Hi everyone,

We’re pleased to share this latest campaign update with you. It includes; what local candidates told us ahead of the state election, where the FSC 10.1 review stands, news that donations to GFG are now tax deductible, and the first article in our new knowledge series.

The forest and all of us thank you for your ongoing support!

What our local candidates told us

Ahead of the Victorian state election, GFG sent three questions to every candidate standing in Gippsland South. Four replied: Danny O'Brien (Nationals), Amy Barry-Macaulay (Labor), Zave Evans (Greens) and Philip Shuhman (Independent). Bianca Wilke (One Nation) and Lachie McGennisken (Victorian Socialists) did not respond.

We asked each candidate, if elected:

1. What are the top three things you would fund to protect the natural environment in our electorate?

2. What would you do to ensure HVP complies with the Section 69 Agreement?

3. What is the single most important thing you would do in your first year to protect the natural environment of the Strzelecki Ranges, and what measurable outcome would you aim to achieve?

The one-line summaries and commentary below are ours. Each candidate's full answers are on our website:

Danny O’Brien (Nationals)

1. He would fund Landcare and community-led conservation, weed and pest animal control, and more resources for public land management, including frontline staff, biodiversity monitoring and fire management.

2. He expects HVP to meet its legal obligations and would work with the Minister to have its compliance monitored, with enforcement action and remedial work where breaches are established.

3. His priority is better active management of the Strzelecki Ranges, covering weeds, pest animals, fire risk and significant habitat, with adequate resources and clear accountability for on-ground work.

What We Like: Outlines an intention to provide funding for crucial work, such as community-lead conservation and biodiversity monitoring, which is otherwise left to volunteers.

Amy Barry-Macaulay (Labor)

1. She would push for stronger protection of native forests, more funding for Biolinks mapping and Landcare revegetation, and support for farmers to adopt sustainable practices.

2. She would work with the Minister, DEECA, HVP and GFG to hold HVP to account for any breach, secure rectification, and agree a process for ongoing monitoring and enforcement.

3. She would bring stakeholders together as a Gippsland Environmental Coalition to co-design a 10-year plan for the long-term protection of the Strzelecki Ranges.

What We Like: Offers a long-term plan for the Strzelecki Ranges; clear on important protections for forests, has an awareness of projects already underway.

Zave Evans (Greens)

1. He would fund independent research into the effects of fire and planned burns, better-resourced local government and regulation to protect threatened species and link habitat, and biodiversity education.

2. He sees compliance as a matter for DEECA, but would push for a stronger conservation regulator to hold private companies like HVP to account.

3. He would support regrowth forest maturing to old growth, and offer incentives for revegetation and conservation covenants on private land, to link fragmented habitat through projects like the Prom Coast Ecolink.

What We Like: Will push for better resourced local government and stronger conservation regulator. Advocates for connectivity across the landscape, and allowing regrowth to mature to old-growth – these are good things for biodiversity.

Philip Shuhman (Independent)

1. He would fund GFG to report independently on the Section 69 area, map old-growth remnants with 2–5 km buffer zones around them, and remove pines, weeds, deer and other pest animals.

2. He would fund GFG to gather independent evidence of any breach, bypassing the Minister, and use it to hold the government publicly accountable.

3. He named weed and pest animal eradication, with GFG keeping photo and satellite records of the work as proof that the funding was well spent.

 What We Like: Sees a role for GFG, and acknowledges the importance of significant buffer zones around old-growth remnant forests.

We thank every candidate who took the time to respond.

FSC 10.1: Interpretation is now with FSC International

FSC International has confirmed it will consider GFG's concerns as it reviews FSC Australia's proposed interpretation of Indicators 10.1.1 and 10.1.2. This is the rule that decides whether a logged native-species plantation, such as Mountain Ash, can be replanted with pine.

Background. Criterion 10.1 of the Australian FSC standard requires harvested sites to be regenerated to "pre-harvest or more natural conditions". After our complaint about a Strzelecki coupe slated for pine, HVP's auditor issued a Major non-conformity, which HVP appealed. The auditor then asked FSC to interpret the rule. FSC International's first draft answer was a clear "no" to replacing native species with exotics, and more than 260 people and six organisations made submissions supporting it. A later draft prepared in Australia moved away from that answer.

What happened in October. GFG sent a detailed letter to FSC International's Country Requirements team. In our view, the Australian wording rewrites and weakens the standard rather than interpreting it, and creates new ambiguities that communities would have to police.

FSC International replied that its Policy and Performance Unit will review FSC Australia's draft, and will consider our letter as part of that process. No decision has been made yet. We will let you know when it is.

Related: HVP has confirmed it is not currently harvesting Mountain Ash plantations. A separate FSC complaint about the buffer along Turtons Creek is now under investigation by HVP's auditor, SCS Global Services.

Donations to GFG are now tax deductible

The Australian Taxation Office has endorsed Gippsland Forest Guardians Inc as a Deductible Gift Recipient (DGR), backdated to 22 July 2026. Donations to our gift fund made on or after that date can be claimed as a tax deduction.

DGR status lets GFG apply to philanthropic trusts and foundations that can only fund endorsed organisations. It also means supporters' gifts go further.

Thank you to Sarah and the team at MinterEllison's who did this work pro bono.

Donations can be made at this link: https://www.gippslandforestguardians.org.au/donate

New knowledge series: Rainforest in the Strzeleckis

The first report in GFG's new knowledge series, Rainforest in the Strzeleckis, is now online.

You can read the 5 minute summary here, or the full report here.

The report  summarises the published research.  It sets out what cool and warm temperate rainforest is, where it occurs in the Strzelecki Ranges, and why it matters. It draws on published research, with references held on our website. Two of its key points:

• Little of it is protected. All three rainforest communities in the Strzeleckis are listed as threatened in Victoria. Current government mapping shows about 10 per cent or less of the rainforest mapped in the Strzelecki Ranges bioregion is in parks and reserves, while about 20 to 40 per cent is on Crown land licensed for plantation forestry.

• The maps have not been checked on the ground. The State's two rainforest maps agree on only about 550 of the 7,209 hectares that one or the other shows as rainforest. The State itself says forest management planners need to confirm rainforest in the field before any forestry or fire management work begins.

The knowledge series is our way of sharing the published evidence behind the campaign. Keep an eye out for future reports as they are developed.

How you can help:

• Vote: for the forests on November 28th

• Share: forward this update or the candidate responses to anyone voting in Gippsland South

• Donate: gifts are now tax deductible and will help pay for our legal, scientific and technical work as well as our public campaigns

• Follow us: @gippslandforestguardiansinc on Instagram, and gippslandforestguardians.org.au

Thank you again for your continued support!

Gippsland Forest Guardians

We live and work on the unceded Brataualung Clan lands of the Gunaikurnai nation. We acknowledge the Gunai and Kurnai People as the Traditional Owners and custodians of the land and pay our respects to their Elders past and present.