Victoria’s current emergency management planning framework came from the Emergency Management Legislation Amendment Act 2018 (External link). It made amendments to various Acts, including the Emergency Management Act 2013 (External link) (EM Act 2013).
The planning framework includes governance arrangements for emergency management planning at the state, regional and municipal levels, and outlines the requirements for emergency management plans at each of those levels. The EM Act 2013 also acknowledges community level emergency management planning.
Planning footprints
State
State level planning covers all of the State of Victoria.
Regional
Emergency Management Regions
Victoria’s 8 emergency management regions are declared by the Governor in Council under section 77A of the Emergency Management Act 2013 (External link). They came into effect on 30 September 2020 and are visually mapped on Emergency Management Common Operating Picture (External link) (more commonly known as EM-COP), as shown in figure 1 and detailed further within the Victorian Government dataset (External link).
Figure 1: Mapping the Victorian emergency management regions
The regions are based on the Victorian government regions with minor variations:
- Regions are responsible for planning to a distance of 3 nautical miles from their respective shores to align with Victoria’s jurisdiction in a range of legislation and support consistent regional planning.
- Victoria Police remain the control agency for marine search and rescue, responsible for inland waterways (response), and providing specialist support to water search and rescues.
- Alpine Resorts Victoria is designated to the Hume region for the purposes of emergency management planning, includes Mount Baw Baw Alpine Resort which is geographically located within Gippsland region and will remain under Gippsland for emergency management operations.
A graphic of each emergency management region is available for use as required (see Figure 2). View simplified versions on the Maps of emergency management regions page.
Figure 2: Stylised design of the Victorian emergency management regions
Municipal
There are 80 Municipal Emergency Management Planning Committees throughout Victoria – one for each of Victoria’s 79 municipal councils, and one for Alpine Resorts Victoria (which is considered a municipal district for the purposes of the Emergency Management Act 2013 (External link)).
An Integrated Municipal Emergency Management Planning Committee (IMEMPC) may be formed to support MEMPC matters that cover overlapping municipalities.
Alpine Resorts Victoria
The Alpine Resorts Legislation Amendment Act 2022 (External link) amended the Alpine Resorts (Management) Act 1997 (External link) to establish Alpine Resorts Victoria (ARV). Under this change, ARV replaces the previous 4 Alpine Resort Management Boards.
Inspector-General for Emergency Management
The Inspector-General for Emergency Management (External link) (IGEM) is appointed by the Governor in Council and provides support in the form of monitoring, reviewing, and assessing emergency management planning at a system level. IGEM undertakes all of its assurance activities in accordance with its legislative objectives under the EM Act 2013.
The department acknowledges Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people as the Traditional Custodians of the land and acknowledges and pays respect to their Elders, past and present.