The Code of Practice for bushfire management was published in 2012, in the aftermath of the Royal Commission into the Black Saturday fires. You can check out FOBIF’s review of the document here. The Code was intended to be replaced after 10 years.
The Victorian Government now intends to keep it going till 2024. It’s looking for your view on the matter, and has published an updated version of the document for your consideration. The changes are pretty well all minor changes in terminology, so really the question is, do we want the old Code to go for a couple more years?
You can have a say by going to the consultation site here.
How is the Code travelling, 10 years later?
FOBIF has a few concerns about it, but our major worries over the years have been with the fact that its provisions have not been followed, particularly in the matters of evaluation and transparency.
For example, fuel reduction burns should be carefully monitored, and the results used to improve future practice. Further, the results of this monitoring should be publicly available.
We have never been able to get a satisfying account of the ecological effects of Department burning.
If you’re writing a submission to the process, we recommend that you make a simple request: that the Code include a requirement ‘that assessments of all burns be published on the DELWP website and Facebook page.’ [See our posts below]
Click on image for info/order page
Click on image for info/order page
Click on image for info/order page
