The information should be easily available

So: what was the exact fire coverage at Kemp’s track? And what ecological positives and negatives were achieved in the exercise?

The Code of Practice requires that

‘Monitoring programs will also focus on:

• mapping the extent and severity of bushfires and planned burns‘ [paragraph 212] [FOBIF emphasis]

It also requires that

‘The Department will make publicly accessible information about:

• the performance of its bushfire management actions, and the status of achievements of strategies and objectives
• information gained from monitoring and evaluation activities’ [Paragraph 222]

Therefore it should be possible to get an exact idea of how the exercise fulfilled one of the two major aims of fire management exercises:

• ‘To maintain or improve the resilience of natural ecosystems and their ability to deliver services such as biodiversity, water, carbon storage and forest products.’

Unfortunately the Code doesn’t specify precisely what ‘publicly accessible’ means—and, in practice, it doesn’t seem to mean much at all. It should mean: the ‘information should be published on DELWP websites.’

FOBIF will make enquiries to the Department, and report on the results.