Thursday, 13 November 2025

 Jade BENHAM (Mildura) (14:56): (1387) My question is for the Minister for Emergency Services. My question is: what parameters need to be met for there to be a call of total fire ban in any district? Today in the Mallee district we have a top temperature of 29 degrees and winds of around 19 ‍kilometres per hour, yet a total fire ban has been called. In other districts this may have very little consequences, but in a district where croppers have just started harvest and a total fire ban means that they cannot harvest or use machinery during the day of total fire ban, it halts a very important, if not the most important, time of year. So my question to the Minister for Emergency Services is: what parameters need to be met for there to be a day of total fire ban?