Question details
Euroa electorate
(1371) My question is to the Minister for Environment. What urgent steps will be taken to reduce dangerous fuel loads in my electorate before we face another catastrophic fire season? Fire season is here again, and communities across regional Victoria are feeling vulnerable and exposed. The 2009 Victorian Bushfires Royal Commission set out a clear path to keep Victorians safe, yet less than a quarter of the recommended 5 per cent fuel reduction burns have been completed. Fuel loads have been allowed to build to dangerous levels, and at the same time we have parts of the Department of Energy, Environment and Climate Action firefighting fleet grounded and thousands fewer CFA volunteers than a decade ago. This is exactly what locals in the Euroa electorate have been warning about. Residents in Ruffy, Strathbogie and Boho can see the fuel around them getting heavier while planned burns are postponed or abandoned entirely. They remember 2009; they know what happens when government ignores expert advice. Ignoring the royal commission’s recommendations is ignoring the very communities they were designed to protect. Why has the Allan Labor government failed to meet its fuel – (Time expired)
Forest Fire Management Victoria (FFMVic) continues to work with its emergency sector partners to manage bushfire risk, respond to bushfires, and keep communities informed about how to best prepare for bushfires.
FFMVic reduce bushfire risk in many ways. These include prevention and mitigation activities to reduce fuel loads through planned burning and non-burn fuel treatments, and to prevent new ignitions through fire ban days and campfire controls. Bushfire risk is also reduced by early detection - using fire towers and reconnaissance flights – and enabling safe and fast response through maintenance of forest roads, waterway crossings and fuel breaks.
On high bushfire risk days incident management teams, vehicles, aircraft, heavy machinery and people, including rappel firefighters, pilots and aircrew, and ground crews, are prepositioned to enable aggressive first attack. FFMVic also works with other agencies and levels of government on evacuation planning and ensuring communities have the information they need to make good decisions through community engagement and emergency warning systems such as the VicEmergency website and app.
FFMVic uses a statewide, risk-based target to design, deliver, and monitor the effectiveness of the planned burning program on public land, reducing fuel-driven bushfire risk to human life and residential property.
The previous 5% hectare target recommended by the Victorian Bushfire Royal Commission in 2009 was found by the Royal Commission’s Implementation Monitor to be “unaffordable, unachievable and unsustainable” in 2012 and 2013.
Our highest priority is to protect life, property and the environment from bushfire risk. We are focused on planning and delivering our bushfire risk management program throughout the year.
FFMVic complement the planned burning program with non-burn fuel treatments, including slashing and mowing. These fuel reduction treatments are particularly important in areas where planned burning is not a safe and effective means of risk reduction.
Steve Dimopoulos MP
Member for Oakleigh
Minister for Environment
12 December 2025
17 February 2026