The signed RFAs boost the process of continuous improvement in forest use and management in Australia.
They have identified better ways of managing our forests.
The Comprehensive Regional Assessment process added considerably to our knowledge of forest uses and values.
We developed a mine of information, through the landmark social assessment process, about how regional and rural communities use and value native forests.
In environmental terms, we established a CAR reserve system, adding more than 2.9 million hectares to Australia's already extensive forest reserves.
The nationally agreed criteria for the CAR reserve system (JANIS) were a major achievement of the RFA process.
We agreed on the first national definition of old-growth forests and made positive strides in identifying and protecting old-growth forest values.
The RFAs provide for 20 years' certainty of access to forest resources for the timber industry.
This improved certainty of access, combined with assistance under the Forest Industry Structural Adjustment Package and other RFA funding, is expected to encourage greater investment in value-adding projects and create new jobs in RFA regions.
And the RFAs paved the way for huge advances in our approach to ecologically sustainable forest management.