Brumby backs CFA boss

"(Victorian Bushfires) Commissioner Bernard Teague must be wondering whether there's much point spending the next month penning his interim report," says, Jane Cowan, the ABC reporter covering the Royal Commission.

With many of the recommendations made by previous Victorian bushfires, such as those into Black Friday and Ash Wednesday, not implemented, it looks like history is about to repeat itself. As the first round of hearings drew to a close, lawyers for the Victorian Government rejected two significant changes to emergency procedures that have been proposed for implementation by the coming bushfire season. They included the establishment of refuges in dangerous locations and for voluntary evacuations of people from bushfire threatened areas.

But as his government's legal eagles were putting the kibosh on these proposals, Premier John Brumby announced a range of less decisive measures - "a flurry of other more subtle tweaks to the stay or go policy," says the ABC.

Jane Cowan comments that a "cynical analysis would say the Victorian Government is attempting to get on the front foot now by agreeing to the arguably lesser recommendations because it's planning to reject the big ticket items likely to emerge in the recommendations handed down in August."

Bushfire lawyers blast CFA boss
Meanwhile, lawyers assisting the Bushfire Royal Commission have found Victoria's fire agencies were ill-prepared for Black Saturday. CFA boss Russell Rees is singled out for criticism. Counsel assisting, the Royal Commission, Jack Rush QC, describes Ree's role as "divorced from fundamental aspects of the responsibilities" he had as chief officer, including the provision of public warnings and the protection of life.

Recommendations to be put to the Commission for its interim report have been leaked to the ABC. These include:
- the stay or go policy be overhauled to allow for selective voluntary evacuations,
- the reinstatement of community fire refuges, and
- the use of the alert warning tones in towns that want them.

UFUA national secretary Peter Marshall says the changes are vital. "The recommendations are on the right track but the Government should be compelled to implement, not just allow them to sit on the shelf like previous inquests," he said. "We owe that to the people who perished."

Smokescreen
The State Government also calls Black Saturday "unprecedented", despite the fact that Black Saturday 2009's fire behaviour was very close to that of Black Friday 1939. The ABC says that while  the government's legal reps have been charming and cajoling the commissioners, at least one Commissioner, Ron McLeod, has shown growing impatience with prevaricating witnesses and witnesses implying dealing with the issues is too hard and too complex.

Meanwhile the premier has publicly endorsed Russel Rees despite growing evidence that the CFA chief was in command of a system that failed at a critical time. "How galling it must be for survivors and those who've lost loved ones to hear their Premier say they couldn't have expected more from those who were supposed to protect them..." says the ABC's Jane Cowan.


More information:
Read the full ABC Reports:
- CFA's bushfire role lost in PR smokescreen.
- Bushfire lawyers blast CFA's Rees.
- Please explain: Commission wants fire strategy answers.