Inquiry Search
Rec-ID | Code | Recommendation |
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REC317-4058 | 24 - Govt responsibility | The Australian Government should enhance national preparedness for, and response to, natural disasters, building on the responsibilities of Emergency Management Australia, to include facilitating resource sharing decisions of governments and stress testing national disaster plans. |
REC317-4102 | 25 - Inquiry, audit, lessons management and after action review | Australian, state and territory governments should review Australian Medical Assistance Team capabilities and procedures and develop necessary training, exercising and other arrangements to build capacity for domestic deployments. |
REC317-4073 | 24 - Govt responsibility | State and territory governments should take steps to ensure that there is better interaction, planning and ongoing understanding of Australian Defence Force capabilities and processes by state and territory fire and emergency service agencies and local governments. |
REC317-4085 | 22 - Role of local Gvt | State and territory governments should take responsibility for the capability and capacity of local governments to which they have delegated their responsibilities in preparing for, responding to, and recovering from natural disasters, to ensure local governments are able to effectively discharge the responsibilities devolved to them. |
REC317-4056 | 24 - Govt responsibility | Australian Government agencies should work together across all phases of disaster management. |
REC317-4101 | 24 - Govt responsibility | Australian, state and territory governments should develop national air quality forecasting capabilities, which include broad coverage of population centres and apply to smoke and other airborne pollutants, such as dust and pollen, to predict plume behaviour. |
REC317-4072 | 32 - Doctrine, standards, and reform | The Australian Government should consider whether employment protections under the Fair Work Act 2009 (Cth) are sufficient to ensure that fire and emergency services volunteers will not be discriminated against, disadvantaged or dismissed for reasons associated with their volunteer service during natural disasters. |
REC317-4112 | 9 - Community education | State and territory governments should: |
REC317-4084 | 9 - Community education | State and territory governments should continue to deliver, evaluate and improve education and engagement programs aimed at promoting disaster resilience for individuals and communities. |
REC317-4131 | 24 - Govt responsibility | Each state and territory government should establish an independent accountability and assurance mechanism to promote continuous improvement and best practice in natural disaster arrangements. |
REC317-4055 | 32 - Doctrine, standards, and reform | The Australian Government should revise the COMDISPLAN thresholds to provide that a request for Australian Government assistance, including Defence assistance, is able to be made by a state or territory government when: |
REC317-4100 | 9 - Community education | Australian, state and territory governments should: |
REC317-4111 | 42 - Culture and Heritage | Australian, state, territory and local governments should explore further opportunities to leverage Indigenous land and fire management insights, in the development, planning and execution of public land management activities. |
REC317-4130 | 21 - Role of Commonwealth Government | The Australian Government should establish accountability and assurance mechanisms to promote continuous improvement and best practice in natural disaster arrangements. |
REC317-4054 | 24 - Govt responsibility | Australian, state and territory governments should establish an authoritative advisory body to consolidate advice on strategic policy and relevant operational considerations for ministers in relation to natural disasters. |
REC317-4097 | 9 - Community education | State and territory governments should ensure that the implementation of the Australian Warning System is accompanied by a carefully developed national education campaign that considers the needs of all Australians. |
REC317-4069 | 24 - Govt responsibility | State and territory governments should update and implement the National Framework to Improve Government Radio Communications Interoperability, or otherwise agree a new strategy, to achieve interoperable communications across jurisdictions. |
REC317-4110 | 42 - Culture and Heritage | Australian, state, territory and local governments should engage further with Traditional Owners to explore the relationship between Indigenous land and fire management and natural disaster resilience. |
REC317-4078 | 24 - Govt responsibility | Australian, state and territory governments should adopt procurement and contracting strategies that support and develop a broader Australian-based sovereign aerial firefighting industry. |
REC317-4053 | 24 - Govt responsibility | Australian, state and territory governments should restructure and reinvigorate ministerial forums with a view to enabling timely and informed strategic decision-making in respect of: |
REC317-4095 | 9 - Community education | State and territory governments should deliver education to ensure that the public understands the new Australian Fire Danger Rating System ratings, the potential danger attached to each rating, and the action that should be taken in response to each rating. |
REC317-4064 | 32 - Doctrine, standards, and reform | Australian, state and territory governments should work together to develop consistent data standards to measure disaster impact. |
REC317-4074 | 25 - Inquiry, audit, lessons management and after action review | The Australian Government should review the content of the Defence Assistance to the Civil Community manual to ensure consistency of language and application with a revised COMDISPLAN. |
REC317-4123 | 24 - Govt responsibility | Australian, state and territory governments should ensure that personal information of individuals affected by a natural disaster is able to be appropriately shared between all levels of government, agencies, insurers, charities and organisations delivering recovery services, taking account of all necessary safeguards to ensure the sharing is only for recovery purposes. |
REC317-4086 | 22 - Role of local Gvt | State and territory governments should review their arrangements for sharing resources between their local governments during natural disasters, including whether those arrangements: |
Rec-ID | Code | Recommendation |
---|---|---|
REC181-0194 | 9 - Community education | The Country Fire Authority produce for community guidance material on fire-resistant landscape and garden design, including a list of fire-resistant species. |
REC181-0157 | 9 - Community education | The Commonwealth lead an initiative through the Ministerial Council for Police and Emergency Management, facilitated by Emergency Management Australia, to develop a national bushfire awareness campaign. |
REC181-0207 | 5 - Hazard reduction burns | The Department of Sustainability and Environment report annually on prescribed burning outcomes in a manner that meets public accountability objectives, including publishing details of targets, area burnt, funds expended on the program, and impacts on biodiversity. |
REC181-0161 | 32 - Doctrine, standards, and reform | The State consider amending the Emergency Management Act 1986 and the Emergency Management Manual Victoria in order to achieve the following: ■ remove the title of Coordinator in Chief of Emergency Management from the Minister for Police and Emergency Services; ■ clarify the function and powers of the Minister; ■ designate the Chief Commissioner of Police as Coordinator in Chief of Emergency Management, who would have primary responsibility for keeping the Minister informed during an emergency. |
REC181-0186 | 21 - Role of Commonwealth Government | The Commonwealth, states and territories continue to pursue the National Action Plan to Reduce Bushfire Arson in Australia, giving priority to producing a nationally consistent framework for data collection and evaluating current and proposed programs in order to identify and share best-practice approaches. |
REC181-0206 | 5 - Hazard reduction burns | The State fund and commit to implementing a long-term program of prescribed burning based on an annual rolling target of 5 per cent minimum of public land. |
REC181-0217 | 25 - Inquiry, audit, lessons management and after action review | The State consider the development of legislation for the conduct of inquiries in Victoria —in particular, the conduct of royal commissions. |
REC181-0181 | 22 - Role of local Gvt | Municipal councils include in their municipal fire prevention plans for areas of high bushfire risk provision for the identification of hazard trees and for notifying the responsible entities with a view to having the situation redressed. |
REC181-0152 | 9 - Community education | The State revise the approach to community bushfire safety education in order to: ■ ensure that its publications and educational materials reflect the revised bushfire safety policy; ■ equip all fire agency personnel with the information needed to effectively communicate the policy to the public as required; ■ ensure that in content and delivery the program is flexible enough to engage individuals, households and communities and to accommodate their needs and circumstances; ■ regularly evaluate the effectiveness of community education programs and amend them as necessary. |
REC181-0202 | 22 - Role of local Gvt | The State develop and implement, in consultation with local government, a mechanism for sign-off by municipal councils of any permit conditions imposed under the Bushfire-prone Overlay and the regular assessment of landowners’ compliance with conditions. |
REC181-0153 | 22 - Role of local Gvt | The State establish mechanisms for helping municipal councils to undertake local planning that tailors bushfire safety options to the needs of individual communities. In doing this planning, councils should: ■ urgently develop for communities at risk of bushfire local plans that contain contingency options such as evacuation and shelter; ■ document in municipal emergency management plans and other relevant plans facilities where vulnerable people are likely to be situated—for example, aged care facilities, hospitals, schools and child care centres; ■ compile and maintain a list of vulnerable residents who need tailored advice of a recommendation to evacuate and provide this list to local police and anyone else with pre-arranged responsibility for helping vulnerable residents evacuate. |
REC181-0216 | 25 - Inquiry, audit, lessons management and after action review | The State appoint an independent monitor or the Victorian Auditor-General to assess progress with implementing the Commission’s recommendations and report to the Parliament and the people of Victoria by 31 July 2012. |
REC181-0164 | 32 - Doctrine, standards, and reform | The Victorian fire agencies amend the AIIMS framework before the 2010–11 fire season in order to do the following: ■ designate the Information Unit as a separate section reporting directly to the Incident Controller and require that the Information Unit contain a dedicated Public Information Officer whenever a full incident management team is required; ■ specify a set of functions in relation to which the Deputy Incident Controller for a level 3 incident will have oversight, which may be adjustable for a particular incident by agreement between the Incident Controller and the Deputy Incident Controller; ■ ensure that an individual with local knowledge is incorporated in an incident management team |
REC181-0201 | 9 - Community education | The Victorian Building Commission, in conjunction with the Country Fire Authority, develop, publish and provide to the community and industry information about ways in which existing buildings in bushfire-prone areas can be modified to incorporate bushfire safety measures. |
REC181-0158 | 32 - Doctrine, standards, and reform | The Country Fire Authority and the Department of Sustainability and Environment amend their procedures to require the following: ■ that at locations that attract preparedness levels A or B there be a full incident management team under the leadership of an accredited level 3 Incident Controller in position by 10.00 am on days of code red fire danger and a core incident management team (eight personnel) under the leadership of an accredited level 3 Incident Controller in position by 10.00 am on days of extreme fire danger; ■ that at locations that attract preparedness levels A or B there be a full incident management team under the leadership of an accredited level 3 Incident Controller in position by 10.00 am on days of code red fire danger and a core incident management team (eight personnel) under the leadership of an accredited level 3 Incident Controller in position by 10.00 am on days of extreme fire danger. |
REC181-0213 | 32 - Doctrine, standards, and reform | The State enact legislation designed to achieve two specific ends: ■ appoint a Fire Commissioner as an independent statutory officer responsible to the Minister for Police and Emergency Services and as the senior operational firefighter in Victoria; ■ make the Chief Fire Officer of the Department of Sustainability and Environment a statutory appointment. The Fire Commissioner should have responsibility for the following: ■ promoting and directing reform aimed at increasing the operational capability, interoperability and resilience of Victoria’s fire services; ■ developing and building operational capacity to prepare for the days of highest bushfire risk and exercising control over level 3 fires as the permanent State Controller; ■ providing to government periodic advice on the metropolitan fire district boundary on the basis of triggers, frequency and criteria approved by government; ■ representing Victorian interests on operational matters in national committees. |
REC181-0163 | 32 - Doctrine, standards, and reform | The State consider amending the Emergency Management Act 1986 to introduce a graded scale of emergency declarations short of a state of disaster. |
REC181-0156 | 9 - Community education | Victoria lead an initiative of the Ministerial Council for Education, Early Childhood Development and Youth Affairs to ensure that the national curriculum incorporates the history of bushfire in Australia and that existing curriculum areas such as geography, science and environmental studies include elements of bushfire education. |
REC181-0195 | 22 - Role of local Gvt | The State press municipal councils—in particular, Murrindindi Shire Council—to urgently adopt a bushfire policy in their Local Planning Policy Framework and incorporate bushfire risk management in their planning policies and strategies for rebuilding communities such as Marysville, Kinglake and others affected by the January–February 2009 fires. |
REC181-0209 | 32 - Doctrine, standards, and reform | The Department of Sustainability and Environment amend the Code of Practice for Fire Management on Public Land in order to achieve the following: ■ provide a clear statement of objectives, expressed as measurable outcomes; ■ include an explicit risk-analysis model for more objective and transparent resolution of competing objectives, where human life is the highest priority; ■ specify the characteristics of fire management zones—including burn size, percentage area burnt within the prescribed burn, and residual fuel loading; ■ adopt the use of the term ‘bushfire’ rather than ‘wildfire’. |
REC181-0162 | 32 - Doctrine, standards, and reform | The State consider either amending the Emergency Management Act 1986 or adopting a standing practice to require the Minister for Police and Emergency Services or the Chief Commissioner of Police to consult the Premier about the possibility of declaring a state of disaster for all of or any part of Victoria whenever the Minister or the Chief Commissioner of Police becomes aware of circumstances that make it a reasonable possibility that the criteria for making such a declaration will be satisfied. |
Rec-ID | Code | Recommendation |
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REC148-3178 | 38 - Agency/Department Reporting | That the officer responsible for the importation of horses prepare a report to the Executive Director of AQIS that: |
REC148-3160 | 32 - Doctrine, standards, and reform | That, before a horse is loaded on to an aircraft or vessel for carriage to Australia, AQIS verify that there exists such certification as is required by its import conditions up to the time the horse arrives at the airport of departure and that the horse complies with those conditions. This could be done by facsimile or electronic communication with AQIS officers in Australia. |
REC148-3149 | 38 - Agency/Department Reporting | That there be established the position of Inspector General of Horse Importation, the duties of that position being: |
REC148-3165 | 21 - Role of Commonwealth Government | That there continue to be in Australia government controlled and operated post-arrival quarantine stations for horses. |
REC148-3154 | 25 - Inquiry, audit, lessons management and after action review | That the officer responsible for the importation of horses arrange for Biosecurity Australia or another qualified body to inspect and review the activities and events that occur from the time horses enter pre-export quarantine until the time they arrive at an airport in Australia, in order to identify any biosecurity risks and recommend any necessary changes to import conditions or other requirements. This inspection and review shall be performed without delay for each country or region from which horses are imported to Australia, and it should take account of my other recommendations and comments in this report. |
REC148-3171 | 32 - Doctrine, standards, and reform | That the operating procedures require that there be identified a person who has overall responsibility for the various clearance procedures and biosecurity tasks to be performed in the course of unloading horses at an airport and transferring them to a quarantine station. |
REC148-3176 | 32 - Doctrine, standards, and reform | That there be prepared operating procedures or a manual that: |
REC148-3159 | 32 - Doctrine, standards, and reform | That the import conditions for horses specify that there be available for inspection at the port of loading and produced on the horse’s arrival in Australia, certification (including in electronic form) that the horse has been vaccinated, has had a blood sample taken during pre-export quarantine, and has passed a suitable detection test, currently either a quantitative PCR or an antigen-capture ELISA test for influenza A. |
REC148-3183 | 32 - Doctrine, standards, and reform | That the Quarantine Act 1908 be reviewed in order to identify amendments necessary to ensure that the Act clearly and adequately confers all relevant powers to ensure the biosecurity of horse importation and quarantine and to give effect to these recommendations. |
REC148-3148 | 21 - Role of Commonwealth Government | That the Secretary of the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry designate, without delay, a Senior Executive Service officer to be primarily responsible and accountable for the importation of horses into Australia and to that end to have the power to exercise all necessary authority. |
REC148-3164 | 21 - Role of Commonwealth Government | That there be similar facilities for the unloading and transfer of horses at any other airport in Australia that might receive horses imported from places other than New Zealand. |
REC148-3153 | 32 - Doctrine, standards, and reform | That premises be used for pre-export quarantine only if they have been approved by the officer responsible for the importation of horses and only if they have adequate biosecurity precautions that are the subject of documented procedures that can be audited. The import conditions for horses shall include a requirement that pre-export quarantine premises have been so approved. |
REC148-3170 | 25 - Inquiry, audit, lessons management and after action review | That the officer responsible for the importation of horses arrange for Biosecurity Australia to conduct within six months, an inspection and review of the process of horse importation from the time horses arrive in Australia until the completion of their post-arrival quarantine in order to: |
REC148-3158 | 32 - Doctrine, standards, and reform | That the import conditions for horses specify, based on advice from Biosecurity Australia that is reviewed at least annually, the vaccines for equine influenza to be administered to horses before they are exported, taking account of the countries or regions from which the horses are exported. If there are commercially available vaccines that contain representatives of currently circulating strains, the import conditions should specify that the horses be vaccinated using that vaccine or one of those vaccines. Otherwise, the conditions should specify the vaccine or vaccines that may be used, based on the advice of Biosecurity Australia. |
REC148-3175 | 25 - Inquiry, audit, lessons management and after action review | That the officer responsible for the importation of horses arrange for Biosecurity Australia to review, at least once every two years, the operating procedures to ensure that they adequately identify and manage the risk of entry and spread of equine influenza associated with the importation of horses into Australia. The outcome of each such review should be the subject of a written report and recommendations to the person responsible for the importation of horses and the Executive Director of AQIS. A determination should then be made as to whether any, and if so what, changes should be made to the operating procedures. |
REC148-3182 | 25 - Inquiry, audit, lessons management and after action review | That Biosecurity Australia review that formal import risk analysis at least once every two years to take into account any relevant developments in scientific knowledge—specifically testing methods, vaccines, vaccination procedures and other matters that affect biosecurity. Reports on the reviews should be provided to the officer responsible for the importation of horses and should contain recommendations for any necessary changes to policies for importation. |
REC148-3163 | 21 - Role of Commonwealth Government | That there be provided without delay at Sydney (Kingsford Smith) and Tullamarine Airports facilities to enable people who might have had contact with imported horses to shower and change their clothes, under supervision, before leaving the airport. |
REC148-3152 | 21 - Role of Commonwealth Government | That the person holding the position of Inspector General of Horse Importation may be removed in the following circumstances only: |
REC148-3168 | 21 - Role of Commonwealth Government | That each government controlled and operated quarantine station have sufficient staff to carry out properly all activities and measures required by the current operating procedures dealing with the quarantine of horses. |
REC148-3157 | 32 - Doctrine, standards, and reform | That the import conditions for horses include that the operations and procedures at the pre-export quarantine premises may from time to time, be inspected and audited by or on behalf of the Australian Government. |
REC148-3174 | 32 - Doctrine, standards, and reform | That the operating procedures require, as a condition of entry for all non- AQIS personnel to a quarantine station, that each person report any suspected breach (by that or any other person) of quarantine procedures in the quarantine station and that a person may be excluded from entry to a quarantine station in the event of a breach of such procedures by that person or in the event of a failure of that person to report any suspected breach. |
REC148-3180 | 32 - Doctrine, standards, and reform | That the import conditions for horses include that each horse be tested for equine influenza as close as practicable before the end of the quarantine period and that a negative result for that test be available before the horse may be released from quarantine. Until more sensitive and specific detection tests become available, an agent detection test for influenza A - either a quantitative PCR test or an antigen-capture ELISA test - should be used for that purpose. |
REC148-3162 | 21 - Role of Commonwealth Government | That facilities for the unloading and transferring of horses at Tullamarine Airport in Melbourne be constructed urgently, upon advice of experts in biosecurity containment, to enable adequate biosecurity precautions to be taken effectively and to minimise the risk of injury to horses and those handling them. |
REC148-3151 | 21 - Role of Commonwealth Government | That the person holding the position of Inspector General of Horse |
REC148-3167 | 25 - Inquiry, audit, lessons management and after action review | That the facilities at Eastern Creek and Spotswood Quarantine Stations be reviewed by AQIS in consultation with experts in biosecurity and interested parties including state and territory governments, import agents, veterinarians, farriers, operators of private quarantine stations, and representatives of horse owners, horse racing organisations and equestrian organisations. There should in any event be constructed without delay, an adequate supply of hygienic, modern showering facilities and places of entry and exit to the stations and the horse sections of them that can be supervised and monitored continually. There should also be provided at those stations as soon as is practicable suitable means of electronic surveillance, including closed-circuit television; a secure place to store chemicals, drugs, instruments and equipment for use by people attending the quarantined horses, and a set of horse stalls and yards separate from the main stalls and yards to enable isolation of horses suffering from contagious or infectious diseases. These reviews should also consider the desirability of separate areas in quarantine stations to hold horses forming part of a single quarantine intake but that have been imported from different regions or have undergone pre-export quarantine in different places. The reviews should be carried out without delay, and the two quarantine stations should be upgraded in accordance with the recommendations of the reviews. |
REC148-3156 | 32 - Doctrine, standards, and reform | That the import conditions for horses include that the horse be tested for equine influenza at a time as close as practicable to the end of the pre- export quarantine period. Until more sensitive and specific detection tests become available, an agent test for influenza A—either a quantitative PCR or an antigen-capture ELISA test—should be used. |
REC148-3173 | 32 - Doctrine, standards, and reform | That the operating procedures require that the duties of any people responsible for maintaining 24 hour security at a quarantine station (whether they be AQIS officers or private contractors) are recorded in writing and that those people have received training in relation to biosecurity risks sufficient to instil an appreciation of such acts or circumstances as might give rise to biosecurity risks. |
REC148-3179 | 32 - Doctrine, standards, and reform | That the import conditions for horses include that the nasopharyngeal swabs taken within 24 hours of arrival and five days after the last horse arrives in post-arrival quarantine be divided and the swabs made subject to a quantitative PCR test and a ‘rapid’ immuno-assay test to detect influenza A. The operating procedures should also require that these additional tests be conducted. |
REC148-3161 | 21 - Role of Commonwealth Government | That the facilities for unloading and transferring of horses at Sydney (Kingsford Smith) Airport be upgraded without delay, following the advice of experts in biosecurity containment, so as to enable appropriate biosecurity precautions to be taken effectively and to minimise the risk of injury to horses and those handling them. The facilities should include at least one padded box or stall sound-proofed to the extent that it is reasonable to do so. |
REC148-3150 | 32 - Doctrine, standards, and reform | That the position of Inspector General of Horse Importation: |
REC148-3166 | 21 - Role of Commonwealth Government | That, in the absence of other satisfactory government controlled and operated post-arrival quarantine stations becoming available before the options to renew the leases of Eastern Creek and Spotswood Quarantine Stations expire, those options be exercised. |
REC148-3155 | 32 - Doctrine, standards, and reform | That the import conditions for horses include that a blood sample be taken while a horse is in pre-export quarantine. Part of the sample is to be retained in the country of export and another part of that sample is to be transported to Australia, preferably with the horse. Both parts are to be retained for at least three months. |
REC148-3172 | 32 - Doctrine, standards, and reform | That the operating procedures require that the manager of a quarantine station be responsible for ensuring that a written report on compliance with procedures is prepared and reviewed daily and that any non-compliance and corrective action are recorded. |
Rec-ID | Code | Recommendation |
---|---|---|
REC015_3954 | 24 - Govt responsibility | It is recommended that each public department or body which may now or hereafter control forest areas be allowed to pursue its own policy of fire prevention and suppression. As each such body is responsible directly or indirectly to Parliament it must be allowed to carry its responsibility in its own manner. It is strongly recommended that no such department be given authority over any other body in matters relating to fire prevention or suppression. If it is ultimately shown that a department is unfit to discharge the duty involved other measures may be taken. |
REC015_3962 | 35 - Business and Industry in relation to industry | It is recommended that the matter be submitted to experts, of which there are many in the Public Service; and that such experts determine the best manner of construction. |
REC015_3956 | 24 - Govt responsibility | It is strongly recommended that no public department of possible combination of public departments interested in forests should be permitted to gain control of this authority. |
Rec-ID | Code | Recommendation |
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REC004-3998 | 19 - Offences | That a by-law be made forbidding, under a heavy penalty, any persons travelling in such trains to throw lighted tobacco, cigars, cigarettes, pipe ashes, matches, or other inflammable matter on the railway line or right-of-way, or in any part of a railway carriage except the receptacles duly provided for the purpose. |
REC004-3995 | 32 - Doctrine, standards, and reform | That the standard double arrester, fitted to the locomotives during the summer months, be subjected to more careful daily inspection before and after each journey during such months, in addition to the present periodical examination by the locomotive foreman and boiler inspector; and that any omission of this duty on the part of the running staff be severely punished. |
REC004-3993 | 32 - Doctrine, standards, and reform | That in any case where there is primá facie evidence of a fire, creating damage to the extent of $100 or upwards in value, having been caused by the escape of particles of lighted matter from a locomotive engine, or by the action of railway employes in burning off grass or other inflammable material along any line of railway, a Special Board of Inquiry shall investigate and report on the subject, such Board to consist of a Police Magistrate as Chairman, with a railway officer and a competent person chosen from outside the State service as members. |
REC004-4000 | 32 - Doctrine, standards, and reform | That section 22 of the Police Offences Act 1890 be amended, to enable the burning of grass and debris along the railway lines in the summer season to be carried out at an earlier hour than two o'clock in the afternoon, when, in the judgement of the railway inspectors, it is safe and necessary to do so. |