Concerns expressed at a Terang community meeting has led to the federal energy minister making demands of his state counterpart about implementing safety standards aimed at reducing the chance of another St Patrick's Day bushfire event.
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In an open letter to Victorian energy minister of Lily D'Ambrosio, Angus Taylor said he attended a town hall meeting at Terang on March 1 with community members affected by the St Patrick's Day fires.
He said a range of concerns were raised about Powercor's maintenance, replacement and safety practises and the role of state regulator Energy Safe Victoria.
"Specifically, they consider that ESV did not exercise its power as a regulator in a manner which may have prevented the St Patrick's Day fires from occurring," he wrote.
Mr Taylor said it was feared that if ESV did not proactively exercise its investigative and enforcement powers another event like St Patrick's Day could happen.
"I understand the Victorian Government supports the implementation of a number of recommendations made as part of the Independent Review of Victoria's Electricity and Gas Network Safety Framework (2018)," he wrote.
"I seek you immediate assurance that actions taken as a result of the implementations of these recommendations will address the concerns of the community raised above.
"This includes that ESV takes an appropriately proactive role in the investigation and enforcement of network maintenance and safety," he wrote.
Mr Taylor attended the Terang community meeting at the invitation of Member for Wannon Dan Tehan, who had a similar invitation to the Victorian premier Daniel Andrews rejected.
Mr Tehan said that it was incredibly disappointinging that the premier had once again shoved the electricity infrastructure maintenance issue back to the Ms D'Ambrosio.
"Given the importance of protecting the community this is something the premier should be fully engaged with," he said.
"It's time for action. I call on the Premier to stop basking in the glory of his November election victory and get back to doing his job.
"At a minimum the Premier should instruct minister Ms D'Ambrosio to come back to the community to meet with those impacted by the St Patrick's Day fires," he said.
Ms D'Ambrosio acknowledged there has been community concern around Powercor maintenance, replacement and safety practises and she welcome additional inspections by Powercor.
She said ESV was verifying Powercor's results.
"I look forward to seeing the forthcoming report," she said.
"We're taking action to reduce the risk of bushfires and protect communities across Victoria.
"In line with the recommendations of the Victorian Bushfire Royal Commission we have invested $200 million to replace powerlines in areas with the highest bushfire risk by 2019.
"We're investing $750 million to deliver the recommendations of the Royal Commission and taking every measure possible to reduce bushfire risks and save lives," she said.
A spokeswoman for the minister said the Inspector-General for Emergency Management recently reported that the Victorian Government had delivered on all of the recommendations from the 2009 Victorian Bushfires Royal Commission.
This included 67 recommendations and 315 associated actions.
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