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Mr Daniel Andrews Premier 27-11-2019

daniel.andrews@parliament.vic.gov.au
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Cc; Mr Martin Pakula, martin.pakula@parliament.vic.gov.au, attorney-general@justice.vic.gov.au

FIRE HAZARDS, etc

Sir,
10 while this image may show a lot it doesn’t however show some of what is lacking behind it.

The Country Fire Authority Act 1958 Victoria appears to grossly fail in ensuring that proper fire
15 prevention is exercised despite that the Act purport to deal with it.
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I in 2016 filed an appeal with the Chief Officer within Section 41C of the Country Fire
Authority Act 1958 Victoria only never to get a response to it as entitled upon.
In 2019 I again filed an appeal with the Chief Officer within Section 41C of the Country Fire
Authority Act 1958 Victoria and to get the response from the Chief Officer (of all fire brigades)
20 what it got to do with him. Now, it is astounding that the Chief Officer doesn’t even know let
alone understand his legal obligations within the provisions of the Country Fire Authority Act
1958 Victoria. But it is far worse than that.
.
If I were to be driven say by the Chief Officer around Victoria such as Calder Highway then even
25 a thousands red marking flags to indicate a fire danger wouldn’t be sufficient for this. And
anyone who just drives past LaTrobe University in Bundoora will find that there is a fire danger
all along but no one seems to be concerned about it, other then perhaps my self.
.
With Buloke Shire Council it took it upon itself to litigate against me which in the County Court
30 of Victoria ended up that the Fire Prevention Officer Mr Wayne Wall admitted that there was a
fire danger along the Calder Highway.
.
It appears to me that we have persons appointed around Victoria as Fire Prevention Officers who
may lack any proper training whatsoever. It appears that councils somehow have the view that
35 the more Infringement Notices a Fire Prevention Officer might issue, the more monies it generate
for the Council and well who cares about the lost not only of homes but even loss of life due to
real fire hazards being left unattended.
.
One of the major culprits in this is actually VicRoads. It seems to hold it can blatantly
40 disregard proper attendances to fire hazards. Most of the roads under control of VicRoads are
barely cleared from any soft shoulder road side fire hazards with peat building up over years and
branches of dead trees accumulating ongoing.
Because municipal/shire councils cannot issue Infringement Notices against VicRoads it
45 therefore is not worth to them to pursue VicRoads to address the fire dangers. After all snaring a
private landholder of more then 100mm (10 cm) growth means about $1,625.00 in a fine plus
court cost. Never mind little or no fires commence on those private properties. After all it is
misusing the Country Fire Authority Act 1958 Victoria as an extortion racket against private
landholders.
50 Generally councils can be avoiding legal liability such as pot holes causing harm unless a person
can prove that a council was negligent in repairs, etc. And as a Professional Advocate I am well
aware of this hence I have been recording for years on end with documenting images and
notifying Buloke Shire Council about it. But, why would councillors care less after all it will be
not themselves who likely will perish in any fire that may have commenced from a soft shoulder
55 fire. OK, they may be ignorant to the legal liability if in the end it can be shown they failed
miserably to act within the legal requirements of the Country Fire Authority Act 1958 Victoria
but it would be a very slim chance for this.
We have a Country Fire Authority Act 1958 Victoria and I propose that where a council fails to
ensure that fire hazards along major highways are appropriately attended to then that each such
60 councillor can be fined and even imprisoned if found in legal proceedings to have neglected their
legal obligation within the provisions of the Country Fire Authority Act 1958 Victoria. Likewise
so the CEO and also the relevant Fire Prevention Officer and any staff under his/her control.
If one were to check the fires that are shown on the image published by Isobel Roe then any
investigation may show that likely very few if any were actually resulted from a private property.
65 As such, one has to ask why the Country Fire Authority Act 1958 Victoria in regard of Victoria
doesn’t address the real fire danger issues! Why not legislate for fines, imprisonment, etc, for
those councillors, CEO, Fire Prevention Officers who fail to ensure they act within the legal
requirements of the Country Fire Authority Act 1958 Victoria?

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70 In my view the Country Fire Authority Act 1958 Victoria must make it mandatory that any
person acting as Fire Prevention Officer has been successfully trained through a special course
relating to Fire Prevention. Also, that those in charge of public landholdings such as VicRoads
also can face fines, imprisonment, etc, where they neglect to ensure that the public properties
under their control are not adequately attended to in relation to fire hazards.
75 .
Take for example Calder Highway a where at some stages the soft shoulder of the highway is
about 12 metres wide. That is between the bitumen road and the fence of the private land and yet
next to nothing is cleared from the high growth of weed in that band of about 12 metres. Yet,
when it comes to a private property, such as mine, then the Fire Prevention Officer even insist
80 that very little amount of growth over 100 mm more than 100 metres from the bitumen road still
is cleared. As such there are DOUBLE STANDARDS and more over it really isn’t about fire
danger but to extract monies by imposition of Infringement Notices rather then a real fire
prevention conduct. After all when across the road the same weed growth can be more than a
metre but left unaddressed throughout the fire danger season then this underlines that the current
85 provisions about Infringement Notices is not at all serving to make Victoria a safer place but
rather for councils to misuse the legislation for ulterior purposes.
See https://www.scribd.com/document/434950936/20191114-Mr-G-H-Schorel-Hlavka-O-W-B-
to-Mayor-Buloke-Shire-Council-Cr-Carolyn-Stewart-Ors for images.
In my view if it is acceptable that a Fire Prevention Officer can harass me for some growth over
90 100mm more than 100 metres from the bitumen road then surely the mere about 12 metres under
control of VicRoads should be equally addressed. Reality is that when I cross-examined the Fire
Protection Officer he didn’t seem to have any knowledge about the Council having authority
within the provisions of the Country Fire Authority Act 1958 Victoria to at cost of the public
land authority to clear the area’s of concern to avoid a ongoing fire hazard to remain during the
95 fire season.
.
There is also a problem that even where the little area attended to for and on behalf of VicRoads
then by the time the fire season commences the regrowth is well above 100mm as I have
numerous images to show this. As such, the 100 mm limit I view is unrealistic. Indeed, in one
100 year I attended to my property to find that most of the roads were having large area’s of water
next to it, and some roads were actually submerged under water (like near Wycheproof) and so
traffic had to be redirected via other roads. Meaning that any 100mm limit is sheer nonsense as
the water would simply ensure fresh growth. Also making it extreme difficult for a private
landholder or for that public authority to maintain a below 100mm height of growth. When
105 VicRoads engages some contractors the bill to the public will be huge and to do so time and time
again every season would be unrealistic. As such, I view that the 100 mm limit should be 300mm
as to accept that regrowth, in particular after rain, doesn’t cause undue cost and neither
considered some fire hazard.
When across the road of my property growth can be 600 or more, even more then 1 metre then
110 surely it is absurd to claim that a growth over 100mm is a fire danger, merely so a council can
collect monies by issuing a Infringement Notice but any land under control of the council itself
can have growth of more then 1 metre (1,000mm) and still not be deemed a fire danger even so
the growth is far more condensed within 1 meter then might be existing on my entire property.
115 I do not grow wheat and so the wheat that may grow on my property is the result from seeds that
are blown onto my property from the wheat silos from across the road. Hence, I am the victim of
council’s failure to prevent this. In my view council fails to harness the wheat blowing from its
land onto mine and so should be responsible for any associated cost resulting from this. After all
it could build a fence to seek to minimize the seeds blowing onto my property. Failing this it
120 should then be responsible to clean up the growth of wheat on my property that is due to its
failure to prevent it to be blown onto my property. I grow trees and cactuses which are not a fire
hazard and hence any wheat growing on my house block property is the result of failure by
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Buloke Shire Council to appropriately manage what is under its control. If it were the reverse
that I were to grow something that then caused harm to council land then no doubt council would
125 insist I prevent it and/or cover the cost to clean it up. When we have some oil spill in rivers or
oceans then the culprit has to bear the cost of the cleanup and I view the same should be with
those managing silo’s that they ultimately are responsible to engage in proper management
practices that prevents as much as possible the blowing away of seeds of wheat, etc, and if
nevertheless it still occurs causing problems to other landholders as a nuisance then the silo
130 owners/managers must bear the responsibility of having this at its cost addressed. After all it
denied my rights as a private property owner where I am burdened to incur cost of something I
do not desire. I have to make an about 800 kilometres round trip just to slash the property, etc,
and incur cost to transport a ride-on mower, etc, (besides the cost of purchasing it all) and yet
council is grandstanding about fire dangers when it is the biggest offender failing to curtail any
135 fire dangers caused by its own mismanagement.
While it would be unrealistic to close down the silo’s across the road, nevertheless it is the culprit
why wheat grows on my property and nothing I do causes this problem. And as such I am denied
my right as a private property owner to use my property as I am legally entitled upon, and faces
140 to be confronted by problems by the council that it is the culprit of causing it in the first place.
While Buloke Shire Council charges me more than $400 for garbage collection, this even so I
had none for over 6 years at the very least, reality is that even to get rid of the wheat I slashes on
my property would incur cost to me to dispose it this because the council closed the local tip
145 years ago. So it charges me for a service that I am not using neither able to use.
Where the Country Fire Authority Act 1958 Victoria was intended to address real fire dangers
but clearly fails miserably to do so, not because of the intent of the legislation but because the
councils are more like vultures/bloodsuckers/vampires to suck out monies of private landholders
150 which ever way they can, never mind the real fire dangers, then it is well overdue that the
legislation is amended to address the issues I have set out above (including the correspondence to
which the link refers to). We need also Chief Officer who complies with the legislation and
provide an appropriate response regarding a Section 41C appeal and not ignores it.
155 While I specifically refer to Buloke Shire Council, as after all it litigated against me, reality is
that wherever I drive should any municipality/shire about the same is eventuating. There is a
clear gross mismanagement and this might be because of lack of proper training, supervision of
Fire prevention Officers and councils to perform what is legally required by the provisions of the
Country Fire Authority Act 1958 Victoria. This then I view relates back to a Chief Officer who
160 seems to lack proper knowledge and understanding and ability to enforce the rule of law and not
allow councils and public authorities such as VicRoads to place themselves above the rule
of law. After all, the loss by a person of his/her home with all the memento’s that are
irreplaceable is in itself already devastating, but even more when people are injured/killed when
this by proper management could have been avoided. Whatever the intent of the legislators it
165 appears to me that those responsible are not held legally accountable and amending the
legislation to ensure this might be a way to address matters. For example provide that any citizen
can pursue legal enforcement against a council and/or public entity for failure to appropriately
deal with fire hazards and this including possible fines and term of imprisonment if found guilty
by a court. And the citizen shall have the Government solicitors Office providing free assistance
170 to avoid a citizen to be out of pocket.
Awaiting your response, G. H. Schorel-Hlavka O. W. B. (Friends call me Gerrit)

MAY JUSTICE ALWAYS PREVAIL®

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