Thursday, 18 April 2024

Firewood collection

Rikkie-Lee TYRRELL (Northern Victoria) (17:26): (832) My adjournment matter this evening is for the Minister for Environment in the other place. During the Easter break I took a drive through the Barmah forest. I was shocked at the enormous amount of dead fall littering the ground, causing a potential fire hazard – piles of dead trees and branches covering the ground, inhibiting the growth of saplings and the regeneration of forest. The forest is dying in places, but there is no room for new growth. On the Easter weekend a number of fires were deliberately lit in the Barmah forest, putting the lives of campers enjoying the long weekend at risk.

My constituents have also reached out with concerns that yet again there is not a single place within the Greater Shepparton or Moira local government areas designated for people to collect firewood. With the current cost-of-living crisis worsening, regional Victorians are struggling with the rising costs of firewood. Yet again my constituents in the Northern Victoria Region are literally being left in the cold by the Allan Labor government. The action I seek is for the minister to open the Barmah forest and let the forgotten residents of the Northern Victoria Region collect firewood for this coming winter.