Mansfield Shire Council 26 Nov

ENVIRONMENT AND NATURAL RESOURCES COMMITTEE Inquiry into the impact of public land management practices on bushfires in Victoria Mansfield — 26 November 2007 Members Ms J. Duncan Mr J. Pandazopoulos Mrs C. Fyffe Mrs D. Petrovich Mr C. Ingram Chair: Mr J. Pandazopoulos Deputy Chair: Mr C. Ingram Staff Executive Officer: Mr D. Benjamin Research Officer: Mr N. Bunt Office Manager: Ms J. Phelan Witnesses Mr D. Roff, chief executive officer, Mr K. Murphy, senior environmental health officer, municipal emergency resources officer and municipal fire prevention officer, and Cr S. Jeffcoat, deputy mayor, Mansfield Shire Council. 26 November 2007 Environment and Natural Resources Committee 1 The CHAIR — I officially declare open the Environment and Natural Resources Committee hearing on the impact of public land management practices on bushfires in Victoria. I thank those presenting to us and those who have turned up in the gallery. I ask you all to switch off your mobile phones, as they interfere with our recording for Hansard. I welcome the member for Benalla, Bill Sykes, up at the back. We have over here another member for the northern region, who is a member of the committee, Donna Petrovich. We are pleased to be out here in Mansfield in the north-east. Some of us were at Mount Buller last night and having a look around today. Earlier today we were with Graeme Stoney and his team having a look around at the Howqua area. I welcome David Roff, the chief executive officer of Mansfield Shire Council; the deputy mayor, Sandie Jeffcoat; and Kevin Murphy. All evidence taken at the hearing is protected by parliamentary privilege, as provided by the Constitution Act 1975 and further by the provisions of the Parliamentary Committees Act 2003. Any comments you make outside the hearing may not be afforded such privilege. All evidence given today is being recorded, and witnesses will be provided with proof versions of the transcript in the next couple of weeks. I understand presenters have been given their allocated times, and I ask you to present for maybe 5 to no more than 10 minutes so we can try to get questions for at least 10 minutes or so, which the committee would appreciate. Mr ROFF — Council appreciates the opportunity to make this submission. Also in the audience we have the mayor, Cr Marg Attley. The CHAIR — Sorry, Marg. Apologies. Mr ROFF — And as you mentioned, the deputy mayor beside me, Cr Sandie Jeffcoat, who was the mayor at the time of the fires, and Kevin Murphy, who wears a number of hats, being the municipal emergency resources officer and the fire prevention officer as well. Given that I have only been here for three months, these two gentlemen will be able to offer any local knowledge about what actually occurred during that period. By way of background, in early December over 40 wildfires occurred across the shire as a result of 200-plus lightning strikes. The fires threatened many communities, including Tolmie, Mount Buller, Jamieson, Kevington, Gaffney’s Creek, A1 Mine Settlement and Woods Point. Throughout the Christmas holiday period the fires raged and smoke became a constant. It was not until late January that the fires were brought under control and declared contained. Considering the enormous area burnt and the intensity of the fires, it was fortunate that they were largely contained to public land and there was no loss of life. However, 18 dwellings and other buildings were destroyed at Gaffney’s Creek and A1 settlement, together with 2 dwellings in the Tolmie area. A few dwellings just beyond the municipal boundary at Tolmie were also lost. Council assisted in the firefighting operations with plant and equipment, road closures et cetera and the operation of the emergency coordination centre, which dealt officially with over 748 requests. A municipal emergency coordination centre was established during the fires at the request of the police and, as provided for in the council’s emergency management plan, this remained open for 60 days, a significant portion of which was a 24-hour operation. This was the first time the MECC had been activated within the municipality with all the other agencies involved. Council did a number of things to inform the public during the fires, ranging from the establishment of a web page with up-to-date information and hard copy updates. More than 70-community meetings were held to inform communities what was happening. The Australia Day celebrations saw the Governor-General honour the Mansfield communities who had endured two months of fierce bushfires. In lieu of the annual Australia Day celebrations, the Governor-General presented all Mansfield shire CFA captains with an award recognising their brigades’ contribution to the firefighting efforts. Whilst a number of factors contribute to the occurrence of bushfires, land management practices, both public and private, play a part. In relation to this, council makes comment as follows. Fuel reduction burns at times appear to be inadequate, underresourced and, more importantly, at times inappropriately timed. The shire experiences its highest visitation periods during school holidays, long weekends and public holidays. These peak periods have, on occasions, coincided with the times when DSE and Parks Victoria have been undertaking prescribed burns. The focus of weed management appears to have fallen from the management agenda with inadequate resourcing either for enforcement of clean-up or clean-up itself, and consequently large, uncontrolled weed infestations occur, both on private and public land. This weed crisis has increased fuel loads and increased the risk of more severe and lengthy bushfire events. Additionally, many weed species were colonised promptly and successfully after these 26 November 2007 Environment and Natural Resources Committee 2 fires. It is pleasing to note that at recent community meetings to discuss the coming fire season Parks Victoria has indicated that it has allocated additional resources to attack weeds while they are still recovering from the previous fires. Council believes the adequate resourcing of weed control is vital, both in relation to enforcing clean-up on private land and eradication on public land. During recent years Mansfield shire has experienced wind and storm events that have contributed to large fuel loads on Crown land — namely, road reserves. The DSE has been reluctant to be involved in dispersing these loads either through firewood collection by the community or by removing the loads from sites altogether. These increased fire risks in built-up areas place unnecessary pressure on local government to coordinate community requests and complaints and consequently handle the issue. Permanent firebreaks throughout public land areas of Mansfield at times have been inadequate, and it appears that many are not maintained to an appropriate standard. Additional strategic firebreaks are essential, and ongoing maintenance of them is critical. Council notes that work has been and is being done to improve this situation. An asset protection review needs to identify how important public historic and iconic assets have been, are currently being and will continue to be protected in future bushfire events. It is unknown what the impact of the loss of tourism attractions, such as the iconic Craig’s Hut, is to the Mansfield community through lost business, while it is estimated that some 80 000 people visited the hut in a normal year. The extent and intensity of the wildfire activity had a severe impact on several water supplies around the shire — namely, in the Mansfield, Woods Point and Merrijig areas. Dirty and contaminated water was unable to be drawn from rivers by the local water authority and individuals for some time, placing extra burden on those communities to cope during these difficult times. DSE and Parks Victoria need to be adequately resourced and appropriately trained to implement post-fire management and resume natural resource management on public land and undertake necessary restoration works in a timely manner. It is essential for shires such as Mansfield to ensure points of interest and destinations for tourism are open and accessible as quickly as possible and resources applied accordingly. It is just as important that management issues are resourced adequately post-fire as during the fire emergency. Fires have a significant economic impact, not only during the time of the fire itself but also after the fire when assets are closed. It is noted that Parks Victoria expects to have the majority of sites reopened, although this will not be possible in some cases due to the combined effects of flood and fire. Following the fires there are a number of operations going on now to salvage timber from burnt areas. There is a limited window of opportunity for VicForests and others to undertake this salvage, and whilst a fair amount of the log traffic is on state roads, there will be impact on local roads also. In addition, this traffic adds to the potential for accidents, particularly in the more remote areas with narrower roads which are in some cases unsealed and have a winding alignment. One term of reference for the inquiry is the consequent impact of bushfires on the June–July 2007 flood. Obvious impacts of this were the erosion of roads and the occurrence of landslips due to the reduced amount of vegetation to hold the ground together. Council, in conjunction with six others, has formed the High Country Councils Coalition, which covers over 53 000 square kilometres, including over 20 000 square kilometres of public land, and the coalition has also made a submission to this inquiry. Council supports that submission, which contains 10 recommendations. Once again, thank you for the opportunity to submit to the inquiry. The CHAIR — Thanks very much, David.

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