Victorian Legislative Council meets in historic meeting in Bright

The Bright P-12 student told politicians no aspect of that the town meeting could have prepared residents for bushfires.

"Nothing prepares you to say goodbye to the town that you call home," she said

"Barely two weeks after the evacuation, with fires contained still burning, we went back to school.

"It allowed us to be closer to one another, gave us a sense of normality.

"No one wanted to talk about it.

"I don't think many people process trauma until you're forced to spend time by yourself.

"That was the worst part, the uncertainty of an unpredictable pandemic, coupled with the unacknowledged trauma.

"Even now, 15 months post-fire, we're seeing the impacts."

The impact of the natural and health emergencies was detailed by Alpine Shire's mayor John Forsyth.

"We were lucky enough not to be too hard by the fire on the ground ... (but) the huge loss of tourism income for businesses and families was estimated at $90 million," he said.

"Over 2000 hectares of softwood plantations were burnt, and that will have an effect in the years to come as we run out of softwood timber for processing.

"Businesses still trying to regain their feet after bushfire season suddenly found themselves unable to trade.

"A strong winter went out the door ... it was a double-whammy."

Cr Forsyth said following the curtailed snow season, "the fiasco of the border bubbles" and more, communities stayed resilient.

"We've enjoyed a resurgence in visitor numbers since November," he said.

"Unfortunately, however, our businesses and broader community are facing the realm of a new challenge ... that is housing availability.

"A high number of short term rentals for our short term residents, coupled with an increase in people moving to the shire is causing a shortage in the availability of housing for those key workers.

"Holiday accommodation is essential to our local economy, but we've reached an imbalance, where the high numbers of holiday rentals are causing strain on our community and businesses.

"We know we're not alone in the country, or in this state, with this issue, and share it with others and hopefully over this next 24 or 48 hours ... we might come up with some solutions to this problem."

Housing and employment issues that have arisen during the pandemic are also affecting the bushfire rebuild, Cudgewa's Josh Collings told The Border Mail.

"We keep thinking our house is going to be ready, but you know builders are doing their absolute best about shortages in materials and they're also building for about 30 other bushfire-affected people," he said.

"It's this line of 'who needs it more'?

Mr Collings was among the local producers at a farmer's market arranged to take place alongside the parliamentary sitting.

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He hoped to raised the profile of the Acres and Acres Co-op project to make food sustainable, with $800,000 being sought.

Northern Victoria MP Jaclyn Symes spoke with Mr Collings and told The Border Mail the estimated boost for the North East from the first regional sitting in five years would be "tens of thousands of dollars".

"That's when you think about the accommodation and activities for 200 people," she said.

"I'm hoping a lot of people will bring their families back for holidays."