Implementation monitoring of 'Review of 10 years of reform in Victoria's emergency management sector' and 'Inquiry into the 2019-20 Victorian Fire Season – Phase 1’ - Progress Report - 2021 | Inspector-General for Emergency Management Victoria

All hazards

Risks spanning across multiple hazard types and across the emergency management system.

Biosecurity

Exotic animal and plant disease outbreaks and pest incursions can have significant economic, community and environmental impacts.

Bushfire and other fires

Bushfire and other fires have potential consequences including loss of life and property, and damage to infrastructure and environment.

Climate change

Risks include more days of extreme heat, harsher fire weather, less rainfall and rising sea levels.

Communications disruption

Communications services are crucial in keeping communities safe, connected and informed before, during and after emergencies.

Cyber security and ICT systems failure

Risks relating to the confidentiality, availability, integrity of information and data and disruption of services.

Energy supply disruption

Reliable energy supplies are critical to many social and economic activities.

Flood

Major flood events have occurred in Victoria every 10 to 20 years, with much of the increasing risk created by human settlement.

Hazardous material incident

Potential risks relate to many places where Victoria’s hazardous materials are manufactured, stored, transported, used and disposed.

Heatwave

Heatwaves are considered to be the ‘silent killer’ of extreme weather events and are the leading cause of weather-related deaths in Australia.

Public health emergency

Risks may relate to the delivery of public health services, with impacts on community health and wellbeing and potential for loss of life.

Supply chain disruption

Geopolitical, environmental, economic, societal and infrastructure-related shocks can expose supply chains to wide ranging consequences.

Terrorism and extremism

Attacks carried out by individuals or non-state groups with ideological, political or religious goals can result in loss of life, severe injury and/or material damage.

Water supply disruption

Risks include collection, storage, treatment, delivery, availability and allocation of water for consumption and environmental, recreation and cultural uses.

Workforce and resourcing

Risks may relate to human resource supply and skills to support emergency management operations.

The Inspector-General's first progress report on the Victorian Government’s implementation of recommendations and actions in response to the 'Review of 10 Years of reform in Victoria’s emergency management sector' and the independent 'Inquiry into 2019-20 Victorian Fire Season'

10 Year Review

This progress report looks at the government's implementation of actions in response to IGEM’s Review of 10 Years of reform in Victoria’s emergency management sector, completed in December 2019. The review considered the sector as a whole, and the significant program of reforms introduced in the 10 years since the 2009 Victorian Bushfires.

It made five recommendations relating to risk management, community preparedness, recovery, outcomes frameworks, and capability and capacity.

All of these recommendations were accepted by government through a commitment to 26 response actions.

Fire Season Inquiry

The 18 month independent Inquiry into 2019-20 Victorian Fire Season looked at the State’s preparedness for and response to that devastating event, commonly referred to as Black Summer. The fires had, and continue to have, a massive impact on communities and the environment across Victoria's North East, Gippsland, and Alpine regions.

This is IGEM’s first progress report on the Victorian Government’s implementation of actions in response to the Inquiry into the 2019–20 Victorian Fire Season: Phase 1 – Community and sector preparedness for and response to the 2019–20 fire season (Phase 1 report), delivered in July 2020.

The Phase 1 report made 17 recommendations for improvement all of which were accepted by government through a commitment to 113 response actions.

Implementation progress

This report shows the progress the State has achieved in terms of learning from the 2019–20 fire season and making improvements in response, as well as how it is enhancing Victoria’s emergency management arrangements through initiatives in response to the 10 Year Review. It provides an assessment of implementation of reforms for the period to June 2021.

In terms of implementation progress against the 139 response actions to both of these reports, 48 actions are now complete, 75 actions are in progress, 10 actions are closed with no further activity planned, and six actions are yet to commence.

As many key initiatives are by their nature longer-term foundational pieces of work currently in the early stages of development, this report will be the first in a series of progress reports tracking reform in Victoria’s emergency management arrangements in the wake of the 2019–20 fire season.

Read the report

Implementation monitoring of 'Review of 10 years of reform in Victoria's emergency management sector' and 'Inquiry into the 2019-20 Victorian Fire Season – Phase 1’ - Progress Report - 2021 was published on 14 April 2022.

The report is available in PDF format from the link below or you can view as a flipbook (External link).

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