How the Report will be handed down
Release timetable
The Final Report is scheduled to be presented by the Commissioners to the Governor on the morning of Saturday 31 July, 2010. It is proposed the Premier will then receive the report and table it in Parliament. The Premier has indicated that he will then make the report available to the public immediately. All of this is expected to occur by around midday.
CFA will receive the Report at the same time as the public. The full Report will be available online at www.royalcommission.vic.gov.au and also at www.vic.gov.au The Report will be available in hard copy to read at Information Victoria, 505 Little Collins Street, Melbourne.
The Premier will provide a full response to the Commission’s report on behalf of the State of Victoria – including CFA – within a few weeks. That response will include information about the implementation of initiatives arising from the Report. CFA will not comment on the details of the Report until the Government has formally responded to the findings.
This approach will ensure that all recommendations can be carefully considered, all relevant parties can be given an opportunity to provide input, and the response can be made in the best interests of the Victorian community. CFA will be included in the consultation process and our role will be to present our interests and opinions to Government to help inform the State’s response. One thing we have said consistently and will continue to say is that our members gave all they could and more during the 2009 firefight.
Media Arrangements
It is likely the media will contact individual Brigade Captains and members seeking comment on the Royal Commission Final Report. Should you require media advice, please call the CFA Media Line on 03 5330 3124 for assistance. District 14 Media Coordinator Kris Perkovic is also available to assist brigades with any media enquiries. Kris can be contacted on mobile 0400 986 954.
Welfare Arrangements
CFA has peers, chaplains, counsellors and psychologists available to provide support. Additional support for members will be available over the weekend, and in the coming days and weeks. For assistance or more information, please contact:
- 0407 277 894 for District 14 Acting CIS Peer Coordinator Di Dale
- 1800 628 616 for CFA After Hours Welfare Support
- 1300 361 008 for PPC Worldwide Counsellors and Psychologists
- 1800 337 068 for Converge International Chaplains and Psychologists
This support is available to CFA members and their immediate families free of charge. This support is confidential and may be accessed directly if desired.
As many of you may know, Peter Davis, the former Secretary of the Victoria Urban Fire Brigades Association (and a long standing member of CFA) has been working with the CFA taskforce on the Bushfire Royal Commission.
Peter can be contacted on 0458 933 797, or via p.davis@cfa.vic.gov.au. Any member with any issue or general inquiry in regard to the Royal Commission is urged to talk to Peter.
Should you have any additional concerns please do not hesitate to contact Shane Leversha, Human Resources Manager on 0400 590 389, or via s.leversha@cfa.vic.gov.au.
Copies of the Final Royal Commission Report
Corporate
Statewide, CFA has been allocated 100 copies of the Final Report and 300 copies of the Executive Summary for initial distribution on Saturday, and another 500 copies of the Final Report will be provided to CFA in mid August. The Region has been advised that the report will also be loaded on to a disc – we expect to receive a limited number of the discs sometime in August (awaiting confirmation of numbers).
The Premier has announced that any member of the public wishing to obtain a copy of the Final Report of the Bushfires Royal Commission should contact Information Victoria. In response, some Regions, Districts and Brigades have tried to order copies of the Final Report online and have discovered they can only order a maximum of two copies. When they query this with Information Victoria seeking additional copies, their order is being referred to CFA Strategic Communications for processing.
Accordingly, the following process has been implemented at state level:
- The 500 copies of the Final Report that will be received in mid August and will be distributed across the State to Regions.
- Information Victoria will be advised to refer any requests from a CFA Brigade or District for additional copies of the Final Report to their relevant CFA Regional Office.
- CFA Regions are to manage requests for additional copies of the Final Report from the allocation they will receive in mid August.
- Any orders that have already been received at CFA HQ will be forwarded to the relevant region for consideration.
Therefore, in District 14, Brigade requests for copies of the report are to be sent via email c.abela@cfa.vic.gov.au. District 14 will do its best to meet the requests from Brigades and Groups, including those that have already made requests for copies of the Report.
Electronic Distribution of reports
We are advised that the report will be on the Royal Commission website (http://www.royalcommission.vic.gov.au/) as soon as possible after it has been made public. It will also be loaded onto the government website (http://www.vic.gov.au/). A link will be placed on CFA Connect.
Regards
GILL METZ
REGIONAL MANAGER
CFA DISTRICT 14
