In assessing the importance of the review I’ve taken into account the terms of reference established by Minister Garrett in her undated letter stamped as received by the Inspector General for Emergency Management on 5 January 2016 and found on page 45 of the review as Appendix 1.
From the outset, I have been concerned that there was an attempt by the Victorian government to cover-up the circumstances leading to the Christmas Day devastation of Wye River–Separation Creek. I know this to be opinion shared by others in the community, hence requests to the Coroner to conduct an investigation. Fortunately, and unlike Western Australia, there is provision in the Coroners Act 2008 for a “person” to request that a coroner investigate a fire.
Interesting, who drafted the Minister’s letter of request to the IGEM? There are issues raised in the request that would have required a good knowledge of the administrative part of fire management of the Wye River–Separation Creek fire, examples being dot points 2 and 3
Having watched several media briefings by the Emergency Management Commissioner during the aftermath of the Christmas Day fire I noticed Minister Garrett standing mute off to the side of the Commissioner. As Ms Garrett did not take a lead role in the briefings, which custom and experience see Ministers leading such a briefing and answering questions if only to build a media profile, it begged the question, is the Minister fully across her important emergency management responsibilities sufficient to be able to prepare such a specific request of the IGEM?
I can’t imagine Federal Ministers Michaelia Cash or Marise Payne standing back while a public servant delivered an important briefing or Tania Plibersek or Jenny Macklin for that matter. Causes me to wonder about Premier Andrews' criteria for appointing Ministers.
Who then drafted the letter of request, the Emergency Management Commissioner? Regardless of who advised on or drafted the letter for Minister Garrett, it's reasonable to assume that it would have been done from within the bureaucracy of government or its political advisers and with politically self-serving motives.
Looking forward to seeing Minister Garrett on ABC TV's Q&A explaining Victoria's bushfire emergency management arrangements and the government's response to the Productivity Commission report on "prevention/mitigation, preparedness, response and recovery", a subject deserving of discussion in a later blog posting.
Then there is the COAG report Natural Disasters in Australia: Reforming mitigation, relief and recovery arrangements published in 2004. Notable in the Executive Summary:
A New Approach
Central to the new approach is a systematic and widespread national process of disaster risk assessments and, most importantly, a fundamental shift in focus towards cost-effective, evidence-based disaster mitigation. This represents an historic move beyond disaster response and reaction, towards anticipation and mitigation.
I'd be interested to hear Minister Garrett explain Victoria's position on the COAG reform paper, particularly bringing some balance to the current lopsided approach to bushfire management in Victoria.
BUSHFIRE EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT IN VICTORIA
In my 28 February posting I briefly pondered the “knowledge and experience” the community should be entitled to expect of the IGEM in undertaking this review. A review that must be fundamental to guaranteeing efficient and effective performance in the life or death environment of bushfire emergency management, and not just a CYA activity by the government.
Prevention, Preparedness, Response and Recovery
Emergency Management Act 1986
There are several references to the PPRR concept in the Emergency Management Act 1986 including this reference to the Minister:
(1) The role of the Minister is to ensure that satisfactory emergency management arrangements are in place to facilitate the prevention of, response to and recovery from emergencies.
Emergency Management Manual Victoria
More emphasis is given to the PPRR approach to emergency management in the Emergency Management Manual Victoria for example under the heading 1.1 Introduction:
Emergency management involves the plans, structures and arrangements which are established to bring together the endeavours of government, voluntary and private organisations and communities in a comprehensive and coordinated way to deal with the whole spectrum of emergency needs, including prevention, response and recovery.
And, under the heading 1.3 Concepts and Objectives
The objectives of the 1986 Act (s. 4A) are to ensure that the following components of emergency management are organised to facilitate planning, preparedness, operational coordination and community participation:
Prevention: the elimination or reduction of the incidence or severity of emergencies and the mitigation of their effects.
Response: the combating of emergencies and the provision of rescue and immediate relief services.
Recovery: the assisting of people and communities affected by emergencies to achieve a proper and effective level of functioning.
And, under the heading Objectives of the Arrangements
Be integrated, (involve all people and relevant agencies)
The management of emergencies is a shared responsibility involving many people and organisations in the community. It is not something done by one sector of the community to or for the rest of society, although some organisations have specialist roles.
In addition to the emergency services, all government departments have some role to play. The emergency response role may be a minor part of their responsibilities. However, many departments have an essential prevention responsibility. Examples include land use planning, occupational health and safety, clean water, public health and building regulations. These are part of the prevention component.
Municipal councils have essential roles in emergency management, including the preparation and maintenance of municipal emergency management plans, provision of relief and recovery services and supporting emergency response operations.
Voluntary organisations such as Red Cross, St John Ambulance, WICEN and search and rescue organisations play well-defined roles in emergency management.
Private sector organisations are often involved when their services and resources are needed for prevention, response or recovery activities, or where emergencies affect their buildings, equipment, personnel, suppliers or customers. In particular, essential service providers (for example, producers and distributors of electricity or gas) are expected to ensure that they can maintain continuity of supply.
Members of the community are also responsible for taking preventative, protective and restorative actions in their own and the community’s best interests.
The two paragraphs above are highlighted in red to focus attention on the statutory prevention responsibilities of the Municipal Fire Prevention Officer (MFPO) Colac Otway Shire Council and the CFA for static protection of the township area of Wye River–Separation Creek.
My Sunday, 21 February posting “Obfuscation, sanitising, cabinet-in-confidence documents, burying, leaking — examples of some of the processes of government” shows an example of the failure of the Colac Otway MFPO to use the hazard removal power to protect the houses further up the hill in Dunoon Road, many of which were lost when the fire ignited the land shown in the photograph.
Surf Coast Shire Council
Another example of the failure of those with hazard mitigation responsibilities is the vulnerability of houses in the Surf Coast Shire, examples being Eastern View below:
and in Lorne behind the houses on the northern side of Richardson Boulevard and abutting a caravan park further down the Erskine River (below):
and onto the caravan park further downstream:
People from the CFA Chief Officer's head office Fire & Emergency Management Team have been aware of the threats to Wye River and Lorne for several years. Begs the question, did those people bring it to the attention of then Chief Officer Ferguson? And a further question, did Chief Officer Ferguson have in place a procedure for situations such as the two above examples, where he would arrange the serving of hazard removal notices? And finally, did Chief Officer Ferguson have in place a procedure to remove the hazard in the event of a failure to comply with a notice?
DELWP
I've not yet mentioned DELWP's responsibility for the public land behind the the houses in Richardson Boulevard, Lorne. Failed the people of Wye River–Separation Creek and failing the people of Lorne.
Having regard to the responsibilities of the IGEM and Emergency Management Victoria, and considering the performance of the CFA and the shires of Colac Otway and Surf Coast, for personal survival reasons alone it may have been prudent of Minister Garrett to commission an independent public Inquiry, as was the response to the earlier Lancefield fire.
Makes me wonder, is the Minister only ancillary to emergency management arrangements in Victoria? Again from the Emergency Management Act 1986:
(1) The role of the Minister is to ensure that satisfactory emergency management arrangements are in place to facilitate the prevention of, response to and recovery from emergencies.
Finally, in preparing this blog posting I'm reminded of the following quote from C.S.Lewis' The Srewtape Letters:
“I live in the Managerial Age, in a world of "Admin." The greatest evil is not now done in those sordid "dens of crime" that Dickens loved to paint. It is not done even in concentration camps and labour camps. In those we see its final result. But it is conceived and ordered (moved, seconded, carried, and minuted) in clean, carpeted, warmed and well-lighted offices, by quiet men with white collars and cut fingernails and smooth-shaven cheeks who do not need to raise their voices. Hence, naturally enough, my symbol for Hell is something like the bureaucracy of a police state or the office of a thoroughly nasty business concern."
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