Talks of recovery

By Kath Gannaway
BUSHFIRE-AFFECTED residents had an opportunity to put their concerns to the chair of the Victorian Bushfire Recovery and Reconstruction Authority, Christine Nixon, at meetings held in Healesville and Yarra Glen on 8 April.
Ms Nixon told packed meetings she had been to 20 communities across Victoria and spoken to nearly 4000 people as part of the authority’s goal of involving local people in the process of recovery and rebuilding their communities.
She said 28 communities had been affected around Victoria with more than 2000 houses lost and 3000 more significantly damaged. Thousands of sheds and other buildings and 9000 kilometres of fencing had also been lost.
“Of course, most significant is the loss of lives – 173 people and about 800 people treated around the time of the fires,” she said.
The issues raised at both meetings were consistent with those raised at the corresponding meeting in Marysville some weeks earlier – insurance, distribution of relief funding, access to case workers, fencing, the clean-up operation and, in Steels Creek particularly, erosion.
Ms Nixon said there were 4500 individuals and families who had asked for case workers and there were 350 workers available.
“Originally it was a bit slow but now a lot more of these people are coming on board and we are getting a bit closer to matching everyone up,” she said.
Jim Joyce of St Vincent De Paul Society in Healesville said his organisation was concerned about the effect the bushfire experience had had on males in the community.
“Most of the case workers are female and there could be a need for a number of male case workers to help of of these guys sort out their problems,” he said.
There were concerns voiced by Chum Creek and Steels Creek residents about the length of time it is taking for sites to be cleared.
Ms Nixon said 322 people had registered with Grocon in the Healesville/Yarra Glen area and that 224 had been contacted.
She said Grocon had a six-month time frame for the clean-up operation.
At both meetings the impact on farmers of the loss of fencing was raised as an ongoing problem which was not getting the urgent response that was needed.
Tom Wheelan of Chum Creek said pollution and erosion had the potential to cause ongoing problems. He called for more resources to be made available to ensure people had the information they needed to deal with what he said would be big problems if the situation was not addressed before winter.
One Healesville resident said Healesville residents had been ignored by the Bushfire Royal Commission, with no community consultation meetings being held in the town.
“A lot of people in this community are concerned about misinformation and the lack of information. It’s all very well having a meeting in Yarra Glen but you had to know about it,” she said.
Another resident said there was no opportunity for people who worked to attend the consultation meetings, which were all held during the day.