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Ingram Submits To Royal Commission Bushfire InquiryThe Independent Member for Gippsland East, Craig Ingram, has presented a submission to the bushfire Royal Commission, By Craig Ingram - 21st May 2009 - Back to News Making a number of key recommendations on what the state should implement to improve the safety and health of our public land and communities.
In his detailed submission, Mr Ingram has outlined the impact of successive state government failures in public land management and the effect that this has had over the last decade.
"During the past decade, Victoria has had between two and three million hectares burnt; lives tragically lost; losses of property, fences and stock; and a devastating impact on our water systems, the timber industry, our national parks and state forests," Mr Ingram said.
"I have also outlined the failure of governments to adequately fund land management and the inequitable spend on fire prevention compared to fire suppression.
"The cost of just one day of summer fire suppression is equal to the whole annual budget for off-season fire prevention.
"The key recommendations put forward in my submission to the Royal Commission that will make the greatest improvement to the safety and the ecological health of our public lands are:
· A three-fold increase in both ecological and fuel reduction burning to 385,000 hectares per annum, based on the recommendations of the Environment and Natural Resources Committee (ENRC) report;
· a fundamental shift from fire suppression to fire prevention, and the implementation of resources to make this shift; and
· an overhaul of native vegetation laws, including changes to allow the clearance of roadsides, fence lines and the removal of native vegetation from around dwellings and other assets.
"I have also raised a number of other important issues in the submission, including the difficulty for CFA brigades conducting roadside burns; the safety of our power assets; and the government’s current policy on boundary fence lines.
"As part of my campaign to convince the government to fully implement the recommendations from the ENRC inquiry, I have produced a giant petition to present to Parliament and this is available for any member of the public to sign at my electorate office in Bairnsdale," Mr Ingram concluded.
Source: http://gippsland.com/ Published by: news@gippsland.com
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