Book 8 - Parliament of Victoria

STATEMENTS ON REPORTS AND PAPERS
Wednesday, 1 June 2011 COUNCIL 1663
The Premier is on the record as saying that the 2009
Victorian bushfires were one of Victoria’s, if not
Australia’s, worst national disasters of all time. A
consequence of the 2009 bushfires was that a royal
commission was held, and it worked tirelessly and with
compassion to recommend steps that are needed to
prevent such a tragedy from ever happening again.
Of the 67 recommendations handed down by that royal
commission, one recommendation was that an
implementation monitor be appointed to ensure that the
recommendations did not just sit on a shelf and gather
dust. The implementation report is now before the
Parliament for members to peruse and for the people of
Victoria to look through. In providing their final report
to the Governor and to the people of Victoria, the
commissioners indicated that their recommendations
give priority to protecting human life and are designed
to reflect the shared, mutual responsibility that
governments, fire agencies, communities and
individuals have for minimising the prospect of a
tragedy of this scale ever happening again.
There are some key themes in the commission’s report,
and those themes revolve around, firstly, preventing
bushfires in the future. That can be done effectively by
stopping or reducing arson — that is contained in
recommendations 35 and 36 — and also by reducing
the ignition of fires caused by electricity asset failures.
That is where there is a big difference between the
action taken by this current coalition government and
the actions that were going to be taken, or the lack of
action that was going to be taken, by the Labor Party,
because this is one of the key recommendations that the
Labor Party whilst in government shied away from. It
did not want to know about the concept of
undergrounding many of those electrical assets to
prevent similar fires in the future.
In relation to reducing the impact of bushfires in the
future, there is an understanding in this document that
bushfires in Victoria are in fact inevitable but that
measures can be taken to lessen the intensity of such
fires and to better protect the community from their
impact. The main angles that the commission
recommends we take to minimise the intensity of
bushfires in the future are the reduction of fuel loads on
land where bushfires are likely to be most prevalent and
the maintenance of strategic fuel breaks to protect
communities and community assets, such as electricity
supplies and water supplies, from fires.
In relation to improving planning and preparation for
bushfires, the commission emphasised, and the
government acknowledges, the importance of local
planning that is tailored to meet local needs along with
the need to build stronger partnerships with and provide
better support to local councils in their planning
processes. The government has provided the Municipal
Association of Victoria and 34 local councils with
funding for 30 staff to boost their emergency
management capability and capacity. They have also
asked the Country Fire Authority — —
Mr Lenders interjected.
The DEPUTY PRESIDENT — Order! Thank you,
Mr Lenders.
Mr DRUM — Thank you, Mr Lenders. Obviously
if you want me to start responding to your interjections,
we will have a little bit of fun.
The DEPUTY PRESIDENT — Order! I advise
Mr Drum that there is no need to respond to
Mr Lenders; I have asked him to cease interjecting.
Mr DRUM — I will stick to the report, because it
makes a bit more sense than the former Treasurer. They
have asked the Country Fire Authority to improve the
level of local government and community engagement
in the development of township protection plans. There
is also an aspect of this report that relates to enhancing
capacity and capability to respond to bushfires once
they start. The commission considered that improved
operational performance will be needed to develop the
common operation policy.
The principal focus of the new fire services
commissioner is to promote and lead reform in fire
services and to deliver improved operational
performance and the capacity for three fire services to
operate as one integrated force. Part of the report is
about recovery and also continuing to learn and
improve in the way we approach our accountability in
relation to bushfires in the future. It is a fantastic report.
The DEPUTY PRESIDENT — Order! I advise
Ms Tierney that she has only a bit over 4 minutes for
her statement.
Cancer Council Victoria: annual review 2010
Ms TIERNEY (Western Victoria) — I rise to speak
on Cancer Council Victoria — Annual Review 2010. I
am particularly pleased to speak about the excellent
work that the council does, but today is also a
significant day for another valuable organisation. It is
the first day of the Heart Foundation’s Go Red for
Women campaign, and I commend those who have
participated in that campaign by wearing red today.