Eastern Victoria Region
Melina BATH (Eastern Victoria) (13:03): (871) My matter is for the Minister for Emergency Services. Supporting Victorians in crisis, volunteers and communities is paramount. On Tuesday 13 February a devastating storm ripped through Mirboo North and surrounding towns and environs. The storm was classified as level 3, which involves three tiers of governments as well as first responders, telcos, power and emergency agencies. Shockingly the Gippsland ICC – incident control centre – in Warragul was left unstaffed from midnight on the 13th, with all positions vacant. On 14 February, the day after the devastating natural disaster, six positions were left unstaffed, including deputy incident controller; public information officer, resources; and warning and situation analysis officer. Minister, in a crisis, why was the Gippsland incident control centre left unstaffed?
Sitting suspended 1:04 pm until 2:04 pm.