Tuesday, 3 October 2023

 Georgie CROZIER (Southern Metropolitan) (12:08): (273) My question is to the Minister for Emergency Services. Finding 6.3 from the IGEM inquiry following the 2019–20 fires was:

The community received mixed messages around staying or leaving following the Code Red declaration and as a result they were not clear on evacuation requirements.

It recommended that this be addressed. In relation to the Loch Sport fire three days ago, the VicEmergency services message at 1:32 on Sunday was:

You are in danger, act now to protect yourself. It is too late to leave. The safest option is to take shelter indoors immediately.

Then 7 minutes later, for the exact same fire, the official advice was:

Don’t wait – If you are not prepared to stay, leaving now is the safest option.

Minister, this is directly contradictory advice in what could have been a matter of life and death. How do you explain this continual mixed messaging?

 Jaclyn SYMES (Northern Victoria – Attorney-General, Minister for Emergency Services) (12:09): I thank Ms Crozier for her question. Indeed it is a dynamic and challenging environment across many parts of our state this week, particularly in Gippsland, as we have had fires throughout the weekend and continuing today. I do place on record my utmost respect, thanks and gratitude to those that are out there currently battling those fires. In relation to emergency alerts, Ms Crozier, you would be aware there is constant messaging from me as well as the leaders in the fire services to ensure that we encourage people to download the app which you have referred to. We encourage people to make sure that they are aware of their local broadcaster, and there are a range of other measures that people take to get information in their local areas, whether that is through social media or indeed direct contact with emergency services folk.

In relation to alerts, they are based on intel from on the ground, and they can change quite quickly and quite rapidly. In relation to the specific information that you have provided, there could be a range of explanations for that which is not information that I have to hand. Again, the message is always to make sure that you do not rely on one source of information. But the app is a very good app to have, and I would encourage everyone to encourage their communities to download the VicEmergency app, because it is a good source of information. It does change rapidly. As a country person myself, I regularly get advice and it can change regularly within minutes or within hours. It is something for you to keep an eye on, but also keep an ear out for other ways to get your information and how to respond.

 Georgie CROZIER (Southern Metropolitan) (12:11): It was from the VicEmergency services message via the app. With an expected very serious fire season ahead of us, will you now take steps to guarantee we will not have any more contradictory messages that could potentially put lives in danger? This was a very short period of time, and it did cause a lot of confusion because of the contradictory messaging.

 Jaclyn SYMES (Northern Victoria – Attorney-General, Minister for Emergency Services) (12:11): Indeed, Ms Crozier, we are always keeping an eye on every activity in relation to emergency response, including alerts. It is important to note that your phone alerts, when you set a particular location, can give you a push notification about a particular incident, but if you are in an area of danger, you also receive a text message, so there are various ways that Emergency Management Victoria and their partners go about communicating emergency messaging. As I said, it is incumbent upon everybody in fire areas, in fact the whole state, to make sure that they are aware of the various sources they can get their information from.