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Tim Bull criticises Labor refusing to fix firewood shortage in Gippsland despite simple, practical solutions

Gippsland East MP Tim Bull says Labor's policies are causing a firewood shortage in regional Victoria, ignoring simple fixes like extended collection periods and contractor access to timber coupes.

By news@gippsland - 28th July 2025 - Back to News

The Allan Labor government is refusing to act on lack of firewood supply in rural and regional Victoria, including East Gippsland. A problem that is very simple to fix. Gippsland East Nationals MP, Tim Bull, who wrote to the Minister yet again on this matter, said the lack of understanding of the problem was extremely frustrating.

Tim Bull says Labor's failure to address firewood shortages shows a frustrating lack of understanding, despite abundant bush fuel loads and simple policy solutions available

Firewood mismanagement exposed

Mr Bull said, "The one thing we should never run out of in this area is firewood, but it is the Allan Labor government's policies and overall lack of understanding of the situation that has determined this outcome. To make matters worse, the Environment Minister, Steve Dimopoulos' response states 'firewood is a limited resource with unpredictable availability and demand can exceed supply.'"

"What rubbish. We have record fuel loads in the bush, debris everywhere, but government policy denies it being collected and used. The winding up of the timber industry significantly impacted supply as residual timber provided a lot of product to the market, and the government also removed the firewood timber coupes from contractors," he said.

Firewood policy failure

Mr Bull also said, "Combine this with the fact it has not extended public firewood collection periods (which it has the power to do) and we have a perfect storm. Some contractors are now bringing in firewood from the interstate to meet demand, which is just craziness in a place like East Gippsland."

"The Minister's response also states, 'the Victorian government recognises supply availability is placing additional stress on people who rely on firewood' - yet he won't make the simple policy changes to address the matter," said Mr Bull.

Fix firewood access

Mr Bull said there are three simple, practical steps the government can take now to address the issue. "Announce an extension to the firewood collection periods, open up more collection areas to the public and return firewood coupes back to contractors who hold a commercial firewood licence," he said.

"Rather than trot out waffle that it is a limited resource (when it is most certainly not) and admit it is placing stress on people - just change the policies to fix the problem. This of course is the same Minister we told free camping would not work time and again, which he pushed back before finally backflipping and making the changes we asked for. He needs to do the same here," said Mr Bull.

Pictures from Tim Bull MP website.

Source: www.gippsland.com

Published by: news@gippsland.com