The Victorian Forest Alliance regularly contributes submissions to various forms of Government or other Inquiries. Some of our submissions, as well as guides on how to write them, from recent years can be viewed below.
August 2026: Joint Letter on RFAs and EPBC Forestry approvals
"We are writing to express our strongest concerns about the trajectory of National Environmental Standards and arrangements being negotiated with states regarding EPBC Act assessment and approval processes for forestry following the end of exemptions for forestry operations under Regional Forest Agreements (RFA's). There is a high risk of retaining the totally inadequate status quo forest management systems, including thresholds for conversion and degradation and unsustainable logging yields, which have contributed to the inexorable decline of federally listed threatened species."
May 2026: National Environmental Standard for Matters of National Environmental Significance (MNES)
VFA Response to Proposed MNES Standards
"The Victorian Forest Alliance strongly objects to the proposed MNES Standards.
These standards must be rewritten to deliver genuine environmental protection, not to legitimise ongoing environmental destruction through weak standards and industry driven decision making. These weaknesses show a total disregard for both Australia’s natural values and the voter’s intelligence."
March 2026: Inquiry into the Victorian 2026 summer fires
VFA Submission to the 2026 Victorian summer fires Inquiry
"Bushfires are complex events shaped by climate conditions, extreme weather, community preparedness, emergency response and landscape management. It is
therefore essential that this Inquiry considers the full body of available evidence and is not used to advance pre-existing political or industry agendas, particularly
simplistic claims about land management that are not supported by the broader body of fire science.
The recommendations that follow reflect the Victorian Forest Alliance’s view that future bushfire policy must be grounded in credible science, effective prevention measures and the lived experience of communities affected by fire."
February 2026: Draft Terms of Reference – Strategic Assessment of Planned Bushfire Management in Victoria under the EPBC Act
"VFA represents community groups across Victoria who have extensive on-ground experience of Forest Fire Management Victoria (FFMV) operations. That experience
demonstrates a consistent and troubling pattern: inadequate planning, poor governance, disregard for contemporary ecological evidence, and a culture of proceeding with works first and accounting for impacts later."
Friends of Alberton West Forest Submission
Friends of Bats and Habitat Gippsland Submission
Warburton Environment Submission
Kinglake Friends of the Forest Submission
January - February 2026: Forestry Stewardship Council (FSC) Draft Interpretation Consultation
VFA Submission on FSC Draft Interpretation
"If adopted, this draft interpretation would allow widespread and irreversible loss of biodiversity, collapse ecological structure, and permanently degrade forest landscapes. It would turn FSC certification into a loophole for industrial monocultures rather than a guarantee of responsible forest management."
Gippsland Forest Guardians FSC Submission
"By contrast, this new Australian draft interpretation is long, introduces numerous exemptions, and fundamentally ‘reduces’ the normative requirements of the FSC Standard’. We therefore believe that it is not acceptable in its current form."
January 2026: EPBC Act Standards Review
VFA Submission to EPBC's draft Environmental Standards Review
"Australia’s native forests are living ecosystems that hold cultural, ecological and climate values accumulated over hundreds of years. Once logged, fragmented or degraded, these values are not replaceable within human timeframes. Any national environmental standards that allow avoidable harm, trade-offs or offsets for forest destruction will fail both nature and the public."
December 2025: Greater Glider Recovery Plan
UPDATE: The National Recovery Plan for Greater Gliders has been released.
VFA's Submission to the Greater Glider Recovery Plan Draft
"There should be NO NATIVE FOREST LOGGING in any Greater Glider forest habitat in Victoria, New South Wales and Queensland. Note this includes the states of New South Wales and Queensland where native forest logging continues.
All Hollow Bearing Trees must be protected and NONE should be removed in the current rogue logging being undertaken to create so called ‘Strategic Fuel Breaks’ in Victoria.
There should be NO PLANNED BURNS taking place in any Greater Glider habitat in Victoria (and the other States of NSW and Qld) due to the threat to their ‘homes’ in Hollow Bearing Trees and of course their food supply. Cool burns where labour intensive protection strategies are employed should be researched as alternative fire protection where appropriate - as done in the giant Sequoia forests in the United States."
November 2025: Environment Protection Reform Bills
VFA Submission to the Senate Environment and Communications Legislation Committee
"The Victorian Forest Alliance’s (VFA) submission focuses solely on one critical issue in the Environment Protection Reform Bills 2025: closing the deforestation loopholes that continue to drive habitat loss and species decline across Australia."
October 2024: Draft National Roadmap for protecting and conserving 30% of Australia’s land by 2030
Letter to Minister Plibersek re. 30 x 30
"As environmental organisations that have fought for many decades to save Victoria’s biodiverse native forests, we are writing to you to support the formal protection of Victoria’s native forests as a key addition to Australia’s “30 x 30” nature conservation targets."
"In May 2023, the Victorian state government announced the end to logging in state native forests by January 1st this year. The government promised to “deliver the largest expansion to our public forests reserve system in our state’s history.” To date, no formal protections have taken place and we strongly urge the delivery of this commitment. There are multiple pathways to reaching the “30 x 30” targets and the expansion of protected areas on public land in new national parks is a key one."
November 2023: VFA submission on SAC recommendation that salvage logging be listed as threatening process
VFA Salvage Logging Submission
"The Victorian Forest Alliance (VFA) supports the Scientific Advisory Committee’s recommendation to list salvage logging as a threatening process under the Flora and Fauna Guarantee Act (FFG Act).
Post-fire logging is the most damaging form of logging, and is known to have potentially irreversible consequences for recovering forest ecosystems and wildlife. When a salvage logged and burnt forest does struggle to regrow, the single aged, thick regeneration also increases the severity and future risk of bushfires. Research also shows that bushfire-ravaged soil can take up to 80 years to recover. Salvage logging has devastating impacts on already damaged soil conditions and halt the recovery of soil biota and the critical understorey species which protect the soil and stop erosion."
August 2023: VFA Objection to Mars Mines Licence Application EL008104
VFA Letter to the Minister for Energy and Resources
"The Victorian Forest Alliance objects to EL008104 licence application being granted as we believe any exploration disturbance and/or future mining in this location will likely cause unacceptable and irreversible environmental and cultural damage."
2023: Open letter to Victorian Premier Jacinta Allan, VNPA
Victorian National Parks Association Open Letter
"It’s now time to demonstrate leadership by permanently protecting the surviving wildlife, forests and woodlands of western Victoria. It’s time to look after the complex web of natural life in these forests and restore what we have left."
2023: Wind Up VicForests Open Letter
Letter to Premier Jacinta Allan and Treasurer Tim Pallas
"We call on your leadership to end this sorry saga, wind up VicForests, and partner with Traditional Owners, environmental and wildlife protection organisations, scientists and the broader community to secure enduring protections for all of Victoria’s globally significant native forests for the enjoyment of future generations.
If the Government can rise to this occasion and finally act in the best interests of all Victorians - a historic, enduring and celebrated environmental legacy awaits."
October 2022: Biomass Submission
"The Federal Government is taking public submissions into whether burning native forest biomass for energy should be included in the Renewable Energy Target. Submissions are open till Friday 21 October. We all know burning native forests to produce energy is NOT sustainable, or renewable. Logging and burning forests will undermine the potential for ongoing carbon storage and sequestration, whilst also contributing to large, immediate emissions from logging and burning native forests.
This is our chance to prevent further destruction of native forests by stopping the burning of biomass in Australia."
October 2022: Opposition to Development of Grey Headed Flying Fox Habitat
Victorian Forest Alliance objection to planning permit application amendment number 654/2006/P/B
"Forests rely on pollination, and pollination requires Grey Headed Flying Foxes. The maternal camp of flying foxes on Riverine St Bairnsdale is a vital colony for this endangered species, and if the forests of Victoria are going to survive another human generation, we need the grey headed flying foxes to survive with us. Bairnsdale is a Grey Headed Flying Fox colony of national significance."