Allan announces review into bushfire season

Victoria’s bushfire season will be reviewed by the state’s emergency management watchdog, Premier Jacinta Allan has announced.

The decision comes hours after critics of the premier intensified pressure on the state government and called for a parliamentary inquiry into the fires that have torn through more than 400,000 hectares.

On Thursday, Emergency Services Minister Vicki Ward said the state’s emergency response was already going to be reviewed and dismissed there was a need for a bipartisan inquiry in the upper house.

But by the afternoon, the government announced they would go a step further and ask the Inspector-General of Emergency Management (IGEM) to review the fires.

It would be the first time the office was given this task since the deadly Black Summer fires of the 2019-20 season.

“These fires have caused immense heartbreak across Victoria, and we are standing alongside affected communities as they begin the difficult task of rebuilding their lives and livelihoods,” a spokesperson for the government said.

“When communities are hurting, our focus must be on recovery and support. We are not out of the woods yet with high-risk fire danger days ahead.

“Once the risk is reduced, we will request a formal review into this bushfire season led by the Inspector General for Emergency Management, not politicians,” they continued.

“The Inspector General for Emergency Management (IGEM) was established for exactly this purpose – to provide expert advice so we can continually improve our response.”

The move will help address community concerns but may not fully assuage those who want the parliament to examine the issue.

Those pushing for a parliamentary inquiry include outspoken critics of the government, such as United Firefighters Union secretary Peter Marshall and Wimmera grain farmer Andrew Weidemann, who founded the Across Victoria Alliance to protest the government’s emergency services tax increase on regional property owners.

The Age revealed on Thursday that some members of this alliance were considering running as One Nation candidates to capitalise on disaffection with Labor in the bush.

Marshall, Weidemann and Country Fire Authority Volunteers Group president John Houston gathered on the steps of parliament on Thursday morning to argue a parliamentary inquiry was the best way to resolve ongoing debate about the handling of the fires.

“Then we can maybe start to believe in the political spin that’s going on at the moment,” Weidemann said.

A political stoush broke out this week about CFA funding, which the government and the CFA board insist has increased despite this not being reflected in their annual reports. The dispute has been clouded by the delay in publishing the CFA’s most recent accounts.

In a statement to The Age on Wednesday, the Victorian Auditor-General’s Office disputed suggestions it was responsible for the delay. VAGO said it received the draft report a month later than regulations stipulate, and gave the report final clearance on November 11.

Ward conceded she received the report in December. She said she planned to release it at the next sitting week, in February, but had asked for it to be tabled next week after the events of this week.

Opposition Leader Jess Wilson said the CFA annual report should be released immediately.

Opposition fire services spokesman Nick McGowan has sponsored a petition for a parliamentary inquiry into bushfire preparedness. Marshall said a select inquiry in the upper house with broad terms of reference was preferred because the government did not have a majority in this chamber.

“I’m not saying we could have stopped these fires, but firefighters need the truth, need the equipment to be able to protect,” Marshall said. “The parliamentary inquiry is a chance for the community to make this government accountable.”

Ward dismissed calls for a parliamentary inquiry, saying the fire services and emergency commissioner would always investigate the fires and the response.

She said fire preparation for this season “was nothing short of extraordinary”, reiterating the government’s insistence that the CFA is adequately funded.

The Inspector-General of Emergency Management held an inquiry into the Black Summer bushfires of 2019-20, in which five lives were lost and 1.5 million hectares burnt in Victoria. VAGO also produced a report on the state’s effort to reduce bushfire risks.

As a result of both reports, the government accepted agencies needed to improve the way they communicate about living with the risk of bushfire.

The government on Thursday announced a further $82 million package to restore roads affected by the fires.

A series of relief packages have also been announced.

Treasurer Jaclyn Symes, who represents the Northern Victoria region struck by fires, said the government wanted that information to get through to those who need it and warned against the spread of misinformation.

“We want that help to get to where it’s needed. When it’s crowded out by some of the misinformation, causing angst, doubling people’s trauma, that’s something that is not welcome.”

Emergency Management Commissioner Tim Wiebusch said the number of homes destroyed since last week’s fires began had grown to 259, with another 17 damaged.

Another 522 outbuildings have been destroyed. Most of the impact was in the Longwood fire zone.

Houston, from the CFA Volunteers Group, said he had been told of instances when poor resources had hindered bushfire efforts, but did not give specific examples.

He disputed suggestions it was a bad time to raise these concerns while the state is still reckoning with the damage.

“They want us to go quiet. They want us to go away, but we’ve been asking for eight months for these things,” he said.

Nationals leader Danny O’Brien, opposition spokesman for emergency services, rejected the assertion that the Coalition was politicising the disaster or adding to people’s trauma by raising their concerns about CFA funding.

“We genuinely and deliberately have not raised these issues until [Wednesday] because we understand people have been under threat,” O’Brien said.

“People are raising this with us organically. It’s not come from the opposition, not withstanding that we have been pursuing this for well over 12 months.”

O’Brien said he was not concerned about losing votes to One Nation at the 2026 election, given the minor party’s play for the bush.

“Look, I hear a lot of talk about One Nation,” O’Brien said. “But from One Nation, that’s all I hear, is talk. They’re a party of protest.”

Barnaby Joyce, who recently defected from the federal arm of the Nationals to One Nation, is planning to address the Across Victoria Alliance conference in Horsham in February.

O’Brien referenced 2017 comments from Joyce, then the federal Nationals leader, that Australia would “go down the toilet” if it was run by One Nation. “I think that probably says it better than I could, so I’ll leave it on that and wish him all the best.”

Start the day with a summary of the day’s most important and interesting stories, analysis and insights. Sign up for our Morning Edition newsletter.