Rhett Burnie
MCEWEN MP Rob Mitchell has accused the State Government of showing a ‘complete disregard’ for residents affected by the Black Saturday bushfires after it announced it would delay the release of report into power line fire safety until later this year.
The power line bushfire safety taskforce interim report was due to be released last Monday, but the State Government last week said it will now not be made public until September.
Mr Mitchell called on the State Government to stick to the original release date for the report, saying the Baillieu Government was withholding crucial information from the community.
“Only days before the second anniversary of the Black Saturday bushfires the Baillieu Liberal Government is treating our community with disrespect and contempt,” Mr Mitchell said.
“This is the last thing our community needs at this time.”
Mr Mitchell said the State Government had broken its pre-election commitment of remaining transparent and taking accountability for its actions.
He called on Member for Seymour Cindy McLeish to stand up for her community ‘like she had promised to during the state election.’
“Ms McLeish told the people in the electorate of Seymour that she would stand up for her community even if it meant disagreeing with, and standing up to, the Government,” he said.
“I now call on her to honour that commitment and join me in calling on the Baillieu Government to release the report immediately.
“The Coalition promised our community that it would implement all 67 recommendations of the Bushfire Royal Commission and now they are turning their back on our community and on their promises,” he said.
Mr Mitchell said that community consultation regarding powerlines was very important.
Last year the Bushfire Royal Commission found that fallen powerlines had started the Kilmore East fire on Black Saturday, killing 119 people.
“The Baillieu Government should release the report and its findings now so that it can begin to prepare our state and community for future fires.
“Leaving this until September only delays the process of making our community as fire safe as possible for the next bushfire season,” he said.
But Ms McLeish defended the decision to delay the release of the interim report, saying the Brumby Government had failed in its attempts to address the issue of powerline safety.
“The terms of reference (set by the Brumby Government) were too narrow and inadequate,” Ms McLeish said.
“The previous government didn’t set aside any money to address the issue of powerline fire safety.
“We have set aside $50 million to address the issue,” Ms McLeish said.
She said that the delay was necessary because the committee responsible for the report had now been asked to investigate the best way “to commence the project of upgrading the power distribution assets.”
“Now they’ve got extra work so the deadline has changed,” she said.
Ms McLeish also hit out at Mr Mitchell, saying the State Government was anything but disrespectful.
“As for Rob Mitchell saying we’re disrespectful – that couldn’t be any further from the truth,” she said.
A final report by the Powerline Bushfire Safety Taskforce is due on September 30.
