Brumby apologises over 'failure of leadership'

IT took 18 months but Premier John Brumby has apologised for the failure of emergency services to respond to the Black Saturday fires.

IT took 18 months but Premier John Brumby has apologised for the failure of emergency services to respond to the Black Saturday fires.

Mr Brumby admitted yesterday he felt "the weight of the responsibility'' to fix the problems in the state's fire management highlighted by the royal commission report.

Chaired by Bernard Teague, the commission concluded that emergency services leadership on February 7 last year was inadequate and management "faltered because of confusion about responsibilities and accountabilities and some important deficiencies of leadership".

The report calls former police chief Christine Nixon's approach to emergency co-ordination "inadequate", especially her decision to leave the command centre at 6pm to have dinner with friends.

The commission says former Country Fire Authority head Russell Rees was "operationally removed" from the fires and Department of Sustainability and Environment fire chief Ewan Waller should have done a better job.

"Although many of the functions associated with each individual's role might have been delegated to subordinates, these people are ultimately accountable," the report states. "Mr Rees and Mr Waller ought to have done more in relation to warnings . . . supporting incident management teams and state-wide planning."

The commission questions the decision of Emergency Services Minister Bob Cameron not to call Mr Brumby and declare a state of disaster. "The circumstances clearly met the criteria for such a consideration," it says.

But after the commission's criticisms, Mr Brumby again backed Mr Rees, Ms Nixon, Mr Waller and Mr Cameron, saying they had the best intentions. "There were many people on that day who said that if they had their time again they would have done things differently," he said.

"I am standing by Ewan Waller and those other individuals named in the report."

But the Premier apologised for the inadequacy of the response from emergency services. "There were system failures on the day and it is evident from the commission's report and what occurred that I think all of us who were involved, we are obviously sorry those systems failed," he said.

"I personally feel the weight of the responsibility to get the arrangements and the systems right in the future so we never again see the result of those circumstances."

Country Fire Authority chief Mick Bourke said he believed Mr Rees had accounted for his part in the fires. "Everyone did what they could," he said. "For us at this point, it's beyond people, it's beyond the leaders at the time . . . this report is a catalyst for far-reaching change, and that's what we have to embrace."

Mr Waller said as a mark of respect for those who died, he would not comment on the report until he had considered it: "My role now is to embrace the lessons learnt, and continue to help lead DSE."

Ms Nixon said she was glad she was found not to have misled the commission, but admitted she should have acted differently.