SPECIAL UPDATE from the AILA Victoria President on The Victorian Fires
The Victorian community is dealing with the worst natural disaster to
hit the state – and the fires are still burning. The extraordinary death
toll is only one indicator of the devastation.
People have lost their lives, friends and family as well as homes, cars,
places of employment, schools and community facilities. As noted in a
recent national communiqué, the membership has been personally touched
by the loss of one of our members and most of her immediate family.
The death of Jacinta Bartlett, her husband Gary and daughter to the
fires is terrible. Her oldest daughter (who I believe is 13) is in
hospital recovering from burns (I also believe she has recently come out
of intensive care and has been moved to the burns unit which is
encouraging).
Tim Hart is in discussions with her friends and colleagues about the
creation of a fund/trust. Tim will keep on top of this on behalf of AILA
and we will send further information to members as soon as this becomes
available.
Events such as these highlight the compassion in our industry and I am
very appreciative of the offers of support that have been received from
all around Australia and overseas.
At the moment we are collecting information from our local members as
well as responding to information being provided to us from state and
local government.
I have spoken to Leanne at Flemings. There has been significant damage
to the Taggerty property and there remains a serious threat to another
property in Healesville. Fortunately the only losses have been equipment
and stock – all staff are ok but some have lost their homes. Some stock
is damaged, some lost and others are wait and see. I have asked her to
keep AILA informed of any news so we can pass it on to our members.
I spoke to Tim Buykx in Bendigo and he advised there has been a
significant loss of houses and vehicles but as he noted, compared to
Marysville and Kinglake it seems minor. Reports of the fires being 3
kilometres from the centre of town are true.
On Tuesday the state group wrote to the state government offering our
support.
Yesterday afternoon I represented AILA at a roundtable organised by the
Building Commission – the Built Environment Bushfire Support Roundtable.
It was attended by around 70 people representing different industry,
employment, interest and community groups. Bruce Esplin (emergency
services commissioner) noted it is time to start managing the
consequences as this is what will give these communities hope.
There is an enormous level of good will behind helping out and to ensure
it is effective it needs to be co-ordinated. At this stage (and it is
very early days) the Building Commission with be co-ordinating the flow
of information from government.
The task of rebuilding is significant and it was acknowledge that is not
possible to achieve the desired outcomes on the basis of
donated/voluntary labour and materials. The primary focus at this stage
is to address immediate concerns and ensure outcomes are achieved
quickly but also recognising the potential to rebuild better.
Over the coming weeks we will continue to provide any updates and we
reiterate the importance of working together to achieve effective outcomes.
Kathryn Green (State Manager) is the primary contact person for the
AILA in Victoria (please note she works Tuesday, Thursday and Friday).
You can also contact myself, the national office or other members of the
state executive.
Please circulate this email to other landscape architects and colleagues
who are not members of AILA.
Victorian members please note: The next state executive meeting is at
5pm Thursday 26 February and this will be on the agenda. (please let
Kathryn know if you will be attending.)
Once again I thank you for all of your support and hopefully the
response to the current situation can be swift and effective.
Mark Frisby
AILA Victoria State President
