The Inspector-General for Emergency Management recommends that Emergency Management Victoria – in collaboration with the community and emergency management sector:
a) updates the 2012–13 State Emergency Risk Assessment to include strategic and operational elements of emergency management. This should consider:
• the place-based risk assessment development through the community emergency risk assessment process
• consequence management capability across the sector
• existing risk models for natural and human-induced hazards.
b) provides guidance and support for the sector on how to incorporate the updated risk assessment in emergency management planning, policy development, decision-making and assurance activities.
EMV will deliver the first Victorian SEMP in September 2020, which will set out arrangements to manage the impacts of these risks before, during and after emergencies at a state level.
On 25 September 2019 the Governor of Victoria proclaimed new state-level emergency management planning arrangements contained in the Emergency Management Amendment Act 2018 (EMLA Act). Since then, EMV has led extensive consultation to develop the first Victorian SEMP. The SCRC approved the SEMP on 10 September 2020 and it came into effect on 30 September 2020.
The SEMP provides for an integrated, coordinated and comprehensive approach to emergency management at the state level and supersedes the State Response Plan and State Relief and Recovery Plan within the now-discontinued Emergency Management Manual Victoria.
The SEMP sets out arrangements providing for the mitigation of, response to and recovery from emergencies and specifies roles and responsibilities in relation to emergency management.
EMV is currently leading a review of the SEMP prior to the 2021–22 summer season (refer to Action 12.7 on page 106 of IGEM's 2021 progress report).
The SEMP is available on EMV’s website: emv.vic.gov.au/responsibilities/semp