LETTER TO THE EDITOR

2 June 1999

Last Tuesday two hundred people attended a public meeting called ‘Your Water, Your Forest, Your Future’ on the Regional Forest Agreement (RFA). RFAs are being drawn up for 12 regions in Australia and cover issues such as water management, biodiversity, recreation, tourism, heritage and logging.

We are grateful for the contributions of our six speakers representing the Government, industry and environment groups. However, it is absolutely shameful that not one parliamentarian came to this meeting despite personal invitations issued weeks in advance.

We called this meeting because Geelong, the Bellarine Peninsula and Surf Coast Shire had been left out of the formal briefing circuit for the West Region. Opportunities for public involvement were also lost because the availability of funding for preparation of submissions on the West RFA was not advertised in our local press.

The genuine anger expressed by the audience at what was perceived to be our deliberate exclusion from the consultations should serve as a timely reminder to the Government that we are all stakeholders in the management of our forests and that we have a right to be informed and involved in advance of any decision-making.

Although it is too late to contribute to the RFA Directions Report which is due for release in July, there will be opportunities for feedback on this report before the final agreement is completed and ready to sign by the end of the year. We are pleased to acknowledge that Mr Phil Fitch, from the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet, Forests Taskforce, has agreed to include Geelong in all further discussions on the West RFA.

If you would like to receive further information about the RFAs including the Directions Report and a summary and analysis of each of the speeches given on the night, please write to us at PO Box 2016, Geelong VIC 3220, or phone Stuart McCallum on 5281 1601.

Serena O'Meley
Geelong Community Forum