Timber Towns Victoria Welcomes Coalition Forest Plan and Fire Cameras

11 November 2026

 

Timber Towns Victoria Welcomes Coalition Forest Plan and Fire Cameras

Victoria’s AI fire detection network now has the backing of both major parties, after the Liberals and Nationals committed to an 18-site camera network in their Forest Management Program. Timber Towns Victoria (TTV) has welcomed the plan, which would also double planned burning and restore 5,000 hectares of degraded public forest each year.

The Coalition would invest $2.52 million over four years, alongside industry co-investment, in a $4.41 million network monitoring more than 1.46 million hectares around the clock. The Victorian Government has already committed to co-fund a $3.8 million expansion with Hancock Victorian Plantations and the Green Triangle Fire Alliance, adding 11 cameras to the existing seven by November 2027.

TTV President Cr Karen Stephens, who is also Mayor of Glenelg Shire, said cross-party support for early detection was a win for every timber community. “When both sides of politics back the same practical solution, regional Victoria wins. These cameras protect towns, farms and plantations alike, and now we need the long-term funding and coordination to get the most out of them,”

Fire cameras are the second of three priorities in TTV’s 2026 Government Brief, which the association presented to six parties at Parliament House in May. The brief also seeks predictable operational funding for monitoring centres, an integrated fire intelligence system linking camera feeds with the State Control Centre, CFA dispatch and forest industry brigades, and benchmarks for detection speed and false alarms.

The existing Victorian cameras detected 40 unplanned fires in 2023-24 and 46 in 2024-25, with every alert checked by a human analyst before dispatch. In South Australia, the same system has detected almost 90 fires across more than one million hectares, with 90 per cent of its coverage extending beyond plantations.

Planned burning and forest restoration

The Forest Management Program would work towards the Bushfires Royal Commission’s recommendation of treating five per cent of treatable public land each year, expand cultural burning with Indigenous Victorians and build a statewide firebreak network. Timber recovered through thinning and fuel reduction would be processed in Victoria and put to its highest-value use, with old-growth and hollow-bearing trees protected.

After January’s bushfires burnt more than 400,000 hectares of forest and farmland, TTV called for a coordinated, science-based approach to fire management. Cr Stephens said the program answered much of that call. “Our members have seen what unmanaged fuel loads can do to forests, farms and towns. A plan that treats more country every year, protects old growth and makes sure recovered timber is used in Victoria rather than wasted is good for community safety and good for the towns that depend on working forests,”

Roads: commitments from both sides

Roads are TTV’s first priority, and both major parties have made commitments. The Coalition has pledged $5 billion over four years for road maintenance, a 25 per cent increase on current spending, while Labor has committed $893 million to upgrade 25 local roads, 19 of them in regional Victoria, on top of earlier road pledges.

TTV wants the next government to build on those commitments for the timber freight network, where its Timber Industry Road Evaluation Study (TIRES) counts 167 local roads needing $128.6 million in maintenance and upgrades. The brief seeks maintenance budgets indexed for inflation and climate impacts, dedicated funding for freight-critical bridges, annual public reporting of road condition and backlogs, and co-funding for smaller councils.

In the brief, Cr Stephens said: “We ask for a commitment to strengthening Victoria’s regional transport network by increasing roads and bridges maintenance funding, improving transparency, and prioritising long-term, durable solutions that support community safety and economic resilience.”

The third priority is national forest policy reform, aligning Victoria with the Australian Government’s Timber Fibre Strategy and seeking a long-term, bipartisan commitment to plantation expansion, processing capacity and value-added manufacturing. TTV is seeking a formal response from all six parties on each priority before Victorians vote on 28 November.

Full details of all three priorities are in TTV’s 2026 Government Brief release.

 

– ENDS –

Timber Towns Victoria (TTV) is the peak local government body representing councils across Victoria whose communities are sustained by the forest and timber industries. TTV advocates for policy settings that support sustainable forest management, regional employment and the long-term prosperity of the towns and families that depend on working forests.

Media enquiries

Cr Karen Stephens, President, Timber Towns Victoria / Mayor, Glenelg Shire Council

E: secretary@timbertownsvictoria.com.au   |  P: 0488 900 645

 

Sources: Timber Towns Victoria, 2026 Government Brief and media release, 14 May 2026; The Nationals Victoria, Liberals and Nationals to put healthy, resilient forests at the centre of public land management, 28 October 2026; Liberal Victoria, $5 billion to eliminate 1 million potholes and get Victoria’s roads back on track, 12 July 2026; Victorian Labor road upgrades announcement, 29 October 2026; Victorian Government, expanded bushfire detection camera network announcement, October 2026; Timber Towns Victoria, Catastrophic Fires Highlights Coordinated Fire Management Is Essential, 21 January 2026; Timber Towns Victoria, Timber Industry Road Evaluation Study (TIRES) 2023-2027.

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