State seeks fire fuel input

by Jade Lawton
THE Victorian Lands Alliance will come to Officer next Wednesday to hear what Cardinia Shire residents have to say about the management of fire fuel on public land.
The alliance has been holding meetings across the state in the wake of Black Saturday, which secretary Max Rheese said made the alliance “hopping mad”.
“If you don’t have proper fuel management, at some point in time there will be a fire, caused by a lightning strike or anything, and you’ll get the fires like we saw on Black Saturday – and you can’t stop them,” Mr Rheese said.
“We’ve been saying this for years and because of Black Saturday, we are hopping mad,” he said.
Mr Rheese said the government was currently burning less than a tenth of what an all-party parliamentary recommendation suggested before the fire season.
“We don’t want to burn down trees. We want prescribed slow burning, in the off season, of forest litter and undergrowth,” he said.
“We need to see some change come out of this; if we had 173 deaths and we don’t see a substantial change in public land management it would have all been for nothing.”
Mr Rheese will speak at the meeting along with Member for Eastern Region Edward O’Donohue, Professor Peter Attiwill from the University of Melbourne School of Botany, and DSE Yarra District manager, Geoff Scales.
Mr O’Donohue said he was very interested in fuel reduction and management and access to public land.
“I will be there to hear what people think about public land management. Public land belongs to all of us, and we should all have an interest in it,” Mr O’Donohue said.
Mr Rheese said the forum would allow people to have their say and highlight any particular concerns they may have in their area.
“At each meeting there have been particular concerns to that locality, such as roadside management and debris along the roadside. What we are trying to do through this is say to the wider community and the government that there is a real depth of concern about fire management,” Mr Rheese said.
People will also be able to sign a five-metre long petition, which is to be presented to Parliament in August.
The public meeting will be held at the Officer Public Hall on Tivendale Road on Wednesday 22 July from 7.30pm.
Gembrook MP Tammy Lobato has also advised residents that the Victorian Bushfires Royal Commission is seeking submissions in relation to buildings, including fireproofing of housing and other buildings and materials used in construction.