As part of its review of the Energy Retail Code of Practice, the ESC should include requirements for energy retailers to collect the phone and email contact details of customers and others in the household for the purpose of sharing with distributors to facilitate information about power outages. Retailers should be required to check data quality and share with distribution businesses regularly.

That the Victorian Government provide Victorians with access to appropriate data contained within the FloodZoom platform

That Melbourne Water and other floodplain management authorities review flood models every five years and update the models at least every 10 years and after the occurrence of a major flood.

That the Victorian Government ensure early warning systems include consideration of a voluntary register of people in need of additional support to receive early warning and support during natural disasters.

That the Victorian Government improve individual and community awareness about their own roles and responsibilities in emergency management, and make available information resources for preparing for flood and other emergencies.

That the Victorian Government ensure that future flood mitigation efforts include updated and rigorous hydraulic modelling before implementation, ensuring the effectiveness of compensatory measures. Additionally, these strategies should undergo independent peer review to validate their expected performance.

That Emergency Management Victoria work with local government authorities and local State Emergency Service units to provide access to local flood guides to all residents in a flood zone, that identify the likely flood impacts on individual properties.

That the Victorian Government fund floodplain managers to develop maps modelling scenarios demonstrating the impact on landholders of specified levee breeches.

That the Victorian Government establish long-term community awareness initiatives to ensure the public understand flood risk and actions. Successful bushfire awareness campaigns could be used as a basis for such initiatives.

That the Victorian Government work with floodplain management authorities and climate scientists to understand how flood modelling can be used to better predict the impact of climate change on flooding and update its flood management policies in line with this understanding.

Melbourne Water should review their flood models every five years and update them at least every 10 years and after the occurrence of a major flood.

Melbourne Water should commission an independent expert review and audit of their forecasting system with the aim of identifying areas where forecast accuracy, warning times and model run times could be improved.

Melbourne Water should use the hydraulic model being developed (expected to become available in April 2024) to determine (and be subjected to independent peer review) the impact of the Flemington Floodwall and the efficacy of the associated downstream compensatory works.

Melbourne Water should adopt forecasting tools which enable forecasts to be made within a total of no more than 60 minutes.

Melbourne Water should ensure that their rating curves, which represent the relationships between river levels and corresponding river flows, extend also to rare and extreme flood events and have been derived using established bestpractice.

Melbourne Water should have a protocol that enables flood forecasting at intervals at less than two hours when prudent to do so by reason of the responsiveness of the catchment for significant events.

Melbourne Water needs to ensure that rainfall runoff and flood models are calibrated to observed flood information.

Melbourne Water should immediately update the Mid Maribyrnong flood model with a modern two dimensional flood model developed in accordance with Melbourne Water guidelines and use this model to set new design flood levels.

We recommend that DELWP provides advice to government, in consultation with Country Fire Authority, Fire Rescue Victoria and councils, on options to improve owner and occupier awareness of and accountability for bushfire management overlay planning controls (see Section 4.3).

We recommend that DELWP enhances bushfire modelling by: - exploring multiple bushfire modelling tools to lower the uncertainty and limitations associated with using a single modelling tool - applying more detailed fire-severity data - validating and updating fuel accumulation curves - establishing and regularly updating an archive of well-documented fire events and using this to systematically test it against a broad range of burning and fuel conditions - establishing and implementing processes to routinely review and update its underlying datasets.

Public communications: The Inspector-General for Emergency Management recommends that Emergency Management Victoria and the entity referred to in Recommendation 13, or otherwise responsible government department, coordinate ongoing education campaigns to increase public awareness of community roles and responsibilities during periods of emergency relief and recovery.

The Inspector-General for Emergency Management recommends that Emergency Management Victoria – in collaboration with the emergency management sector – develops and implements processes to ensure greater dissemination and improved understanding of information for all Victorians, and visitors to Victoria in an emergency event. This should consider but not be exclusive to individuals who:
a) are not familiar with Victoria and its environment
b) find it difficult to understand and respond to emergency information
c) are socially or geographically isolated. 

The Inspector-General for Emergency Management recommends that the Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning (or the single entity referenced in Recommendation 4) – with support from all legislated fuel management organisations for public and private land – lead a community engagement process to improve the Victorian community’s understanding of:
a) the purpose of Victoria’s fuel management program and the concept of residual risk
b) the conditions under which fuel management effectiveness is limited
c) how fuel management is planned, conducted, evaluated and reported. 

The Inspector-General for Emergency Management recommends that Emergency Management Victoria – in consultation with relevant agencies – develop a system to manage personnel and asset deployments to all tiers of incident management to meet the needs of the emergency and support the health and wellbeing of personnel. Where appropriate and within occupational health and safety requirements, this may include:
a) standardised shift rosters across agencies and incident management tiers
b) a single or integrated platform to allow consistent recording of shift times and locations
c) records of accreditation, qualification, training and currency. 

The State, led by Emergency Management Victoria, develop a community engagement model for emergency management to ensure all State agencies and local governments engage with communities and already identifed trusted networks as an integral component of emergency management planning.

The State equip itself to undertake rapid air quality monitoring in any location in Victoria, to: • collect all relevant data, including data on PM , carbon monoxide and ozone; and 2.5 • ensure this data is used to inform decision-making within 24 hours of the incident occurring.

Management of community expectations: further development of tools that would allow the community to more easily
access accurate and time-critical information.

Management of community expectations: continued community education.

Management of community expectations: better understanding of what different groups within a community expect.

the state allocate core funding for the ongoing delivery of the ‘FloodSafe’ program to flood prone communities across Victoria.

the state, in consultation with Bureau of Meteorology and Melbourne Water, take the necessary action to ensure that all flood warnings issued are linked to the geographical location of the gauge the data was derived from.

the state undertake a community education program to inform households of their respective flood risk. This may include information on rate notices of heights of houses above flood level and educating people about flash flooding.

the state take into account any outcomes from the Commonwealth Government’s flood mapping reviews in the continual development of the Victorian flood database and to incorporate into the database flood data currently held by Melbourne Water.

the state establish standards for flood mapping to ensure they are kept contemporary and meet the purposes of landuse risk planning and emergency response. In doing so, maps should extend where appropriate to include Probable Maximum Flood, over a range of Annual Exceedence Probability levels and be explicitly linked to a stream gauge.

the state ensure: • where external assistance is provided to Victoria during emergencies, communities are advised of the specific purpose of that assistance, through media and other information channels; and • all agencies provide incident management personnel with information regarding the arrangements for tasking Australian Defence Force resources and that this advice is reinforced during emergencies where Australian Defence Force support is provided.

the state ensure that regional and local flood plans incorporate all available flood mapping and intelligence, including assessments of levees and flood consequence information.

A. The CFA further develop community education programs to specifically engage culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) communities to address the importance of ethnic diversity.
B. The CFA ensure that it is informed of new initiatives being taken by AFAC for women and take the necessary action to adopt them.
C. The CFA, in consultation with the VFBV and volunteers, develop initiatives and strategies additional to those being taken by AFAC, that facilitate the involvement of women as volunteers in the CFA at all levels.

Explain the meaning of ‘timely, relevant and tailored’ community bushfire warnings through training and meetings particularly of Information Section staff and Incident Controllers.

The Fire Services develop a program that enables all communication mediums, including social media and agency websites, to be monitored in real time to provide quality assurance for outgoing messages and additional sources of information and intelligence relating to an emergency

DSE enhance community engagement programs in East Gippsland to ensure that local communities are more informed about the complexities and interdependencies of prescribed burning and encourage local input.

The Fire Services identify opportunities for the community to learn about, engage with and influence local emergency management planning.

The Fire Services, in consultation with the community, develop a methodology for measuring community preparedness. They should also develop tailored education and information sharing opportunities to improve community understanding of bushfire risk, mitigation and preparedness.

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.

The Country Fire Authority produce for community guidance material on fire-resistant landscape and garden design, including a list of fire-resistant species.

The Department of Sustainability and Environment conduct biodiversity mapping identifying flora, fauna and any threatened species throughout Victoria and make the results publicly available. The format used should be compatible with that used for Bushfire-prone Area mapping.

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.

The State identify a central point of responsibility for and expertise in mapping bushfire risk to: ■ review urgently the mapping criteria at present used by the Country Fire Authority to map the Wildfire Management Overlay, to ensure that the mapping used to determine building and planning controls is based on the best available science and takes account of all relevant aspects of bushfire risk; ■ map and designate Bushfire-prone Areas for the purposes of planning and building controls, in consultation with municipal councils and fire agencies; ■ finalise the alignment of site-assessment methods for planning and building purposes, taking into account bushfire risk to human safety as well as to property.

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.

The Department of Sustainability and Environment significantly upgrade its program of long-term data collection to monitor and model the effects of its prescribed burning programs and of bushfires on biodiversity in Victoria.

The Country Fire Authority and the Department of Sustainability and Environment improve mapping support in the following ways: ■ DSE providing mapping data free of charge to emergency response agencies; ■ greatly increasing the CFA’s ‘write’ access to FireMap for incident management team staff; ■ establishing a joint DSE–CFA training program to ensure that mapping officers in level 2 and 3 incident management teams are fully trained in using FireMap, including in producing fire prediction maps; ■ requiring before the 2010–11 fire season that FireMap be used for joint incidents.

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.

The Victoria State Emergency Service work with the electricity distribution businesses, Department of Primary Industries and Energy Safe Victoria to develop and implement a joint community education program for public safety during and after storms and power outages.

That the Department of Sustainability and Environment and its partner agencies continue to develop a proactive approach to engagement with the local and wider media to achieve continuous improvement in the standard of community information and education.

That in relation to Fire Operations Plans, the Department Sustainability and Environment extends the number of community meetings during the public consultation period to a minimum of one meeting for each Fire District, with the possibility of repeat visits to particular areas.

Biosecurity Victoria should enhance controls to provide assurance regarding data integrity. This process should include:
• working with local government to provide accurate and complete property data across the state
• enhancing processes for ensuring consistent notification of disease events across regions
• reviewing all processes related to the collation, input, processing, output and protection of data to improve the integrity of the system.

That DPI upgrades the Crop Health Services diagnostic database so that it alerts PSB and PIRVIC to the receipt of samples from nearby areas with similar symptoms and can be linked to other PIRVIC diagnostic databases.

That DPI establishes a system to ensure the security of all samples at all times, but particularly during their handling and transport.

That CFA reports to the Minister for Police and Emergency Services on recommended solutions and implementation strategies for isolated small communities by June 2004. 

That DSE and CFA map all unplanned fires greater than four hectares on public and private land in order to further develop an understanding of the risk to rural Victoria from unplanned fires.

That CFA and DSE include agreed Fire Control Priorities in community awareness and education material provided to the community before each fire season. 

That the three fire agencies (CFA, DSE and MFESB) develop and implement a joint Statewide fire awareness education and information program aimed at encouraging a higher degree of personal and household self-reliance.

That CFA, in conjunction with isolated small communities, develop and promote a suite of appropriate fire readiness and fire management strategies to meet their needs.

That DSE and CFA, recognising that the Bureau of Meteorology does not routinely store all variables required to produce the calculations and indices necessary for research and planning into fire occurrence and behaviour, develop appropriate systems to ensure that such current and historical information is readily available and accessible.

That CFA, recognising the value of the Community Fireguard Group program, undertake a review by June 2004 to identify opportunities to further develop the program to ensure its continuing appropriateness in preparing communities for fire into the future.

That CFA and MFESB encourage householders to review their fire safety plan annually. 

That DSE institute additional routine data storage and analysis to supplement current climate records with at least daily 3 pm values for the Grassland and Forest Fire Danger Index, and Keetch-Byram Drought Index, for selected high quality stations representing a cross-section of environments throughout Victoria. 

That CFA provides technical advice to Community Fireguard Groups in the selection and purchase of appropriate equipment and protective clothing for use on their own land.

That the Coordinator-in-Chief of Emergency Management directs that all emergency management agencies review, by June 2004, terminology and language in current communication and public education material to ensure it is clear, easily understood and consistent, particularly with regard to fire.

That Community Fireguard Group co-ordinators’ names are supplied to their local municipality for the 2003-2004 fire season, and are updated annually for use in information exchange should a Municipal Emergency Co-ordination Centre or Incident Control Centre be established.

That Government acknowledge the importance of spatial information as a key element of planning, operations and program evaluation, and support the Geospatial Emergency Information Network as a means of ensuring integrated and co-ordinated information management on a whole-ofGovernment basis.

That CFA and MFESB:
• Conduct an annual survey of households to test the level of awareness and acceptance of fire knowledge amongst Victorians; and
• Regularly measure whether access to information leads to safe behaviours.

That CFA clarifies and restates the roles and function of existing Community Fireguard Groups (including their relationship to the Municipal Fire Prevention Plan) to members, co-ordinators, Incident Controllers and Municipal Emergency Resource Officers, prior to the 2003-2004 fire season.

That all emergency service agencies, CFA and DSE in particular, give greater priority to information management – especially the collection, maintenance and quality control of base data sets necessary for planning, operations and program evaluation.

That CFA should remain the lead agency in delivering the community education and information program to rural Victoria.

The Committee recommends that the FireVision concept used by the Metropolitan Fire Brigades Board be extended through the Directorate of School Education's Interactive Television Program to all emergency services and in particular to rural fire and emergency services.

The Committee recommends that the FireVision concept used by the Metropolitan Fire Brigades Board be extended through the Directorate of School Education's Interactive Television Program to all emergency services and in particular to rural fire and emergency services.