Review of the Regional Forest Agreements

The review provides an assessment of progress of the agreements against established milestones, and includes:

• the extent to which milestones and obligations have been met
• the results of monitoring of sustainability indicators
• inviting public comment on the performance of the RFAs.

The review of RFAs is separate from the review of NSW Forest Agreements and Integrated Forestry Operations Approvals.

Combined second and third 5-yearly review

In December 2016, the NSW and Australian governments signed a Scoping Agreement for the review of progress with implementation of the New South Wales Regional Forest Agreements (PDF 939KB).

The NSW and Australian governments jointly prepared an implementation report titled A Report on Progress with Implementation of the NSW Regional Forest Agreements: Second and third five-yearly reviews July 2004 – June 2014 (PDF 11MB). The implementation report outlines actions taken by the NSW and Australian governments to implement the commitments in the RFAs. 

Independent review

An Independent Reviewer was appointed by the NSW and Australian governments to review the implementation report and any submissions received throughout the exhibition. The report, Independent review of the report on progress with the implementation of the New South Wales Regional Forest Agreements for the second and third five-yearly reviews 2004 – 2014 was tabled in Australian Parliament on 25 June 2018.

This independent review made 16 recommendations to improve the delivery of the RFAs in NSW. A comprehensive response to the review has been prepared by the NSW and Australian governments, outlining how these recommendations will be addressed. The Joint Government Response to the Independent Reviewer’s Report will be made available on the website of the Australian Government Department of Agriculture and Water Resources (DAWR). 

Public submissions

Public submissions were invited on the review of progress on the implementation of the NSW RFAs between 2004 and 2014. A total of 5425 submissions were received during the consultation process and were provided to the Independent Reviewer for consideration.

Summary of submissions received

The EPA is committed to open and transparent public consultation processes. Steps have been taken to remove the personal information of authors and identifying information where appropriate. In some cases, an author did not consent to the publication of their name or requested that their name be withheld, and these submissions are published under ‘Name withheld’.

The EPA may draw on the contents of the submissions and quote from them or refer to them in publications, although copyright and the views expressed in the submissions remain those of the individual author or organisation. The submissions do not represent the views of the EPA.

First 5-yearly review 

The first 5-yearly review of the NSW RFAs covered the five-year period from the signing of each of the RFAs.

In 2009, a Draft Report on Progress with Implementation of the New South Wales RFAs (PDF 2.5MB) was placed on public exhibition.

An independent assessor reviewed the draft report and public submissions and produced the Final Report on Progress with Implementation of NSW Regional Forest Agreements: Report of Independent Assessor (PDF 444KB), which was tabled in the Australian Parliament on 15 March 2010.

The Joint Australian and New South Wales Government Response to the Final Report on Progress with Implementation of the NSW Regional Forest Agreements: Report of the Independent Assessor (PDF 2.3MB) was tabled in the House of Representatives of the Australian Parliament on 30 October 2014.