government website.

The public submissions period in which members of the community had an opportunity to comment on A Draft Report on Progress with Implementation of the New South Wales Regional Forest Agreements (RFAs) North East RFA, Eden RFA, Southern RFA  PDF [1mb] commenced on Tuesday  23  June  2009 with a joint press release from the Australian and NSW Government ministers followed by public notices in Sydney and regional newspapers in the first week in July 2009.

The submission period closed on Monday 7 September 2009.

An Independent Assessor was appointed to review the Draft Report on Progress with Implementation of the New South Wales Regional Forest Agreements (RFAs) as well as all of the public submissions. The Independent Assessor has provided to the Governments a Final Report on Progress with Implementation of NSW Regional Forest Agreements: Report of Independent Assessor  PDF [444kb]  Word [733kb] in November 2009. The reviewer examined all 32 public submissions that were made as part of the review.

The Independent Reviewer’s report was tabled in the Australian Parliament on 15 March 2010.

As a consequence of the review, the reviewer provided 18 recommendations for the Commonwealth of Australia and the NSW Government to consider in the ongoing implementation of the three RFAs.

A Joint Response to all 18 recommendations from the Commonwealth of Australia and the NSW Government is currently being developed.

Attachments to the Independent Reviewer’s final report:

• Map 1 — Upper North East NSW Region PDF [1.34mb]
• Map 2 — North East Region PDF [1.3mb]
• Map 3 — Southern NSW PDF [1.39mb]
• Map 4 — Eden PDF [952kb]

Publicly Available Submissions

During the review process, 31 submissions were received commenting on the Draft Report on Progress with Implementation of the New South Wales Regional Forest Agreements. Eighteen of the submitters have granted permission to have their submissions made publicly available on this website. A summary of issues raised in all public submissions was published within the Independent Assessor’s Final Report.

To promote equitable access to the public submissions, they may have been re–formatted to allow screen readers to view them. This may have resulted in changes in the appearance of some submissions. Original submissions received by the governments were provided to the Independent Assessor.

• Anonymous submission 1
• Anonymous submission 2 PDF [724kb]
• South East Forest Rescue Word [1.69mb]
  South East Forest Rescue PDF [724kb]
• James L. O. Tedder
• Ourimbah Community Inc.
• Skye Etherington
• Lorraine Bower
• Friends of the Five Forests Word [871kb]
  Friends of the Five Forests PDF [503kb]
• Vince Phillips
• Terrence Digwood Word [419kb]
  Terrence Digwood PDF [428kb]
• Canopy Native Forest Committee Total Environment Centre
• Peter Mitchell
• Colong Foundation
• NSW Young Lawyers’ Environmental Law Committee
• Environmental Defender’s Office (EDO)
• South East Region Conservation Alliance
• The Coastwatchers Association
• Matthew Sparks

Annual Reports

All RFAs required an annual report for each of the first five years of the RFA. The annual reports for each of the three NSW RFA regions are provided below.

Eden Region

• Regional Forest Agreement for Eden New South Wales Annual Report — 2004—2005
• Regional Forest Agreement for Eden New South Wales Annual Report — 2003—2004
• Regional Forest Agreement for Eden New South Wales Annual Report — 2002—2003
• Regional Forest Agreement for Eden New South Wales Annual Report PDF [183kb] — 2001—2002
• Regional Forest Agreement for Eden New South Wales Annual Report PDF [169kb] — 2000—2001
• Regional Forest Agreement for Eden New South Wales Interim Annual Report — 25 August 1999—30 April 2001

North East Region

• Regional Forest Agreement for North East New South Wales Annual Report — 2004—2005
• Regional Forest Agreement for North East New South Wales Annual Report — 2003—2004
• Regional Forest Agreement for North East New South Wales Annual Report — 2002—2003
• Regional Forest Agreement for North East New South Wales Annual Report PDF [205kb] — 2001—2002
• Regional Forest Agreement for North East New South Wales Annual Report PDF [199kb] — 2000—2001
• Regional Forest Agreement for North East New South Wales Interim Annual Report — 31 March 2000—30 April 2001

Southern Region

• Regional Forest Agreement for Southern New South Wales Annual Report — 24 April 2005—30 June 2006
• Regional Forest Agreement for Southern New South Wales Annual Report — 24 April 2004—30 June 2005
• Regional Forest Agreement for Southern New South Wales Annual Report — 24 April 2003—30 June 2004
• Regional Forest Agreement for Southern New South Wales Annual Report — 24 April 2002—30 June 2003
• Regional Forest Agreement for Southern New South Wales Annual Report PDF [169kb] — 24 April 2001—30 June 2002