The committee recommends the Commonwealth Government allocate sufficient spectrum for dedicated broadband public protection and disaster relief (PPDR) radiocommunications in Australia.

The committee further recommends that any allocation of broadband spectrum to emergency service organisations (ESOs) for PPDR must be provided on the basis of interoperability amongst Australian ESOs and with ESO counterparts overseas.

The committee recommends the Commonwealth Government require guaranteed access to emergency call services for people with a disability at all times.

The committee recommends that the Commonwealth Government together with national, state and territory emergency service organisations and radio and television broadcasters, develop a secure database of up-to-date contact details for key personnel to be used during an emergency.

The committee recommends the government consider granting public broadcasters priority access to fuel during times of emergency for the purpose of broadcasting emergency warnings and information, and in a way that does not impede the ability of emergency service organisations to access fuel.

The committee recommends emergency service organisations in collaboration with television and radio broadcasters, the print media and other relevant organisations, use regular and ongoing public education well in advance of an emergency situation as an opportunity to teach the public about their

The committee recommends that the Commonwealth Grants Commission ensures that as part of the current redesign of its data request, state and territory governments are required to include their past insurance and reinsurance receipts for natural disaster insurance premiums.

The committee recommends that the Commonwealth Government consult with state and territory governments to ensure that the states' and territories' captive insurance and reinsurance arrangements are reported transparently and on a comparable basis. 

The committee recommends that a particular focus of the Natural Disasters Insurance Review into the adequacy of current insurance arrangements should be on whether the international insurance market offers reinsurance for the states' and territories' road networks.

The committee recommends that the Commonwealth Treasury clarify what is meant by the term 'cost-effective' as it relates to the 2011 NDRRA Determination and the scrutiny of the states' and territories' insurance arrangements. 

Conducting a pre-fire season exercise for each Pre-Formed Incident Management Team could be used to “re-accrediting” each team on an annual basis.

DEC’s incident management capability could be enhanced by: – Appointing a Deputy Incident Controller for every Level 3 IMT. – Establishing a fast response “short” IMT capability for each Level 3 IMT. – Establish clear triggers to initiate sending in a “short” IMT to a fire.

A summary Incident Action Plan could allow the Incident Controller to more quickly appreciate the situation and articulate a plan early in an incident.

Higher level DEC guidance to Level 3 Incident Controllers could be improved by introducing a more explicit and robust process of questioning, engagement, monitoring and oversight of Level 3 Incident Controllers.

DEC should emphasise the principle of foresight by adopting an appreciation and decision making process and training staff in that process.

The development of a three year aerial firefighting strategy for W.A. would ensure optimal development of a joint air capability.

A staff recognition and reward framework for service to fire management should be considered for DEC fire staff.

Maintaining the DEC fleet of tankers, bulldozers and low loaders is crucial to DEC’s fire management and control capability.

The DEC corporate statement should affirm a strong commitment to fire management.

A DEC fire management staff succession plan would minimise the loss of core fire management skills and experience in the future and provide a planned approach to development of prospective fire management staff.

The DEC Fire Management Policy should be reviewed and updated.

Triggers and a process for transfer of command and control from DEC to FESA should be developed and documented.

DEC should consider publishing a new reference document that describes policy, doctrine and key systems of work of the fire management system.

The Interagency Bushfire Management Committee and its sub-committees are the logical central platform for developing and strengthening future joint bushfire strategies and common systems of work between bushfire management agencies in Western Australia.

The Hazard Management Agency for bushfire has not been defined. Defining the HMA for bushfire should be addressed.

It is sensible that, in considering planning development proposals on land adjacent to the DEC estate, that development authorities invite comment from DEC on the fire management consequences of development proposals.

A Memorandum of Understanding signed by the Chief Executives of DEC and FESA would be a valuable statement of joint commitment between the two agencies.

FESA and DEC take a whole of capability approach to joint operations, including developing joint doctrine that provides a common and articulated understanding of roles and responsibilities, resources and capabilities

FESA, in partnership with other agencies and the community, develops Western Australia’s urban interface fire fighting capability and capacity.

FESA maintains inter-agency relationships and arrangements, and develops formalised arrangements across the entire emergency management cycle for joint activities such as training, exercises and procedure development.

FESA establishes a dedicated intelligence function in Incident Management Teams for major bushfires and ensure this function is appropriately supported with threat based tools and systems.

FESA reviews its approach to safety and safety culture.

FESA reviews its air reconnaissance capability and determines if multiple multi-sensor air reconnaissance aircraft or unmanned aerial vehicles are required for managing concurrent and/or complex incidents.

FESA promotes a whole-of-community approach, involving FESA, Local Governments and the community, in fire prevention functions, activities and planning.

FESA strengthens its planning process to ensure learnings are incorporated and communicated, levels of preparedness are linked to threat analyses and public awareness and education activities are sustained.

FESA implements an education and awareness campaign to promote the purpose and utility of community information systems.

FESA establishes a process (and associated systems and policies) to mobilise staff to an incident, incorporating pre-formed multi-agency Incident Management Teams.

FESA revises its standard operating procedures to provide guidance on the format and timing of post-incident community meetings.

FESA identifies and documents its information requirements for end-to-end information exchange and then assess the adequacy of current systems to meet these information requirements.

FESA implements measures that will ensure unity and clarity of command.

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 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.

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 i

The State implement a regional settlement policy that: ■ takes account of the management of bushfire risk, including that associated with small, undeveloped rural lots; ■ includes a process for responding to bushfire risk at the planning stage for new urban developments in regional cities, the pr

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.

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 o

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

The State amend the Victoria Planning Provisions relating to bushfire to ensure that the provisions give priority to the protection of human life, adopt a clear objective of substantially restricting development in the areas of highest bushfire risk—giving due consideration to biodiversity conser

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 o

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; ■

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.

The Country Fire Authority amend its guidelines for assessing permit applications for dwellings, nondwellings and subdivisions in the Bushfire-prone Overlay in order to accommodate the amendments to the Wildfire Management Overlay that are implemented as a result of recommendation 39 and make the

The State amend the Regulations under Victoria’s Electricity Safety Act 1998 and otherwise take such steps as may be required to give effect to the following: ■ the progressive replacement of all SWER (single-wire earth return) power lines in Victoria with aerial bundled cable, underground cablin

The Country Fire Authority and the Department of Sustainability and Environment standardise their operating systems and information and communications technologies with the aim of achieving greater efficiency and interoperability between agencies.

The State consider amending the Emergency Management Act 1986 to introduce a graded scale of emergency declarations short of a state of disaster.

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 contr

The State establish mechanisms for helping municipal councils to undertake local planning that tailors bushfire safety options to the needs of individual communities.

The State consider the development of legislation for the conduct of inquiries in Victoria —in particular, the conduct of royal commissions.

The State: ■ amend the Victoria Planning Provisions to require that, when assessing a permit to remove native vegetation around an existing dwelling, the responsible authority and the Department of Sustainability and Environment, as referral authority, take into account fire hazard and give weigh

The State (through Energy Safe Victoria) require distribution businesses to change their asset inspection standards and procedures to require that all SWER lines and all 22-kilovolt feeders in areas of high bushfire risk are inspected at least every three years.

The State clarify whether, during major fires, Victoria Police should discharge its coordination functions from the State Emergency Response Coordination Centre or from the State Control Centre.

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 Offi

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.

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.

The State develop and implement a retreat and resettlement strategy for existing developments in areas of unacceptably high bushfire risk, including a scheme for non-compulsory acquisition by the State of land in these areas.

The State (through Energy Safe Victoria) require distribution businesses to review and modify their current practices, standards and procedures for the training and auditing of asset inspectors to ensure that registered training organisations provide adequate theoretical and practical training fo

The Country Fire Authority review and improve its communications strategy as a matter of priority and develop a program for identifying and responding to black spots in radio coverage.

Victoria Police continue to pursue a coordinated statewide approach to arson prevention and regularly review its approach to ensure that it contains the following elements: ■ high-level commitment from senior police; ■ a research program aimed at refining arson prevention and detection strategies

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 transpare

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 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 o

Standards Australia do the following: ■ amend the objective of AS 3959-2009, Construction of Buildings in Bushfire-prone Areas, to ensure that it incorporates reducing the risk of ignition from ember attack; ■ review, and amend as appropriate, the testing methods prescribed in its standards for T

The State amend the regulatory framework for electricity safety to require that distribution businesses adopt, as part of their management plans, measures to reduce the risks posed by hazard trees—that is, trees that are outside the clearance zone but that could come into contact with an electric

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

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.

The Australian Building Codes Board do the following: ■ amend the performance requirements in the Building Code of Australia to ensure that they incorporate reducing the risk of ignition from ember attack; ■ work with Standards Australia to effect expeditious continuing review and development of

The State (through Energy Safe Victoria) require distribution businesses to do the following: ■ disable the reclose function on the automatic circuit reclosers on all SWER lines for the six weeks of greatest risk in every fire season; ■ adjust the reclose function on the automatic circuit reclose

The Country Fire Authority and the Department of Sustainability and Environment prescribe and audit the minimum number and nature of level 3 joint training exercises in which incident management team staff (including volunteers) are required to participate.

The Country Fire Authority and the Department of Sustainability and Environment amend their procedures for investigating safety incidents and ‘near-misses’ to ensure that all dangerous incidents, including back-burns, are fully investigated and that all relevant people are consulted and informed

The State modify its adoption of the Building Code of Australia for the following purposes: ■ to remove deemed-to-satisfy provisions for the construction of buildings in BAL-FZ (the Flame Zone); ■ to apply bushfire construction provisions to non-residential buildings that will be occupied by peop

The State (through Energy Safe Victoria) require distribution businesses to do the following: ■ fit spreaders to any lines with a history of clashing or the potential to do so; ■ fit or retrofit all spans that are more than 300 metres long with vibration dampers as soon as is reasonably practicab

The Country Fire Authority and the Department of Sustainability and Environment: ■ amend their procedures to require that an incident action plan summary be completed within the first four hours of an incident being reported and be provided to the State Control Centre and, where established, to t

The Country Fire Authority and the Department of Sustainability and Environment adopt the title ‘safety officer’ (as opposed to ‘safety adviser’) and require without exception that a safety officer be appointed to every level 3 incident management team.

Standards Australia move expeditiously to develop a standard for bushfire sprinklers and sprayers.

The State amend the regulatory framework for electricity safety to strengthen Energy Safe Victoria’s mandate in relation to the prevention and mitigation of electricity-caused bushfires and to require it to fulfil that mandate.

The Country Fire Authority and the Department of Sustainability and Environment establish before the 2010–11 fire season: ■ a uniform, objective and transparent process based on the current DSE approach for the accreditation of level 3 Incident Controllers; ■ a performance review system for level

The Country Fire Authority and the Department of Sustainability and Environment require without exception that all relevant staff be trained in the need for Incident Controller approval to be obtained before a back-burn is lit.

The Country Fire Authority and the Department of Sustainability and Environment amend their policies on aerial preparedness and standby arrangements, their dispatch protocols and the management of aircraft in order to do the following: ■ require that at locations that attract the risk assessment

The State amend s.

The Country Fire Authority and the Department of Sustainability and Environment amend their procedures to require that a suitably experienced, qualified and competent person be appointed as Incident Controller, regardless of the control agency for the fire.

The State replace the Fire Services Levy with a property-based levy and introduce concessions for low-income earners.

The State, in conjunction with Emergency Management Australia and the Department of Defence, develop an agreement that allows Commonwealth aerial resources that are suitable for firefighting and support activities to be incorporated in preparedness plans and used on days of high fire risk.

The State initiate the development of education and training options to improve understanding of bushfire risk management in the building and planning regimes by: ■ providing regular training and guidance material to planning and building practitioners; ■ providing regular training and guidance m

The Department of Sustainability and Environment develop and administer a collective offset solution for individual landholders who are permitted to remove native vegetation for the purpose of fire protection.

The Commonwealth establish a national centre for bushfire research in collaboration with other Australian jurisdictions to support pure, applied and long-term research in the physical, biological and social sciences relevant to bushfires and to promote continuing research and scholarship in relat

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

The State amend the exemptions in clause 52.17-6 of the Victoria Planning Provisions to ensure that the provisions allow for a broad range of roadside works capable of reducing fire risk and provide specifically for a new exemption where the purpose of the works is to reduce bushfire risk.

The State amend the Country Fire Authority Act 1958 to enable the Chief Officer to delegate the power to issue fire prevention notices.

The State revise its bushfire safety policy. While adopting the national Prepare. Act. Survive.

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 incl