6. Items for the Review

The milestones in the RFAs subject of this review are those milestones specified in Attachment 4 of the Eden RFA and Attachment 5 of the other RFAs (Attachment 1). The review will cover progress of the milestones for the first five years of each RFA including the years August 1999 - August 2004 for the Eden RFA, March 2000 - March 2005 for the North East RFA and April 2001 - April 2006 for the Southern RFA.

Consideration will be given to updating the RFAs in matters of fact (e.g. agency names, any changes made to requirements in legislation such as recovery plans or National Estate).

7. Linkages to other Processes

There are a number of processes producing complementary information aimed at reporting on sustainable management of forest ecosystems. These include the reporting against Montreal Process Criteria and Indicators including Australian State of the Forests reporting, Australian and New South Wales State of the Environment reporting, and NSW reports such as DECC's State of the Parks Report and Forest NSW's Social, Environmental and Economic Report.

In a separate process New South Wales will also review the NSW Forest Agreements and Integrated Forestry Operations Approvals as required by the Forestry and National Park Estate Act 1998 (NSW). The review of Forest Agreement/Integrated Forestry Operations Approvals will include consideration of the ecologically sustainable forest management (ESFM) criteria and indicators specified in each NSW Forest Agreement, being identical to the sustainability indicators referred to in the RFAs.

In addition, the Commonwealth Government, as a signatory to the Montreal Process, is obligated to report under the Montreal Process by December 2008.

Both Parties will use their best endeavours to collect and store information in a form which is readily transferable to and from other reporting mechanisms.

The approach for the RFA review in this Scoping Agreement is consistent with arrangements for RFA reviews in other States.

8. Roles and Responsibilities

Review Committee

Facilitation of the review will be by a joint New South Wales and Commonwealth Government Review Committee.

The Review Committee will have primary responsibility for developing elements of the review as outlined in the next section of this Agreement, including, where appropriate, reports for the consideration and/or approval of Ministers and determination of the work by the Independent Assessor. The Committee will be comprised of both Commonwealth and State agencies involved in the implementation of the RFAs such as Commonwealth Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry and NSW Department of Environment and Climate Change and Department of Primary Industries.

The Committee will be jointly chaired by Commonwealth Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry - Forest Industries Branch and NSW Department of Environment and Climate Change - Resource and Conservation Unit.

The Review Committee will be responsible for:

- Day to day implementation of this Scoping Agreement;

- Developing procedures for the operation of the Review Committee;

- Preparation of a Draft Report on Progress with Implementation of the New South Wales RFAs;

- Preparation of a report titled Final Report on Progress with Implementation of the New South Wales RFAs; and

- Preparation of Governments' response to the Review.

Independent Assessor

An independent assessor with expertise and knowledge of the New South Wales RFAs and sustainable natural resource management will review the Review Committee's draft report and public comments to compile a final report to Governments. The assessor will be selected based on jointly developed criteria. Terms of Reference for the Independent Assessor are contained in Attachment 2.

Ministerial

The parties to this Scoping Agreement are represented by:

New South Wales
The Hon Verity Firth MP
Minister for Climate Change, Environment and Water

Commonwealth
The Hon Tony Burke MP
Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry

The Ministers will receive the reports, decide on publication and decide on a response to the Review findings.

9. The Review Process (including time frames)

The following time frame for the Review is proposed:

Phase 1 - Review including preparation of a draft review report

• five months after signing of the Scoping Agreement:

- A Draft Report on Progress with Implementation of the New South Wales RFAs. The content of this report will include:

• background information on the agreement and its milestones;
  
• consideration of milestone progress;
  
• proposed outcomes from the review; and
  
• the results of monitoring of Sustainability Indicators.

- Determine selection criteria for the Independent Assessor and choose a candidate.

Phase 2 - Two-month Public Consultation/Comment on draft review report

• seven months after signing of the Scoping Agreement:

- Public consultation or comment will be sought for the Draft Report on Progress with Implementation of the New South Wales RFAs.

Phase 3 - Consideration of submissions, Assessment by Independent Assessor and release of second report on the review

• 10 months after signing of the Scoping Agreement:

- Consideration of public submissions including a response to the comments.

- The Draft Report on Progress with Implementation of the New South Wales RFAs and comments from the public consultation process and a response to these comments will be reviewed by the Independent Assessor.

- A report prepared by the Independent Assessor.

• 11 months after signing of the Scoping Agreement:

- Final Report on Progress with Implementation of the New South Wales RFAs and it is presented to both Governments. This report provides the outcomes of the review and will include:

• a description of the process by which public submissions were considered and what additional information was used;
  
• details from the report of the Independent Assessor; and
  
• further work that is required (such as the completion of incomplete milestones) and any recommended amendments to the agreements.

The Final Report on Progress with Implementation of the New South Wales RFAs will be tabled in Commonwealth Parliament as required by the Regional Forest Agreements Act 2002.

Phase 4 - Public Reporting and Governments Response

• 12 months after signing of the Scoping Agreement:

- Governments' response to the Review findings published.

10. Financial Issues

The State and the Commonwealth are to be responsible for all their own internal costs associated with the implementation of this Scoping Agreement.

The parties will share evenly the agreed additional costs involved with the:

• public consultation process;
  
• preparation and publication aspects of all reports and documents involved in the consultation processes in the review (including public consultation and Independent Assessor processes); and
  
• work of the Independent Assessor.

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