1 month ago
16
In a statement to The Age on Wednesday, the Victorian Auditor-General’s Office disputed suggestions it was responsible for the delay, saying it received the draft report a month later than regulations stipulate.
The CFA’s report received final clearance from VAGO on November 11.
Ward said it was due for release at the next sitting week in February, “which is customary”.
The Financial Management Act, changed last year, stipulates ministers must table reports in parliament within 14 days of receiving them.
Ward said she had asked the department to table the CFA report next week.
Marshall said a petition had been launched for a parliamentary inquiry into bushfire preparedness, sponsored by opposition fire services spokesman Nick McGowan, and there would be a campaign for Victorians to support it. He said a select inquiry in the upper house with broad terms of reference was preferred because the government did not have a majority in this chamber.
Trees burn in the Longwood bushfire
“I’m not saying we could have stopped these fires, but firefighters need the truth, need the equipment to be able to protect, and indeed, the outcome may have been very much different if they had the equipment,” Marshall said. “The parliamentary inquiry is a chance for the community to make this government accountable.”
Ward dismissed calls for a parliamentary inquiry. She said work would be done to investigate the fires and the response.
“As the union well knows, every fire goes through a process of analysis, which is exactly what the fire services and the commissioner will do,” she said.
She said fire preparation for this season “was nothing short of extraordinary”, reiterating the government’s insistence that the CFA is adequately funded.
Sheep wander across burnt ground near Longwood. Credit: Getty Images
After the Black Summer bushfires of 2019-20, in which five lives were lost and 1.5 million hectares burnt, the inspector-general of emergency management held an inquiry into that fire season. The Victorian Auditor-General’s Office also produced a report on the state’s effort to reduce bushfire risks.
As a result of both reports, the government accepted agencies needed to improve the way they communicate about living with the risk of bushfire.
But Weidemann said a parliamentary inquiry was the most appropriate path.
“We’re not asking for a royal commission that’ll take years and we’ll never get to the answers we need,” he said. “We need to have that parliamentary inquiry with a proper process, and the people that sit on that no vested interest in that process other than getting the right answers and the right outcomes.”
Loading
The government on Thursday announced a further $82 million package to restore roads affected by the fires.
A series of relief packages have been announced.
Treasurer Jaclyn Symes, who represents the Northern Victoria region struck by fires, said the government wanted that information to get through to those who need it and warned against the spread of misinformation.
“We want that help to get to where it’s needed when it’s crowded out by some of the misinformation, causing angst, doubling people’s trauma.”
Emergency Management Commissioner Tim Wiebusch said the number of homes destroyed since last week’s fires began had grown to 259, with another 17 damaged.
Another 522 outbuildings have been destroyed. Most of the impact was in the Longwood fire zone.
Houston, from the CFA Volunteers Group, said he had been told of instances when poor resources had hindered bushfire efforts, but did not give specific examples.
He disputed suggestions it was a bad time to raise these concerns while the state is still reckoning with the damage.
“They want us to go quiet. They want us to go away, but we’ve been asking for eight months for these things,” he said.
Start the day with a summary of the day’s most important and interesting stories, analysis and insights. Sign up for our Morning Edition newsletter.
