The Inspector-General for Emergency Management recommends that Emergency Management Victoria – in collaboration with the community and emergency management sector:
a) updates the 2012–13 State Emergency Risk Assessment to include strategic and operational elements of emergency management. This should consider:
• the place-based risk assessment development through the community emergency risk assessment process
• consequence management capability across the sector
• existing risk models for natural and human-induced hazards.
b) provides guidance and support for the sector on how to incorporate the updated risk assessment in emergency management planning, policy development, decision-making and assurance activities.
By December 2023, as part of the three-year rolling program of assurance, the Municipal Emergency Management Plans (MEMPs) will be revised by local government and community representatives, using existing risk assessment processes that align with the national risk assessment guidelines and consider state and regional assessments.
Under Victoria’s emergency management planning arrangements, Municipal Emergency Management Planning Committees (MEMPCs) are required to update their existing Municipal Emergency Management Plans (MEMPs) every three years.
Each MEMP includes arrangements for emergency mitigation, response, and recovery that contextualise the general arrangements in the State Emergency Management Plan (SEMP) and identifies emergency management roles and responsibilities at the municipal level.
MEMPs are prepared with consideration to their municipal-level assessment of emergency risk, which commonly uses the all-hazards Community Emergency Risk Assessment (CERA) tool. CERA aims to identify, mitigate and reduce risk within the community following the Australian Standard for Risk Management (ISO 31000).
Regional Emergency Management Planning Committees (REMPCs) are responsible for approving their region’s MEMPs and MEMP sub-plans. The Regional Collaboration Group has developed a centralised database of all MEMP approval dates with a total of 28 MEMPs having been approved since the new planning arrangements came into effect in December 2020. The remaining MEMPs will be progressively reviewed and updated by 1 December 2023 in accordance with their existing three-year review cycles, including ensuring consistency with the SEMP and the relevant Regional Emergency Management Plans (REMPs).
Current MEMPs, including their sub-plans, are required to be available via council and alpine resort management board websites. A centralised library of links is also maintained on EMV’s website at emv.vic.gov.au/index.php/responsibilities/emergency-management-planning/memps