The agency blamed the shortfall on the transfer of a $46.3 million communications contract to the Department of Justice and Community Safety, reduced government grant funding and an increase in employee expenditure and professional service costs.
It did, though, improve answering times for those dialling 000 despite its busiest year on record. Triple Zero Victoria dealt with 2.9 million calls for help, the equivalent of about one every 11 seconds.
Minister intervenes in Parks Victoria
Parks Victoria has a new chief executive and is set to be comprehensively reviewed after Environment Minister Steve Dimopoulos said it was not meeting community expectations.
Dimopoulos said the authority, in charge of managing more than 4 million hectares of land and marine parks, needed to be improved to meet community expectations.
Parks Victoria chief executive Matthew Jackson left “by mutual agreement” and Graeme “Gus” Dear has been appointed as interim chief executive.
There has been public backlash over the agency’s decision to close parts of Mount Arapiles in western Victoria, a popular destination for rock climbers, due to cultural heritage protections. Many in the climbing community said Parks Victoria had failed to consult climbers before implementing the bans.
Climbing Victoria spokesman Mike Rockell said his group hoped the changes would result in better and more balanced engagement with recreational users of parks.
The decision to close parts of Mount Arapiles was made to protect Indigenous heritage, including rock art and ancient stone quarries. Many climbers have said they respect Indigenous heritage but the route closures go too far and unnecessarily shut them out of some areas.
“In the immediate future we hope that the minister will order a complete restart on the management plan for Mount Arapiles State Park, a world-famous climbing destination,” Rockell said.
New handover dates confirmed for Metro Tunnel
The government formally disclosed its deal with the builders of the $15 billion Metro Tunnel, including delays that could push the rail line’s opening into the second half of next year.
A variation to the contract with the Cross Yarra Partnerships consortium tabled in parliament set a milestone for provisional acceptance of the tunnel and its five new stations for April 30, 2025. That milestone is 12 months later than when the contract was last renegotiated, in 2021.
Final acceptance has been pushed back from March 2025 to December 31, 2025. The government says the dates are designed to give the builders incentives to deliver the project as quickly and safely as possible.
The original contract set a September 2023 deadline for provisional acceptance and September 2024 target for final handover.
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Supply chain and labour force disruptions from COVID-19 delayed the project and blew out its budget from $10.9 billion to more than $15 billion, including $13.48 billion funded by taxpayers.
The Age revealed the revised project timeline in August, along with details of “additional payments” the Allan government offered Cross Yarra Partnerships worth up to $888 million if it meets those milestones.
The contract variation tabled on Thursday confirmed those bonus payments, consisting of a $143.5 million payment if the tunnel opened to passengers by its new target date – which the documents leaked to The Age show is by June 29 next year – and $745 million for revised project costs.
Transport Infrastructure Minister Danny Pearson said the project had been hit by unforeseen events and challenges across construction.
He said the government was clear the project would be delivered in 2025, a year ahead of its initial 2026 completion date.
Rental regulations pushed out to 2025
The government has delayed a decision on new regulations to require landlords to improve energy efficiency standards in rentals.
Consumer Affairs Minister Gabrielle Williams will introduce just two new minimum standards for containing loose cords on blinds and installing electric heating in multi-tenant houses on December 1 – out of a swath of proposed amendments floated in June.
Proposed changes requiring landlords to install a fixed cooling system, ceiling insulation, and energy-efficient shower heads and hot water systems before signing a new lease were missing from the announcement, sparking confusion from industry figures over whether the changes had been abandoned.
The government said it was delaying a decision on those changes, which were more contentious because they signalled intent to phase out gas appliances.
CFA still short on volunteers
The Country Fire Authority has been struggling to get enough operational volunteers for years. There were 28,906 operational volunteers, well below the target of 35,000 to 37,400, in 2023-24.
That’s after a CFA recruitment campaign led to a 92 per cent increase in the number of expressions of interest compared with the same time a year earlier. There were another 23,043 volunteers in “support” roles, which was within the target.
The number of volunteers has been dropping significantly over the decade. Though the total number of operational volunteers improved by 121 in the year, CFA chief officer Jason Heffernan said 2474 new members joined and that membership remained robust.
“The targets on volunteer numbers are aspirational targets set by the government of the day for CFA to drive recruitment and attract new members for now and into the future.”
Councils short-changed
A parliamentary inquiry recommended that the state government should fully fund child immunisations and tip more into child maternal health services and libraries to help councils.
Councils’ ability to increase rates is limited, but they are expected to provide a huge list of services and fear community backlash when grass goes unmowed or animal shelters are closed down.
Fourteen of 48 recommendations advocated the state pick up more of the tab for services that have been shifted onto councils, such as school-crossing supervisors and kinder programs.
In September The Age revealed the state had started charging councils $6000 plus $2 for every vaccine to use the state’s new immunisation database, despite assurances it would remain free.
The inquiry recommended restoring a 50-50 split arrangement with councils to fund public libraries, school crossing supervisors and maternal and child health services, and reversing the immunisation charges.
With Rachel Eddie, Patrick Hatch, Jim Malo
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