Lives and homes still 'at risk' while bushfire reforms incomplete

Fours years on from the devastating fires that claimed 173 lives and destroyed thousands of homes in Victoria, almost half of the recommendations made by the 2009 Victorian Bushfires Royal Commission into the Black Saturday bushfires have not yet been fully implemented. After the hottest January on record, bushfires continue to burn in Victoria. But, as the state and the nation remembers Black Saturday and its victims, have the lessons of that tragedy been learned?

By GEORGIE MOORE

IN the wake of the hottest January on record and fires across Victoria, which have killed a man and destroyed hundreds of properties, many key actions urged by the Black Saturday inquiry have yet to be fully implemented.

The 2009 Victorian Bushfires Royal Commission made 67 recommendations. Latest government figures show that 35 – 52 per cent – have been "substantially" implemented. But even those recommendations that have been taken up, are yet to be fully adopted.

Among those actions not yet completed are some of the key recommendations of the report: building fire refuges; developing designated Neighbourhood Safer Places; upgrading fire trucks; and enhancing the system to support aerial firefighting. 

Victoria now has only one completed fire refuge, at Woods Point, north east of Melbourne. Work on four refuges in the Yarra Valley, Dandenong, Mansfield and Moorabool areas is planned but not yet underway.

But none of these sites are in the areas of Kinglake, Marysville, Flowerdale, Whittlesea or Churchill – those hardest hit by the 2009 Black Saturday fires.

There are also no completed refuges in Macedon, East Trentham, Framlingham and the Otway Ranges – affected by the 1983 Ash Wednesday fires.

While there are 261 designated Neighbourhood Safer Places in Victoria, only six are being developed.

Fewer than 360 of 850 fire trucks have received safety upgrades, which cost up to $27,000 each.

A new system to enhance the response of Victoria's aerial firefighting system will not be finished until June 2014.

Meanwhile the Country Fire Authority (CFA) has had its budget cut by $41 million and the Metropolitan Fire Brigade (MFB) by $25 million.

United Firefighters' Union state secretary Peter Marshall said the Victorian Government's failure to implement major reforms had left lives and properties at risk.

"They made those recommendations so as to maximise the protection of the community and negate the extent of the loss of life and property. To disrespect them and not implement them, you can only come to the conclusion that Victoria's not as safe as it could have been," he said.

But a statement from the office of the Deputy Premier and Minister for Bushfire Response Peter Ryan defended the progress made.

It said that the latest report, in 2012, of the independent Victorian Bushfire Royal Commission Implementation Monitor (BRCIM) Neil Comrie had concluded that the state had made "very good progress in meeting its commitments", and that "there is clear evidence that Victoria is now substantially better prepared on a regular basis for bushfire risk than at the time of Black Saturday".

The statement said that 35 of the 67 recommendations had been "substantially implemented", adding that many were "long-term recommendations".

The Fire Services Commissioner also defended the government's progress, saying Victoria was the only state with a policy on fire refuges and that "significant work" had been undertaken to assess potential Neighbourhood Safer Places since 2009.

The government and its fire services commissioner did not respond to union criticism of progress on safety upgrades to fire trucks or the development of Victoria's aerial firefighting system.

Mr Marshall said the Bushfire Royal Commission's recommendations should be made legally binding to ensure they were fully implemented.

He also said the BRCIM was not sufficiently independent of government.

"It should be an independent body, a judicial body that is subject to analysis and verification through a structure determination process...it should be an independent legal body."

The BRCIM declined to comment.

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