Annual Report 2012 Department of Sustainability and Environment Annual Report 2012 Accountable Officer’s declaration In accordance with the Financial Management Act 1994, I am pleased to present the Department of Sustainability and Environment’s Annual Report for the year ending 30 June 2012. Greg Wilson Secretary Department of Sustainability and Environment 10 September 2012 Cover image: Boggy Creek, Nowa Nowa Credit: Alison Pouliot Secretary’s foreword The 2011–12 Annual Report records another signifi cant year Meanwhile, the end of the fi nancial year marked the fi rst year for the department. of the new department structure, with the establishment of regional management teams and consolidated policy functions For the second year running, extreme wet weather and fl ood under Deputy Secretaries. This new structure has provided events presented challenges to the department and its staff. improved coordination, integration and governance and puts the While the rainfall kept water storages high, fl oods heavily department in good stead as we go forward with a continued impacted communities, damaging property, infrastructure emphasis on effective policy and service delivery. and the natural environment and causing evacuations in some townships. The achievements outlined in our Annual Report have been made possible through the efforts of our dedicated and Again, the department and its staff made a signifi cant professional staff and delivery partners. I would like to take contribution to the fl ood effort by assisting emergency this opportunity to thank them for their efforts and dedication services agencies with on-ground support, aircraft and during the year. incident management staff. As was the case in 2010–11, the extreme wet weather delivered obvious challenges to our annual planned burning program. Despite this, the department completed almost 200,000 hectares of planned burning – the program’s highest in 20 years. Yet again, early planning and community engagement enabled major fuel reduction activity over the days available for burning. Greg Wilson The 2011–12 year also saw the department make important Secretary contributions in delivering critical aspects of the Victorian Department of Sustainability Governments’ environment and water policy reform. These and Environment included a comprehensive review of Sustainability Victoria, the review of the Victorian Climate Change Act 2010, the Comrie Review of the 2010–11 Flood Warnings and Response and the Environment and Natural Resources Committee’s Inquiry into Flood Mitigation Infrastructure in Victoria. The Offi ce of Living Victoria was also established this year, to drive the reforms of Living Melbourne, Living Victoria, coordinating water and urban planning. The government’s reforms aim to drive generational change in the way Victorians use rainwater, stormwater and recycled water and provide Victoria’s next major water augmentation. The department also played a key role in fi nalising the $1.2 billion funding agreement with the Commonwealth for Stage 2 of the Northern Victoria Irrigation Renewal Project, and then successfully integrated the project into Goulburn-Murray Water Corporation in July 2012. Considerable work has been undertaken to support the Minister for Water in responding to the Draft Murray-Darling Basin Plan, with the aim of ensuring that the fi nal plan better balances the needs of regional communities and the environment. This has included comprehensive modelling and analysis, as well as establishing and supporting a Victorian community Basin Plan Advisory Group to help analyse the proposed plan’s potential impacts on regional communities. Department of Sustainability and Environment Annual Report 2012 i Contents Secretary’s foreword (i) 1. Report of operations 1 Overview 2 Year in brief 3 About DSE 5 Organisational and governance structure 7 Organisational performance 15 Offi ce-based environmental performance 16 Staff performance 28 Financial performance 35 Output performance 38 Effective management of water resources to meet future urban, rural and environmental needs 39 Effective environmental and climate change policy, investment and regulation 44 The community benefi ts from effective management of Victoria’s public and private land assets 53 Reduced impact of major bushfi res and other extreme events on people, infrastructure and the environment 60 2. Financial statements 66 3. Appendices 154 Appendix 1 – Disclosure index 155 Appendix 2 – Executive offi cers – DSE and portfolio authorities 157 Appendix 3 – Sustainability Victoria workforce information 162 Appendix 4 – Budget portfolio outcomes 164 Appendix 5 – Disclosure of grants and transfer payments 169 Appendix 6 – Major entities 176 Appendix 7 – Acts administered 177 Appendix 8 – Implementation of the Victorian Industry Participation Policy `178 Appendix 9 – Consultancies and major contracts 179 Appendix 10 – National Competition Policy 179 Appendix 11 – Compliance with the Building Act 1993 179 Appendix 12 – Freedom of Information 180 Appendix 13 – Compliance with the Whistleblowers Protection Act 2001 181 Appendix 14 – Water Resource Assessment Program 182 Appendix 15 – Sustainable water strategies 186 Appendix 16 – Environmental contributions 188 Appendix 17 – Additional information available on request 189 Appendix 18 – Acronyms 189 ii Department of Sustainability and Environment Annual Report 2012 Report of operations 21 Department of Sustainability and Environment Annual Report 2012 1 Overview Thrift-leaved Triggerplant (Stylidium armeria). This image was taken at Lake Mountain in February 2012 to document bushfi re recovery Photo by Christian Pearson, Misheye This section sets out the department’s role and purpose, strategic priorities, values and key highlights for the year. It also provides details on the department’s organisational structure and governance arrangements. • Year in brief • About DSE • Organisational and governance structure 2 Department of Sustainability and Environment Annual Report 2012 Year in brief A snapshot of the year’s highlights Reforming Victoria’s emergency management arrangements and achievements. DSE continued to implement emergency management initiatives in response to recommendations from the 2009 Victorian Responding to major incidents Bushfi res Royal Commission and the Flood Warnings and Floods swept through Victoria in March and June 2012, Response Review. impacting communities and agricultural activity in 33 local government areas. DSE joined the State Emergency Service Flood warning and response systems and the Department of Primary Industries to provide emergency A web-based Flood Intelligence Platform (popularly known as response and relief services. Floodzoom), will enable emergency services to more accurately DSE deployed aircraft to fl ood areas and provided specialist predict fl oods and fl ood behaviour and allow the public to see fl ood and operations staff in the Incident Control Centres and likely fl ood movements and assess their own fl ood risk. the State Control Centre. Incident management staff and fl ood Real time data collection and delivery systems have been mapping and prediction specialists worked around the clock in developed by Thiess, under contract with DSE and the Northern the centres for several days. Regional Water Monitoring Partnership. The department was closely involved in recovery operations In the March 2012 fl oods, 10 Portable Automated Logger after the Gippsland fl oods in June 2012. When the fl ood effort Systems – or PALS – were deployed to relay water levels in moved from the emergency phase into recovery, DSE and Broken Creek to the Incident Control Centre in Shepparton. Parks Victoria began assessing the damage to assets on public These will be available for future fl oods through DSE’s Regional land such as swimming pools, sporting facilities, walking trails, Water Monitoring Partnerships. caravan parks and parking areas. Improvements at 30 permanent fl ood gauging sites will increase DSE and Regional Development Victoria are administering the access to real-time river height information for fl ood monitoring Flood Recovery Community Infrastructure Fund to help fl ood- by agencies and communities. affected communities rebuild. DSE has also started a series of fl ood studies. The detailed Gippsland was the scene of another major incident response fl ood studies will map the extent and depth of fl ooding expected when routine monitoring of water quality in the Gippsland Lakes during a range of fl oods, including a fl ood that may occur once detected high levels of blue green algae (Cyanobacteri) in in 200 years. The results with guide future fl ood warnings and December 2011. response activities. An incident management team with wide expertise was set up Victorian Bushfi res Royal Commission to manage the algae’s health threat to humans and animals and help the fi shing and tourism industries. recommendations A revised code for bushfi re management was among initiatives DSE worked with the Department of Primary Industries, developed in response to the 2009 Victorian Bushfi res Royal Department of Health, Parks Victoria, East Gippsland and Commission recommendations. Wellington shire councils, the Environment Protection Authority, Monash University, tourism and fi shing bodies. The revised code reinforces that protecting human life is the top priority of bushfi re management. DSE’s role included submitting water and seafood samples for analysis, maintaining contact with fi shing and tourism Other response actions included: representatives,