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Government baulks at key bushfire findingThe Member for Eastern Victoria, Philip Davis, said East Gippsland communities would be disappointed at the State Government’s refusal to adopt a set target of 385,000 hectares a year for preventative burning off in state forests. By Kevin Balshaw - 5th December 2008 - Back to News The Member for Eastern Victoria, Philip Davis, said East Gippsland communities would be disappointed at the State Government’s refusal to adopt a set target of 385,000 hectares a year for preventative burning off in state forests.
The Government’s response to the findings of the bushfires inquiry, tabled in Parliament today, says only that it "supports in principle" the inquiry’s recommendation that prescribed burning be increased from the present 130,000 to 385,000 hectares a year.
The inquiry had further proposed this should be treated as a rolling target, with any shortfalls being made up in subsequent years.
Mr Davis said the Government’s explanation for its position on this key recommendation made it clear there would be no commitment to a fixed target for prescribed burns.
"Submissions and expert evidence to the Environment and Natural Resources Committee’s inquiry overwhelmingly supported the increased target as a critical step towards preventing the devastation we have experienced from bushfires in Victoria in 2003 and 2007," he said.
"In fact, subsequent to the handing down of the committee’s report in June, a strong community view has been coming forward that even the increase to 385,000 hectares is nowhere near enough to provide effective protection for regions such as East Gippsland that are most vulnerable to bushfires.
"The East Gippsland Wildfire Task Force – a body of people with firsthand experience of the risk and impact of fires – has argued that this increased area of prescribed burns could be accommodated within Gippsland alone.
"The task force held a meeting at Omeo on November 20 at which it called on the Government to implement the report’s recommendations immediately, which I supported."
The Government has qualified its support in principle for the recommendation by saying "the annual area treated by planned burning needs to be determined based on science and risk management frameworks and be subject to suitable opportunities as dictated by seasonal conditions".
It continutes: "Given this, the Government recognises that the amount of planned burning will vary to take into account these factors.
"The Government supports a move away from focusing on hectare-based targets which may lead to inappropriate planned burning programs."
Mr Davis said the response made no reference to the committee’s recommendation that the prescribed burning program should be treated as a rolling target.
Most disappointingly, he said, the overall tenor of the response made it appear unlikely the state would be any better protected against the risk of major bushfires in the foreseeable future.
He said there was further confirmation in the state budget update report, also tabled in Parliament this week, of the Government’s reluctance to increase the target for prescribed burns.
"The budget update includes a line item for expenditure on fire suppression, which shows it increasing from $10 million in the current year to just $10.8 million in fiscal 2012 – hardly enough to cater for a substantial increase in preventative measures," Mr Davis said.
"We have to remember that while the Government endeavours to provide comfort by saying it has either supported or supported in principle all recommendations of the inquiry, it has yet to act on them.
"The community of East Gippsland has been sending the Government a clear message that it should act promptly and decisively on the inquiry’s proposals, but the fact it has left this response to the eve of another summer shows it has failed to heed the bitter lessons of 2003 and 2007."
On the question of compensating landowners for fences damaged by bushfires and prescribed burns, the Government has also supported the committee’s recommendation in principle and says it will work with landholders, the community and insurance and agricultural industries "to develop a consistent and equitable ongoing policy".
Source: http://gippsland.com/ Published by: kevin.balshaw@parliament.vic.gov.au
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