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.

Distribution businesses to inform DEECA of properties with defect notices to support community recovery planning. DEECA work with peak bodies representing registered electrical contractors to ensure coordinated community recovery planning.

Victorian Government design and implement an Extended Loss of Supply Support Payment Scheme (ELOSS Payment) which requires distribution businesses to financially support customers during prolonged power outages. This will address community feedback about the Victorian Government Prolonged Power Outage Payment (PPOP) Elements of ELOSS are to include:.
a. Timely and daily customer payments after 72 hours up to a per customer maximum amount.
b. Distribution businesses to administer and fund ELOSS up to a maximum amount.
This recommendation should be implemented by June 2025

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

That the Victorian Government increase funding to Shepparton and Echuca and Moama Search and Rescue squads to ensure optimal response capabilities in future emergencies.

To assist with ongoing clean-up of flood-affected areas following disasters, that the Victorian Government establish a dedicated financial support program for local businesses involved in debris removal and restoration efforts. This should include reimbursement mechanisms for businesses, such as earthmoving companies, that contributed equipment and personnel to the clean-up but suffered significant financial losses doing so.

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 develop a strategic rescue plan in areas at high risk of flooding, so that they have appropriate resources and expertise for rescues during a crisis event. This plan should include consideration of procurement, expansion of reserve caches and processes for rapid deployment of resources.

That the Victorian Government recognise caravan parks as essential businesses in disaster-prone areas as providers of housing and emergency support and ensure support is available (including grants) under Disaster Recovery Funding Arrangements to caravan park operators, including those operating on Crown Land.

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 the Victorian Government review its framework for providing housing support following an environmental disaster. In particular, the Government should assess the application system to ensure that genuinely affected households are provided support in a timelier manner and to mitigate the risk of fraudulent claims.

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 plan and resource recovery hubs (including online access) sufficiently to fulfil their role in long-term community recovery and resilience building.

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.

In line with Recommendation 58, that the Victorian Government, working with local councils, investigate options for emergency funding arrangements to assist operating Emergency Relief Centres and include these arrangements in statewide operating guidelines.

That the Victorian Government provide long-term funding contracts for mental health services in flood-affected regions, with a focus to securing dedicated mental health professionals and effective service delivery in communities impacted by natural disasters.

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.

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.

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.

Relief and recovery funding: The Inspector-General for Emergency Management recommends that the entity referred to in Recommendation 13, or otherwise responsible government department, works with the emergency management sector to develop a recovery funding model that enables: 
(a) timely estimation of recovery costs based on the impact of the emergency
(b) consistency in government-based recovery support for organisations, councils, communities, businesses and individuals
(c) short, medium and long-term recovery planning and resourcing
(d) immediate local recovery progress by reducing administrative funding impediments for local organisations while retaining appropriate accountability mechanisms for expenditure.

Relief and recovery capability: The Inspector-General for Emergency Management recommends that the Department of Jobs, Precincts and Regions works with the entity referred to in Recommendation 13, or otherwise responsible government department and/or Municipal Association of Victoria, councils and local relief and recovery organisations to provide centralised capability development opportunities to increase local capability and capacity to plan and deliver on their relief and recovery responsibilities:
(a) for emergencies of variable scale, complexity and duration
(b) in a manner that caters to the needs of diverse communities.

Foundations of emergency management: The Inspector-General for Emergency Management recommends that Emergency Management Victoria and the entity referred to in Recommendation 13, or otherwise responsible government department – in consultation with the emergency management sector – establish policies and platforms to improve operational and personal information sharing between relief and recovery organisations. These policies and platforms should enable: 
(a) timely and comprehensive sharing of data related to impacts and consequences of emergencies
(b) increased ability to provide streamlined and proactive relief and recovery support services and financial assistance to affected individuals, families, businesses and community groups.

Recovery governance: The Inspector-General for Emergency Management recommends that the entity referred to in Recommendation 13, or otherwise responsible government department, work with councils, relevant recovery organisations and communities to develop clear roles and responsibilities for: 
(a) the management and coordination of recovery across the continuum of all aspects of recovery (strategy, planning, operational and ongoing) 
(b) recovery service delivery to ensure that local service delivery organisations and community networks can be quickly activated to support individuals, families, businesses and communities.

Donated good: The Inspector-General for Emergency Management recommends that Emergency Management Victoria and the entity referred to in Recommendation 13, or otherwise responsible government department:
(a) coordinate the development of agreed systems, processes and partnerships that can be activated as soon as potential emergencies are anticipated to ensure greater coordination and management of donated goods
(b) incorporate public communication strategies to mitigate the donation of goods as much as possible and socialise appropriate donating channels as defined in the arrangements.

Relief and recovery funding: The Inspector-General for Emergency Management recommends that the entity referred to in Recommendation 13, or otherwise responsible government department, leads the development of a comprehensive, person-centred, trauma-informed recovery financial assistance system that establishes:
(a) clear and transparent overview of grant and financial assistance eligibility requirements
(b) flexibility in the timing of application processes
(c) a streamlined application process for individuals, families, businesses and community recovery groups
(d) proactive outreach from relevant government agencies to affected individuals, families, businesses and community recovery groups to facilitate and encourage receipt of financial assistance where eligible.

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 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.

Regional Development Victoria should implement the recommendations from the Department of Planning and Community Development's review of the Community Recovery Fund to improve the delivery of relief and recovery programs in the future.

the state, in respect of the Rapid Impact Assessment process: • resolve which agency/ies has policy and operational responsibility for this process • define the purpose of Rapid Impact Assessment; and • review the process, in light of the 2010–11 floods, to examine options to improve the efficiency of the collection of information.

the state implement arrangements to improve the support provided to local government on disaster financing before, during and after emergency events.

the state make available to the public a clear guide of who is responsible for: • clean-up and recovery of various types of infrastructure that straddle the public/private boundary; and • the policies agencies will follow in determining whether to repair infrastructure under their control.

the Department of Human Services develop proactive strategies to provide information and assistance for people applying for emergency grants.

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 review the legislation and policies that set out clean-up and recovery responsibilities for infrastructure such as crossovers, culverts, drains, bridges and waterways, including consideration of: • whether the entities who are given obligations or powers to undertake clean-up works have the capacity to do so; and • the appropriateness of having different legal regimes for what is essentially the same piece of infrastructure. If the review reveals that the current responsibility matrix is inadequate, the state develop an action plan to address the identified shortcomings.

the state clarify the transition to recovery arrangements including the processes for approving and funding of essential works after transition to recovery has been formalised.

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 review the way early outreach occurs and implement changes that will ensure that there is a consistency of approach regardless of which agency undertakes the service.

the state: • ensure that the concerns raised by Victorians regarding the Natural Disaster Relief and Recovery Arrangements are provided to the national review, including the issues of: – betterment (what it means and how it is applied); and – the 51 per cent income rule for eligibility of businesses for grants. • establish a single point of information (such as the single web portal referred to in recommendation 33) on all emergency related financial assistance available to individuals, businesses and local government. The means of accessing this information should be widely circulated in the community.

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

the state amend the current protocol governing National Registration and Inquiry System information collection and sharing to: • clarify the role of councils and Centrelink during and after emergencies • ensure the amended protocol is written in plain English and easily understood; and • coordinate, in conjunction with the state and federal privacy commissioners, the development of a new National Registration and Inquiry System information sharing protocol in line with the proposed National Registration and Inquiry System 6 and state or federal privacy legislation.

the state finalise the 2008 review of Victoria’s municipal assistance. This should include addressing: • the provision of upfront funding for local councils for repair of community assets • packages for early relief and recovery to be included in both the Natural Disaster Funding Arrangements and the Natural Disaster Relief and Recovery Arrangements, including outreach packages; and • the process of reimbursement of local councils after floods.

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 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

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.

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 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.

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 DPI actively promote as widely as possible within the community, the agricultural recovery service available during emergencies to ensure that all farmers are aware of the services provided.

That Government review the emergency relief and financial assistance policy, and develop and communicate a predictable, consistent and equitable policy designed to assist the community to recover from emergencies, including natural disasters.

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 all agencies engaged in recovery participate in community briefings prior to and during emergency events, to ensure recovery issues are reinforced and communities are informed of the processes established to assist individuals – including matters that are not the responsibility of Victoria, such as Centrelink payments.

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 recovery is recognised as commencing at the same time as response and that recovery planning and delivery is an integral part of the operations of the Municipal Emergency Co-ordination Centres.

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 the Victorian Government recommend to the Commonwealth Government that it reviews eligibility for those without employment who may or may not be engaged in an emergency response, and are unable to access the appropriate infrastructure to register for financial assistance.

That the State Emergency Recovery Committee explore opportunities to establish a 'one-stop shop’ approach wherever practicable following emergencies, including a single telephone number to connect a person to all agencies involved in the recovery process.

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 VicRoads and Municipal Councils review procedures and processes to ensure that the identification and delivery of remedial works on State and Council roads following emergency events are as efficient as possible. 

That DHS, in conjunction with Local Government, Government departments and the nongovernment sector, modify recovery planning at all levels to include a case management approach supported by an appropriate information system to be activated at the time of an emergency.

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.

It is recommended that the Forests Commission recognize and provide for the efficient exercise of three major functions, namely those of Commerce, Reclamation and Rehabilitation.