Thursday, 5 March 2026

 Melina BATH (Eastern Victoria) (18:18): (2396) My adjournment matter this evening is for the Minister for Environment, and it relates to bushfire risk management transparency. When we think about the fires that we have had over the summer period and the devastation that has caused not only for communities, individuals and their homes and their stock but also for flora and fauna, our native environment and our forests, we hear from the benches opposite how this government is focused on protecting Victorians and improving the welfare of Victorians. Well, some of that protection and some of that welfare needs to be borne out by the government providing what it should from a legislative point of view. The government needs the Department of Energy, Environment and Climate Action, together with Forest Fire Management Victoria, to produce a full bushfire risk management report for this current year. It has produced a thing called a ‘snapshot’, and a snapshot is code for ‘We’ll tell you a little bit so that we’re giving you a bit of information, but we’re hiding the truth that we are not looking after Victorian forests or Victorian families.’ This government has not produced that. It has produced some data on a regional level, but it is hiding the district level. Communities deserve to have a document that provides the level of fuel-driven risk in their districts, and they are leaving people in the dark. The localised, fuel-driven bushfire risk assessments for each FFMV district have not been released, preventing farmers, families, emergency volunteers and local governments from making informed decisions about extreme fire danger periods.

Again, we also know that the bushfire risk is elevating, many will say because of climate change. But many in the regions know it is because fuel hazards are going up and up due to mismanagement of our forests. It is a simple thing. This government is supposed to produce these maps, these documents. It is not a snapshot we want; we want the full, comprehensive overview of the reality in this region and in this state. So I call on the minister, and the action I seek is for him to release the full bushfire risk management report, including district-level risk assessments, fuel management delivery results and ecosystem resilience measurements. Tell us what you are hiding from us.