Federal Minister for Energy Angus Taylor has vowed to bring energy giants and the state government to heel and deliver better maintenance and replacement programs for dodgy bushfire-causing infrastructure across the region.
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Mr Taylor joined fellow federal cabinet minister and Member for Wannon Dan Tehan, state politicians Richard Riordan and Bev McArthur, National Wind Farm Commissioner Andrew Dyer and 60 strong, passionate and informed members of the the community for a bushfire safety forum in Terang on Friday.
Powercor infrastructure led to the four south-west bushfires on St Patrick's Day last year. The Garvoc/The Sisters fire was sparked after a power pole on Jack Kenna's farm at The Sisters snapped in high winds.
Mr Taylor attended the forum at the invitation of Mr Tehan, who had previously requested Victorian premier Daniel Andrews visit the region due to community fears. Mr Andrews did not respond to Mr Tehan's request.
Mr Taylor said that if power poles were snapping after recently being checked and causing bushfires then there was clearly a problem with Powercor's maintenance program.
"It's not rocket science," he said.
He said he had received a strong message that Energy Safe Victoria needed far more stringent regulatory authority over Powercor and the teeth to back-up those requirement.
The energy minister said the state government had failed to act and he would be continuing to pressure power companies and the state government to respond.
Mr Taylor visited Cobden after the St Patrick's Day bushfires with then Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull and had a childhood friend recently burnt out in a bushfire in his electorate, which is between Sydney and Canberra.
"There's incredible work been done by this community but the scars remain," he said at the meeting.
"There's a number of things we can do to help. I'll be going to the state government to outline my concerns and provide feedback to Energy Safe Victoria.
"Energy companies need to know that communities and customers come first. I'm happy to go back and say 'lift your game'."
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Mr Taylor said in the lead-up to the forum he had meetings with Powercor officials and he was now keen to outline specific concerns to ESV.
After questioning from Garvoc farmer Daniel Merade, the minister said the power pole and wires inspection and maintenance regime urgently needed to be improved.
"I'm happy to throw my weight around, to step in and do what the Victorian government should have done," he said.
Mr Tehan said that annual inspections would be a good place to start.
"What is the replacement plan? Are the recommendations of the Black Saturday Royal Commission being implemented?" he asked.
Mr Tehan said a lot of anger had been expressed and he understood that anger.
Terang lawyer Ian Pugh said his wife and son fled the St Patrick's day fire at The Sisters to escape the flames.
"When the heat and wind come up everyone feels stressed," he said.
"People are really burning from what happened. They are scared and nervous," he said.
Member for Polwarth Richard Riordan said Powercor replaced less than 2000 of its 670,000 poles last year, but because most of the poles were 60 and 70 plus years old he warned there was a tsunami of replacements required.
He said he had been informed by industry members that there should be 14,000 poles replaced a year, but just sourcing that many poles could be problematic
"There needs to be a national approach," he said.
Mr Taylor said the industry could act quickly when required but there needed to be cooperation from the Victorian government.
The Sisters dairy farmer Jill Porter, who has been behind the campaign to push for regulatory change, said the underspend by Powercor on maintenance during the past two years on maintenance had been 22 per cent and then 10 per cent.
She said ESV lacked the capacity and competency to force Powercor into line.
Mrs Porter said the Powercor practice of reclassifying poles allowed them to be taken off the maintenance schedule.
"It's not about safety, it's about the bottom line," she said.
Neighbour Jack Kenna said bushfires weren't funny, the truth had to come out about Powercor's lack of maintenance and action had to be taken.
Ecklin farmer Peter Craven said he couldn't understand why trees weren't trimmed so that if they fell they couldn't impact on power lines.
Mr Tehan said it was clear that ESV regulatory requirements needed to be enforced and strengthened.
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