PARLIAMENT OF VICTORIA Legislative Council Environment and Planning Committee Inquiry into fire season preparedness Final Report Parliament of Victoria Environment and Planning Committee Ordered to be published VICTORIAN GOVERNMENT PRINTER June 2017 PP No 295, Session 2014-17 ISBN 978 1 925458 88 6 (print version) 978 1 925458 89 3 (PDF version) Committee functions The Environment and Planning Committee (Legislation and References) is established under the Legislative Council Standing Orders Chapter 23 — Council Committees and Sessional Orders. The committee’s functions are to inquire into and report on any proposal, matter or thing concerned with the arts, environment and planning the use, development and protection of land. The Environment and Planning Committee (References) may inquire into, hold public hearings, consider and report on other matters that are relevant to its functions. The Environment and Planning Committee (Legislation) may inquire into, hold public hearings, consider and report on any Bills or draft Bills referred by the Legislative Council, annual reports, estimates of expenditure or other documents laid before the Legislative Council in accordance with an Act, provided these are relevant to its functions. Government Department allocated for oversight: • Department of the Environment, Land, Water and Planning ii Environment and Planning Committee Committee membership Hon David Davis MLC Ms Harriet Shing MLC Chair Deputy Chair Southern Metropolitan Eastern Victoria Ms Melina Bath MLC Hon Richard Dalla-Riva MLC Ms Samantha Dunn MLC Eastern Victoria Eastern Metropolitan Eastern Metropolitan Mr Khalil Eideh MLC Mr Cesar Melhem MLC Mr Daniel Young MLC Western Metropolitan Western Metropolitan Northern Victoria Participating Members Mr Greg Barber MLC Mr Jeff Bourman MLC Ms Colleen Hartland MLC Northern Metropolitan Eastern Victoria Western Metropolitan Mr James Purcell MLC Mr Simon Ramsay MLC Western Victoria Western Victoria Inquiry into fire season preparedness — Final Report iii Committee staff Secretariat Mr Keir Delaney, Secretary (until 1 July 2016) Mr Joel Hallinan, Acting Secretary (to 12 September 2016) Mr Michael Baker, Secretary (from 12 September 2016) Council Committee’s Office Mr Matt Newington, Inquiry Officer Ms Annemarie Burt, Research Assistant Mr Kieran Crowe, Research Assistant Ms Michelle Kurrle, Research Assistant Mr Anthony Walsh, Research Assistant Ms Prue Purdey, Administrative Officer Committee contact details Address Environment and Planning Committee Parliament of Victoria, Spring Street EAST MELBOURNE, VIC 3002 Phone 61 3 8682 2869 Email [email protected] Web www.parliament.vic.gov.au/epc This report is available on the Committee’s website. iv Environment and Planning Committee Contents Preliminaries Committee functions ii Committee membership iii Committee staff iv Chair’s foreword vii Findings and Recommendations ix 1 Overview 1 1.1 Introduction 1 1.2 Bushfires – the practical realities 2 1.2.1 The inevitability of bushfires 2 1.2.2 Causes of bushfires 4 2 Terms of Reference and inquiry process 13 2.1 The Terms of Reference 13 2.2 The inquiry process 14 2.2.1 Call for submissions 15 2.2.2 Public hearings 16 2.2.3 The impact of the Country Fire Authority/United Firefighters Union of Australia Operational Staff Enterprise Agreement 2015 17 2.2.4 The report 17 3 Fuel management 19 3.1 Fuel management 19 3.2 Defining planned burning 20 3.3 Planned burning ‑ the on‑going debate 21 3.3.1 The Black Saturday Royal Commission recommendations 21 3.3.2 The arguments for more planned burns 22 3.3.3 The arguments for fewer, more restricted burns 25 3.3.4 ‘Cool Burns’ and The Victorian Fire Stick project 28 3.3.5 The current fuel management levels 33 3.4 The approach to planned burning 34 3.4.1 Hectare-based targets 34 3.4.2 Risk reduction targets 35 3.4.3 Mitigating the risks associated with planned burns 40 3.4.4 Conclusion 43 3.4.5 Safer Together program 44 3.4.6 Land tenure – bushfire on private and public land 47 3.5 Alternatives to planned burning 51 3.6 The fuel reduction program mix 54 Inquiry into fire season preparedness — Final Report v Contents 3.7 The environmental impacts of planned burning 55 3.7.1 Environmental planning for planned burning 55 3.7.2 Animal welfare and planned burning 56 3.7.3 Endangered and rare species and planned burning 62 3.7.4 Data collection and maintenance 64 3.7.5 Health impacts of planned burning 66 3.8 Other bushfire mitigation measures 69 3.8.1 Evacuation policies – stay versus leave early 69 3.9 Climate change and the effect on fire seasons 72 4 Coordination arrangements 75 4.1 A shared responsibility 75 4.1.1 Sector reform 76 4.2 The current fire management arrangements 76 4.2.1 The agencies 76 4.2.2 The legislative framework for fire season management 80 4.2.3 Nillumbik landowners and the regulatory regime 84 4.2.4 Resourcing of fire season preparedness 88 Appendices 1 Submissions 95 2 Public hearings 99 3 Fuel reduction burns against targets – 1993‑2016 105 4 Selected major bushfire events since 2000 107 5 Summary of traditional burning practices being implemented in the Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning 109 Extract of proceedings 119 Minority Report 123 vi Environment and Planning Committee Chair’s foreword This has been a long, difficult but important inquiry. The Committee received 86 submissions and heard from 111 witnesses, in Melbourne and in 27 hearings in country Victoria. On behalf of the Committee I want to record our thanks the many witnesses and submitters. I want to particularly thank the Committee staff for what has been a long, complex and difficult inquiry, including Michael Baker, Keir Delaney, Joel Hallinan, Richard Willis, Prue Purdey, Michelle Kurrle, Annemarie Burt and Anthony Walsh. The Committee grappled with the Government’s determination not to provide detailed and independent submissions from the many different government agencies which have legitimate but different vantage points on the issue of bushfire preparedness. A large part of the Committee’s work related to the cabinet endorsed CFA EBA, the Country Fire Authority/United Firefighters Union of Australia Operational Staff Enterprise Agreement 2015. Indeed, a number of submissions focussed entirely on the issue, despite it not being explicitly identified in the terms of reference and many witnesses gave evidence on concerns about the Agreement’s potential impact. Clearly, government members had a different viewpoint from opposition members, but the Committee as a whole recognised the importance of the CFA dispute, its impact on country Victoria and opened hearings specifically into this matter. The Committee concluded that it was: …concerned about the impact of Country Fire Authority/United Firefighters Union of Australia Operational Staff Enterprise Agreement 2015 on country Victoria and community safety. (Page 17) Unfortunately, a majority of the Committee concluded that it would report very little of the details of its hearings on the CFA EBA dispute. This is extraordinary considering the large amount of effort the Committee had devoted to this topic and the controversial aspects of this issue in country Victoria in particular. There is no doubt on all the evidence I heard that the EBA proposals will have a massive impact on CFA volunteers, but most importantly on the effectiveness of the CFA in its response to large-scale bushfires, including its surge capacity. I am particularly concerned that a union dominated CFA, where volunteers are squeezed out, will damage the reservoir of volunteers and diminish massively the surge capacity that is a cornerstone in protecting public safety and property Inquiry into fire season preparedness — Final Report vii Contents state wide. This is not just a country issue, city-based Victorians have family and properties in country Victoria. They also holiday extensively and are tourists in country Victoria. I personally remain deeply concerned at the decision to move the Ballarat-based air crane to Moorabbin. I hope that in the future, people do not look back and say that the bureaucrats and officials who imposed this decision have blood on their hands. Decisions by the Andrews Labor Government to retreat from planning amendments in the City of Nillumbik follow a revolt by land owners and residents who did not want their lives and property placed at risk by cumbersome and poorly targeted planning overlays and associated bureaucracy. There is a lesson in this for the Government as it implements its native vegetation framework state wide. I also draw community attention to key issues concerning targets for bushfire planned burning and issues surrounding indigenous burning practices. Hon David Davis MLC Chair viii Environment and Planning Committee Findings and Recommendations 1 Overview FINDING 1: The Gippsland Arson Prevention Program (GAPP) represents a positive and valuable example of community and agencies working together to address a significant cause of bushfire and should be commended and replicated in other regions of Victoria. �����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������10 FINDING 2: A significant percentage of fires are caused by human activity either through deliberate actions or through accident or negligence. In many cases these fires could be prevented. �������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������10 FINDING 3: The anti-arson program established