# Private Forests Act 1994

The Private Forests Act 1994, established an Authority to provide assistance and advice on private forest management, to prescribe the functions and powers of that authority, to provide for related matters and to amend certain Acts. The Act created Private Forests Tasmania, a body corporate with perpetual succession, with seal and may sue and be sued in its corporate name.
The Act was given Royal assent on May 10, 1994.
The Act, under Schedule 1, set out the broad objective of the Authority which is to "facilitate and expand the development of the private forest resource in Tasmania in a manner which is consistent with sound forest land management practice" .

## Objectives of the Authority

Schedule 1 of the Act details a set of Objectives for the Authority; which are-

## Functions of the Authority

The Authority functions include supporting the Minister and Government (a); supporting the implementation of the Forest Practices Act (c) and (g); marketing of wood (d), (e) and (f); supporting conservation (j) and (h); support for non commercial forestry (k) and finally promotion of research and education (i).
Under section 6(1) of the Act, the functions of the Authority are as follows:
In respect of Function (f) "to maintain and update an inventory of private forests, prepare five-yearly reviews of private forests and report on compliance with export and other licence conditions as required by any agreement entered into between the State and the Commonwealth", the compliance with export and other licence condition requirements was removed with the signing of the Tasmanian Regional Forest Agreement November 1997.
Funds are provided to the Authority by Parliament for only functions (a), (g), (h), (i), (j) and (k). In August 2001 a new Division was added to the Act (Division 1A - Private Forest service levy) which caused a levy to be paid on the net area of private forest, certified under a forest practice plan for harvest or regeneration or being established to plantation.

## Powers of the Authority

The Authority does have the power to provide financial assistance for private commercial forestry (Section 26 of the Act). When established in 1994 Private Forests Tasmania reported in their Annual Report 1994-95 a sum of AUS$1,730,000 as loans for private forestry. This sum related to a Pine Loan Scheme operated by Private Forest Division when it was part of the Forestry Commission. The Forestry Commission in 1994 became Forestry Tasmania and in July 2017 Sustainable Timber Tasmania. No additional loan funds have been provided under the Act since the formation of the Authority.
The Authority can borrow funds from the Treasurer (Section 23 of the Act) and enter into Joint Ventures to grow wood (Section 30 of the Act). The Authority has not exercised these powers since its creation.

## Role of the Minister

Under Section 19A there is a requirement for a Ministerial Charter which is to specify the broad policy expectations of the Minister for the Authority. The Minister may limit the functions and powers of the Authority and the performance and exercise of those functions and powers, but may not prevent the Authority from performing a function it is required to perform or otherwise complying with this or any Act.
In addition to the Annual Report (Section 32E Annual Report)(Section 32E), its tabling in Parlkiament (Section 32F Tabling of annual report) the Board of the Authority is required to prepare quarterly report for the first three quarters of the financial year (Section 32G).