Bushfires: former top cop Ken Lay to lead new Victorian recovery agency

The Victorian government will spend $50m establishing a new bushfire recovery agency, to be led by former police commissioner Ken Lay.

Former Victoria Police commissioner Ken Lay in Melbourne on Monday. Picture: AAP

The Victorian government will spend $50m to establish a bushfire recovery agency, to be led by former police commissioner Ken Lay, in a bid to prepare for the fallout from “more fires” and “longer fire seasons” well into the future.

The stand-alone agency, to be called Bushfire Recovery Victoria, will be charged with overseeing how money is spent in the wake of dangerous bushfires.

Victorian Premier Dan Andrews said that unlike the authority established in the wake of the 2009 Black Saturday fires, the new agency would be permanent and ongoing “Because we’re going to see longer fire seasons and we are going to see — we should just be honest about the fact — we’re going to see more and more fires, more and more damage as each fire season comes.

“I think that means we are going to see more and more properties lost over time and we’re going to be doing more and more rebuilding,” he said.

Mr Andrews said $50m would serve as a downpayment, with the true cost of addressing the toll of worsening bushfires likely to run into the hundreds of millions.

“It won’t be $50m, it won’t be $500m, it will be a lot more than that,” he said.

“But that’s what we have to do, we have to stand with these ­communities.”

Mr Andrews said the new agency would harness existing government agencies to provide a singular co-ordinated response to help fire-affected communities as they recovered. “It can be years before communities properly recover from such devastating bushfires,” he said.

Two people have died in Victoria and at least 200 properties have been destroyed in the recent fires that have devastated the state’s northeast.

Mr Lay said he welcomed the opportunity to give back to the community.

“I hope we can make a considerable difference to people in the tragedy and catastrophe of the last two weeks and possible for the next months going forward,” he said on Monday.

Mr Lay stepped down as chief commissioner in December 2014 after revealing that his wife, Chris, had a serious medical condition.

He served in the top job for three years and was an officer for 41 years.

He said his experience with people in crisis had prepared him for his new role. “I’ll draw all of my knowledge together to make this organisation work well for government and, more importantly, for our community.”

The BRV will include creating consultation groups with local communities, with Mr Lay saying the solution to problems most often lay with the people affected.

Mr Lay applauded the state government for having the vision to plan for future fires, which he said would come with increasing ferocity.

“I thank the government for having the foresight to do this — this is going to be a very important organisation in the broader emergency management space,” Mr Lay said.