Tuesday, 17 March 2026

 Melina BATH (Eastern Victoria) (21:45): (2410) My adjournment matter this evening is for the Minister for Education, and it relates to an issue that affects fire-prone communities, regional communities and hilly communities. My case study is Emerald Secondary College, but it also applies to Cockatoo Primary School and Beaconsfield Upper Primary School. These schools are forced to close on high fire danger days. Note that these are high fire danger days, they are not catastrophic days, as per the new system of signifying bushfire risk. I call on the minister to fund fire resistance upgrades needed to keep these schools open during these high fire danger days.

Under the national fire danger rating system a high fire danger day signals elevated risk but is nowhere near a catastrophic day, when advice is – which should be heeded – to leave bushfire risk areas entirely and the Department of Education shuts schools down. But it shuts these schools down on both high fire danger days and catastrophic days. What happens there is that high fire danger days are those with a fire behaviour index between 24 and 49, and they occur far more often in summer, especially in regions and hilly communities like Emerald and the other places that I have mentioned. A Gembrook parent reports that his children at Emerald Secondary College have already missed five days of face-to-face learning this year due to high fire danger day closures, around 14 per cent of their class time, well above the government’s chronic absentee benchmark. Remote learning on these days is limited and really inconsistent. The policy is deepening the divide between city and regional students. City schools are rarely affected, while country schools are missing work, children remain unsupervised and parents have to scramble.

Emerald Secondary College sits as bushfire at-risk register category 2, one of the highest bushfire risk classifications. The department reassesses these categories every year, and schools can move to a lower risk category if their safety profile improves. This requires upgrades, including vegetation clearing, fire-resistant buildings, increased defensible space and strengthening shelter-in-place facilities. This can materially reduce the risk and therefore reduce the need for high fire danger day closures. The action I ask for is for the minister to commit to a fire resilience upgrade program for these schools so that they can remain open during high fire danger days, protect student learning and ensure regional families receive the same educational continuity as metropolitan ones, where possible.