ANDREWS’ FIRE PLAN FAILURE
Member for Western Victoria Region, Bev McArthur used a Constituency Question in Parliament to ask the Minister for Energy, Environment and Climate Change about the State Government’s bushfire preparedness heading into the summer.
The Royal Commission into the 2009 Victorian Bushfires noted that “the amount of prescribed burning occurring in Victoria is inadequate”, and Recommendation 56 proposed that “The State fund and commit to implementing a long-term program of prescribed burning based on an annual rolling target of 5 per cent minimum of public land.”
Bev McArthur said “Last year the area burnt dropped to less than one fifth of the recommended total.”
“It’s also now virtually impossible to graze cattle on the vegetation that plagues our roadsides."
“The Government has effectively destroyed the CFA volunteer workforce. It’s apparent that almost 4000 volunteers have left the CFA. How will this impact on our ability to fight fires in the forthcoming fire season?"
“And now this government is locking up the forests from firefighting timber workers"
“Powercor are failing to replace faulty power poles, which we know contributed significantly to past fires.”
“Daniel Andrews has asked the public to have its fire plan ready. But the question we have to ask the Minister is, where is the Government’s fire plan?”
ENDS
26 November 2019