A message from Christine Fyffe MP
On Saturday 31 July the Royal Commission handed down its final report on the devastating Black Saturday fires when 173 people lost their lives. Thousands of homes were lost, domestic and native animals killed and vast tracts of private land and forests burnt to cinders. The damage bill has been estimated by the commissioners at around $4 billion.
If we are to avoid another disaster of the size and magnitude of Black Saturday this report must be acted on immediately The Commission has made 67 recommendations and I fully support each one.
Some of the recommendations are straightforward, others will be costly to implement and others require more detail. It won’t be easy, there will be opposition particularly on the recommendations to put people first and increase fuel reduction burns and reduce fire risk in roadside vegetation. With political will and courage all the recommendations can be implemented.
The efforts of all our emergency service workers on the ground both during and after the fires were magnificent. They performed with extraordinary courage and dedication.
The Royal Commission report is critical of those at the top. Whilst it’s widely acknowledged that the fires would have happened no matter who was in charge there are serious questions on the performance of those in charge.
One has to ask how many of the 173 men, women and children would still be alive today if those in charge had issued warnings. The fact is that nobody shouted “man the lifeboats” when the ship was sinking. The crew wasn’t united on the bridge and the admiral of the fleet was nowhere to be seen.
How much would the devastating damage have been lessened if the State Government had adopted the recommendation from an all party committee in 2008 to triple the amount of fuel reduction burns?
Christine Fyffe MP
State Member for Evelyn
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