The Municipal Association of Victoria (MAV) has called for the State Government to place greater emphasis on supporting community resilience to improve safety outcomes, and more shared regional planning in dealing with natural disasters.

 

Mr Rob Spence, Chief Executive of the Municipal Association of Victoria (MAV) said a stronger community could do a great deal to prevent, mitigate and lessen the impact of emergency events. They can also recover better and faster by responding positively to a crisis or adversity and learning from it.

 

“Our submission to the Victorian Government Green Paper: Towards a more disaster resilient and safer Victoria draws on feedback from councils following their experiences in responding to and recovering from bushfires and floods that hit many parts of the state,” Mr Spence said.

 

Mr Spence said that one of the key challenges facing local government, as acknowledged in the Green Paper, was the expectations placed on municipal emergency management responsibilities.

 

“Current arrangements are antiquated and not in line with the skills, expertise and limitations of modern day councils. They also fail to consider the diversity within the local government sector, particularly for small shires with limited budgets and staffing capacity.

 

The MAV’s submission can be found here