In Australia, Codes of Practice started to form part of approaches to public land management in the early 1980s, Tasmania’s Forest Practices Act 1985 being understood to having been the first if its kind nationally.

Codes of Practice evolved as a way to provide detailed, practical guidance on how to comply with legal standards particularly, but not only, in areas like workplace health and safety. Codes offered specific steps and procedures to manage risks and hazards; a ’how-to’ guide for meeting legal obligations, while not replacing the underlying laws themselves.

Following the decision of the Cain Labor Government to form a consolidated land and resource management agency, Victoria’s Conservation, Forests and Lands Act 1987 was designed to:

• ... create a body corporate called the Director-General of Conservation, Forests and Lands, to define its powers and to transfer to it the functions of the Forests Commission, the Soil Conservation Authority and the Vermin and Noxious Weeds Destruction Board, and to abolish those bodies
• ... provide a framework for a land management system and to make necessary administrative, financial and enforcement provisions
• ... establish a system of land management cooperative agreements; and to make consequential amendments to various Acts....’

Section 31 of that Act established power to make Codes of Practice, and set out associated procedures.

Concurrently, the State government had been consulting widely as part of the formulation of various over-arching ‘Government Statements’. In August 1986 ‘Statement No.9’, a ‘Timber Industry Strategy’ was released. The Strategy foreshadowed, among other things, the creation of a ‘...legislated Code of Forest Practices which (would) lay down operational standards associated with (the) multiple use of forests..(and that)...Compliance with the Code on both public and private land (would be) a statutory requirement....’

In Victoria two Codes where subsequently prepared viz:

• A Code of Forest Practices for Timber Production. In May 1989, Revision No. 1 of this Code was ratified by State Parliament, becoming the first such document of its kind. Since then, the Code has been amended on a number of occasions, the most recent version being The Code of Practice for Timber Production 2014, which was amended twice in 2022. ¹
• A Code of Practice for Fire Management on Public Land. An initial Code was approved by the then Minister for Natural Resources in 1995 (as this Code only applied to Public Land, ratification by the Parliament was not required). A Code of Practice for Fire Management on Public Land (Revision 1) appeared in 2006. A Code of Practice for Bushfire Management on Public Land 2012 (amended 2022)  was being reviewed in late 2024. ²

¹ As with the development of the over-arching 1986 Timber Industry Strategy, the development of this first Code of Forest Practices involved considerable consultation, both within government, and in the wider community. The ‘anchors’ in the development of this first Code, and the prime movers in keeping it focussed, were Alan Eddy and Mark Poynter, with considerable assistance from Barrie Dexter, among others. The initial development of both these Codes involved widespread consultation with the wider community, with industry stakeholders, and with regulatory bodies to ensure relevance and practicality.  It is assumed that this consultative commitment endured subsequently.

² The initiative for this first ‘Fire’ Code (nationally, and probably internationally) came from within CNR’s Fire Management group. The Code’s principal project officer, Max Coulter, liaised widely, again within government, and in the wider community. Among others, Jenny Barnett of the Victorian National Parks Association, and Dr Kevin Tolhurst, by then with Melbourne University, were formidable, and important allies. As part of the development of the first ‘Fire’ Code, Max prepared a comprehensive Background Document. Among other things this document is a pretty good summary of ‘where things were at’ forest-fire-wise in the mid-1990s.