The Tasmanian Regional Forest Agreement (RFA) is an inter-governmental agreement between the Tasmanian and Australian Governments. The Agreement provides for the long term sustainable management of Tasmania's forests, both public and privately owned.
The State and Commonwealth entered into an RFA on 8 November 1997. That RFA was varied in 2001, 2007 and 2017, and by a supplementary agreement in 2005 (Tasmanian Community Forest Agreement – TCFA).
The 1997 Tasmanian RFA was varied on 18 August 2017 by the Australian and Tasmanian governments to establish a 20-year rolling extension.
This page provides a short history of amendments to and reviews of the RFA.
Clause 8 of the 1997 Tasmanian RFA required the Australian Government and the Tasmanian Government (the Parties) to agree a process for extending the Tasmanian RFA as part of the third five-yearly review.
This document shows the process the Parties used to negotiate an extended Tasmanian RFA and the relationship between this extension process and the third five-yearly review of the Tasmanian RFA.
A variation to the Tasmanian RFA was signed on 18 August 2017 which has extended the RFA by 20 years and introduced rolling five year extensions tied to successful completion of five yearly reviews.
The third five-yearly review of the Tasmanian Regional Forest Agreement (RFA), for the reporting period 2007 to 2012, commenced in 2015 with the signing of the Scoping Agreement by the Minister for Resources and the Minister for Agriculture and Water Resources. Five-yearly reviews are required under clause 45 of the RFA. The Scoping Agreement sets out the arrangements agreed by the governments for undertaking the review.
The Summary Document provided information about the Tasmanian RFA, the review process and a summary of the government's progress in implementing the RFA. The Implementation Report provided a more in-depth analysis and commentary of the actions, recommendations and the progress in implementing the RFA. The documentation is a compendium of implementation reports in relation to the 1997 RFA, Tasmanian Community Forest Agreement (TCFA) and recommendations from the first and second five-yearly reviews of the RFA and the TCFA.
An independent reviewer, Dr Glen Kile, was appointed to undertake the review. Dr Kile analysed the Implementation Report, stakeholder comments and other relevant information in preparation of his report. The report was completed in November 2015 and submitted to the Australian and Tasmanian Governments, and subsequently tabled in both houses of the Australian Parliament. The report contains a number of recommendations which provided input into the negotiations for the extension of the RFA. Independent Reviewer’s Report on the third five-yearly review of the RFA
The Tasmanian Government together with the Australian Government invited public comments on the implementation of the Tasmanian RFA as part of the third five-yearly review, in mid-2015.
26 submissions were received for web publication in the representation period. The publically available submissions are listed below:
In 2016, Tasmanian and Australian Governments jointly provided a response to the recommendations contained in the report by the independent reviewer, Dr Glen Kile, on the third five-yearly review.
A variation to the Tasmanian RFA was signed on 23 February 2007 by the Australian and Tasmanian governments:
The second five-yearly review of the Tasmanian Regional Forest Agreement (RFA) 1997 covering the period 2002-07 was completed in February 2008. Both governments agreed to implement all of the recommendations from the review. The parties to the Tasmanian RFA have released their detailed responses to the recommendations arising from the second five-yearly review.
The purpose of the review was to review performance against the specified milestones and commitments of the RFA 1997 and the Tasmanian Community Forest Agreement 2005. The review was undertaken by Mr John Ramsay, an independent person jointly appointed by Ministers from both governments.
The governments prepared two reports for the purposes of the second five-yearly review of the Tasmanian RFA. The Sustainability Indicators Report 2007 and a report on the Implementation of the Regional Forest Agreement 2007. Public comment on these reports was considered by the Reviewer in preparing his report to the governments.
On 13 May 2005, the Tasmanian and Australian governments signed a Supplementary Regional Forest Agreement. It is a supplement to the Tasmanian RFA, and was developed to implement the Tasmanian Community Forest Agreement (TCFA) 2005.
The supplementary agreement, and the three maps which form part of the agreement are available to download. A fourth map is also available which is not part of the agreement, but gives a statewide view.Tasmanian Community Forest Agreement (TCFA) 2005
In response to a recommendation from the 10 Year Review, the Tasmanian Government commissioned independent financial and performance audits of the $115 million intensive forest management program funded by both governments under the Tasmanian Community Forest Agreement from 2005 to 2010.
On 19 July 2001, both Parties agreed to minor variations to the RFA, to ensure that compensation and termination provisions were consistent with RFAs in other states, and to address minor issues such as a change in mailing address of the Commonwealth and the clarification of an ambiguity of public reserves as informal reserves.