Wednesday, 21 September 2022

 Ms BATH (Eastern Victoria) (11:01): The Howitt Society is a group of learned people made up of land managers, fire managers, scientists, foresters, anthropologists and historians. Yesterday I presented a petition in this house on behalf of them, and we had two groups of people, one from the western side of the state and one from Mallacoota. I was pleased to do that because their message was the most sincere and most learned. They were wanting to see in the landscape of our forest systems an increase in low-intensity fuel reduction burns—where possible, using traditional owners techniques and methodologies—and that was in line with the 2009 Victorian Bushfires Royal Commission. They too were learned people who presented that particular recommendation. But what we see from the Andrews government and what we have seen for the past eight years is a wilful neglect of our forest systems. Fuel loads are continuing to build up to another dangerous level. We have seen shocking and horrendous fires caused primarily by apathy in regard to intensely attacking them early on but also by enabling fuel loads to build up—they are not meeting their own already low targets. We have the majority of decisions being made in Melbourne; they need to be made by listening to the likes of the Howitt Society.