A Parliamentary inquiry into Victoria’s 2025-26 bushfire season has confirmed years of Labor neglect left the CFA under-resourced and put regional communities at risk.
The report, tabled in state parliament this week, found Labor mismanagement led to a decline in CFA volunteers, inadequate fuel management, and major delays in bushfire recovery efforts during one of the most devastating fire seasons in the state’s history.
Fires in January 2026 burnt more than 440,000 hectares across the state, including in Natimuk, Quantong and Streatham.
The Parliamentary inquiry findings come after a Victorian Auditor General’s Office report released earlier this month found significant flaws in the state’s bushfire modelling and fuel reduction planning.
This included a failure to deliver all planned strategic fuel breaks in and around the Grampians National Park before the devastating 2024 fires that impacted Pomonal and Dadswells Bridge.
The Nationals Member for Lowan, Emma Kealy, said the two reports confirmed what locals had been warning about for years.
“Fuel loads are being mismanaged, volunteers are still forced to ride in tankers with no rear cabin protection, and trucks and tankers are suffering mechanical failures because they are well beyond their service life,” she said.
“My community has lived through the consequences of the Labor government’s failures year after year, and we simply cannot afford another fire season where our hard-working CFA crews don’t have the necessary resources and support to protect us.
“Only an elected Nationals and Liberals Government will scrap the Emergency Services Tax and properly fund the CFA, effectively manage our firefighting fleet, and back our selfless volunteers who put their lives on the line.”