Tuesday, 3 October 2023

Bushfire preparedness

Joe McCRACKEN (Western Victoria) (12:30): (277) My question is to the Minister for Emergency Services. Last Friday, on 29 September, a fire started south of Ballarat on the Mount Mercer-Dereel Road, and at least 27 vehicles were called from CFA. Local crews called in air support to help deal with the outbreak, and the closest air support, which was the one that actually responded, came from Mangalore, which is over 200 kilometres away, and it took over an hour to get there. That was reported in local media as well. My question is: Minister, why was that the closest air support available at that particular point in time?

Jaclyn SYMES (Northern Victoria – Attorney-General, Minister for Emergency Services) (12:31): I thank Mr McCracken for his question and an opportunity to continue to talk about the aerial firefighting response in Victoria. There is a lot of misinformation going on out there, and I am a little bit concerned about that. When it comes to the deployment and the procurement of these assets, that is based on risk. It is based on the forecast. It is based on the experts’ advice.

Aerial support is not the only way that fires are dealt with. There are aircraft available now. As you have indicated, that was deployed from Mangalore. In relation to the upcoming season, which has started early, they have strategic deployments around the state. I have not been provided with the advice of exactly what is going where when yet, but I will be and I will make that available to any interested parties, because I continue to get asked about aerial fleet.

There is no reduction in aerial fleet this coming season. There will be planes available to support our hardworking firefighters on the ground. We have firefighting aerial aircraft available right now, and we will have more as the risk increases, because that is how we procure the assets. A lot of them come from northern America. Obviously we have an earlier season; that is why we have some available already. We will have a full fleet available when we need it.

Joe McCRACKEN (Western Victoria) (12:33): Having spoken to a few people on the weekend, particularly those that live around the area, they were concerned about their safety going into the future. What commitment can you give to them to ensure that their properties, their livelihoods, will remain safe in the future if it takes over an hour for an aerial team to respond to an incident that has been called in?

Jaclyn SYMES (Northern Victoria – Attorney-General, Minister for Emergency Services) (12:33): Mr McCracken, the deployment of aircraft, as I said, responds to the increased risk, so as we get closer to summer, as we know that there will be more fires across the state, we have different aircraft deployed, or housed in hangars I think is the word, at different parts so that we have the equipment where we need it to get to areas of concern as fast as possible. Aerial fleet is just a support for the existing assets that we have on the ground. It is complementary to firebreaks, back-burning and all of the hard work that our firefighters do when fires break out. But I can assure you the aerial fleet will be available, as always, this coming season.