Boot for buy-back

By Casey Neill
A RETREAT and resettlement buy-back plan has been given the boot.
Planning Minister Justin Madden last week said the State Government had carefully considered the Victorian Bushfires Royal Commission’s recommendation to implement voluntary acquisition of land in bushfire prone areas – and had closely listened to communities in regional and urban-fringe areas.
“People were concerned about what effect reducing the local population and therefore the rate base would have on local services,” he said.
Mr Madden said adopting the recommendation would see some people remaining in high-risk areas, while their neighbours’ properties became public land under the stewardship and management of the government.
“Isolating residents further and having their properties abut small pockets of open land would only increase the risk to human life and make it harder to reach them in case of a fire,” he said.
He said the policy could have a domino effect on properties.
“Such a policy has the potential to undermine the social cohesion of these communities and whittle away at the economic viability of many small towns and settlements across Victoria,” Mr Madden added.
He said the government investigated and considered the effect de-populating high bushfire risk towns would have on local businesses, industries and micro-economies. The cost to the government was also an issue.
“To get an idea of this, more than 2000 houses were lost in the fires of 7 February. The cost of buying back the land on which those houses stood would be $700 million,” he said.
Master Builders Association of Victoria deputy executive director Radley de Silva commended the decision.
“It would have removed the rights of many Victorians to choose where they live,” he said.
“Furthermore, it would have undermined the property values of the remaining homes and businesses.”
The buy-back was the only commission recommendation the State Government rejected.
Mobile phones will soon issue emergency warnings based on their location, not just their billing address, if the State Government receives co-operation and funding from the Federal Government and other states.
“If we get the go-ahead from the Federal Government and other states very soon, we could have this location based capability available during the next fire season,” Emergency Services Minister Bob Cameron said.
Mr Cameron also last week announced $21.5 million to have an Australian-first fire prediction and early warning system running for the next fire season.
The fully-computerised, digital mapping system has been trialled over the past year and can warn about the direction, speed and intensity of a fire within minutes, instead of hours.
The Mail will next week continue its coverage of the State Government’s response.