THE man charged with helping the Victorian government response to the blue-green algae bloom has admitted fewer people should be involved in the management of a future event.
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Incident controller Steve Grant, senior fire management operations officer at Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning, told The Border Mail management should be streamlined to be more effective.
“We would do things slightly different in a lot of ways,” he said. “We would probably have fewer people involved in the management.”
Mr Grant, who was a firefighter before joining DELWP, said the Victorian government was taking a new direction in regard to emergency management.
“The idea is that people who are trained in emergency management are available to help with any emergency,” he said.
“It's a very effective model if you have an incident controller – somebody who's good at managing an emergency – and then next to them, as a deputy, you have a policy expert on the actual subject, blue-green algae in this case.”
But Mr Grant admitted at times managing the bloom was challenging.
“The fact we had a drought running at the same time made it very difficult for agricultural people,” he said.
“Right towards the end, we were getting reports of some who were genuinely struggling.”
