DELWP will establish an Advisory Panel to advise the Secretary to DELWP on agreed priority focus areas that assist the OBRM to effectively acquit its accountability to lead and coordinate the implementation of bushfire risk management (including advice on target setting), planning, delivery, assurance mechanisms and frameworks, and reporting across all public and private land in Victoria.
 

DELWP will establish an Office of Bushfire Risk Management (OBRM) to lead and coordinate the implementation of evidence-based fuel management policy, practice and assurance and reporting on activities on both public and private land in Victoria.

DELWP, in partnership with DoT, local government and other road and rail managers, will review existing roadside spatial datasets to identify gaps and opportunities to improve the consistency and usability of these datasets to manage bushfire risk on roadsides and rail corridors.

DELWP will review the fuel management Monitoring, Evaluation and Reporting Framework and the annual Fuel Management Report to identify changes required to more fully incorporate private land and roadsides. The review will be complete by July 2021.

DELWP will review risk-based strategic and operational planning frameworks and processes to better incorporate roadsides and private land by December 2022.

DELWP, in collaboration with EMV and other land and fire managers, will lead the development of a whole of sector strategy to guide land and fire management in the context of a changing climate, growing population and changing demographics by November 2021. In addition to public land, the whole of sector strategy will consider how to effectively support road managers and local governments to mitigate bushfire risks on roadsides and in high bushfire risk local government areas.

DELWP and CFA will release updated regional Bushfire Management Strategies to guide fuel management activities across public and private land by December 2020.

DELWP will deliver an expanded Safer Together program, including increased involvement for EMV, the CFA, DoT and its agencies, and local government by December 2020.

DELWP will work with road and rail managers, local government and other stakeholders to ensure clarity on regulatory controls and deliver efficient approvals processes relevant to activities to reduce bushfire risk, such as permitted native vegetation removal and permits to burn off while ensuring environmental protections are maintained.

DELWP and DJCS will lead a review of the legislative framework and consider legislative change to:

• enable more effective planning and delivery of bushfire management across different land tenures and responsible agencies
• support greater interoperability
• ensure all firefighters (including volunteers) have sufficient legal protections when carrying out fuel management, and
• consider any relevant legislative recommendations from the Royal Commission into National Natural Disaster Arrangements.

Legislative changes will be introduced in 2022.