The lives of visitors to the south-west are at risk due to a lack of planning for emergencies, according to Member for Polwarth Richard Riordan.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
He said the state government needed to urgently come up with a plan on how to communicate with people in affected areas.
"We don't have standard practice to inform our visitors on evacuations and disaster management," Mr Riordan said.
He said visitors could not rely on mobile phones working during an emergency.
In addition to that, accommodation sharing platforms such as Airbnb don't have rules in place that require hosts to provide information about emergencies to guests.
"I've raised this issue all the way to the very top - it's not being taken seriously enough," Mr Riordan said.
He said phone apps such as VicEmergency were great - when they worked.
Mr Riordan said western Victoria was one of the most dangerous spots in the world when it came to the risk of fire. "In Queensland all accommodation has mandated evacuation plans and I'm advocating for that same concept to be applied in our bushfire areas," he said.
"It's as bad as it gets where we are and the state government has an obligation to put some thought into this and act," he said.
Mr Riordan said visitors needed to know where to congregate in the event of an emergency and also needed to be made aware of alternate routes if roads were dangerous to use.
Corangamite Shire mayor Neil Trotter said he shared Mr Riordan's concerns.
"We need to make sure that accommodation providers recognise the duty of care to keep their guests informed," Cr Trotter said.
In addition to that, he said he was concerned about traffic issues on the Great Ocean Road in the event of an emergency.
"You need to have a pretty good plan of action because of the sheer numbers of people on the road," Cr Trotter said.
Emergency Services Minister Lisa Neville hit out at Mr Riordan's claims.
"These claims are completely wrong and it's appalling that the Member for Polwarth is trying to discredit our emergency service agencies after they've done such an amazing job keeping Victorians safe this fire season," Ms Neville said.
"Every single municipality in Victoria has a detailed and formal emergency management plan designed in partnership with emergency services agencies - we take our advice from those experts, not the opposition."
Have you signed up to The Standard's daily newsletter and breaking news emails? You can register below and make sure you are up to date with everything that's happening in the south-west.