2nd progress report on NSW Bushfire Inquiry

Posted bybetterfuturePosted inCommentary, In the newsTags:, , , , ,

The NSW Government is issuing quarterly reports on progress with implementing the recommendations of the NSW Independent Bushfire Inquiry. The second progress report was released by Resilience NSW at the end of August, covering the period April to June 2021. This report highlights investment in a number of areas, including firefighter protection, fire control centres and hazard reduction.

IBG comment

  • The many areas of progress are welcome and if followed through should result in significant improvements to bushfire outcomes.
  • The NSW Bushfire Inquiry and NSW Government missed an important opportunity to frame the disparate inquiry recommendations into a more comprehensive strategic approach with clear objectives.
  • IBG has previously commented: “The [first] progress report reads as a list of unconnected actions, without a plan to tie them together. We encourage the NSW government to weld the recommendations and other actions into a bushfire suppression strategy aimed at constantly improving how to keep fires small and limit their impact“.
  • NSW needs a Bushfire Suppression Strategy which goes beyond the limited recommendations of the inquiry.
  • Accountability for inquiry outcomes was the first recommendation of the NSW Independent Bushfire Inquiry. Quarterly public reporting was established by the NSW Opposition, who moved an amendment to the Bushfires Legislation Amendment Bill 2020. IBG had earlier called for a transparent monitoring process (see IBG media release).
  • Tracking recommendations with regular reporting is a major step forward in reform and transparency, especially compared with previous inquiries – as highlighted by the NSW Audit Office.
  • Some of the actions seem to relate only vaguely to the recommendations. Tracking does not currently include any measures of success, ie. are the actions reported actually achieving the intent of recommendations? This critical oversight was pointed out by the NSW Audit Office in relation to previous inquiries and could be rectified for the third reporting period.

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