State Emergency Service units across Melbourne’s west served with distinction during 2022’s floods, but more resources and volunteers were needed, a state government report has found.
The Environmental and Planning Committee report into massive floods across Victoria two years ago found the SES were responding to more and larger emergencies due to the impact of climate change.
It also found the SES was struggling to attract volunteers and lacked the resources to respond to major flood events, calling on the state government to urgently address the shortfall.
SES Footscray’s Unit Controller Michael Bagnall said “This year [the SES] was faced with a ten per cent cut to our funding.”
“Victoria’s likelihood of significant flooding, of storm events, with climate change is increasing year on year, so the burden on our volunteers and our organisation is increasing.”
“To have that responded to by the government with a cut to funding is just not palatable.”
An SES veteran, Mr Bagnall assumed the lead of Footscray’s unit in July, describing the dedication of local volunteers as “wonderful”.
“The Footscray unit has 70 members,” Mr Bagnall said.
“It is a very diverse group of people, everything from young, freshly out of school and university students, through to ex-military and retired.”
Mr Bagnall says open nights are held twice a year so locals can have a look at the work the unit does and meet volunteers, while more information is available at the SES website, and on Facebook and Instagram.
“We have a motto: There’s a role for everyone at the SES,” Mr Bagnall said. “There are different roles and pathways available to people, everything from emergency response and rescue to community education and administrative.”
There is also a Give Now account on the SES website for people who would like to make donations. An SES internal audit found the services donated by volunteers across 2023 would have equated to more than $500 million in paid work.
The volunteer organisation Fund VicSES in a statement endorsed the EPC report’s findings and called on the Allen government to bring Victoria in line with other states by creating a permanent source of funding for the SES.
Maribyrnong and Brimbank council both used the flood inquiry to lobby for additional funding for local SES units.
The state government is due to make its final response to the flood report by January 31.
