Anger, blame greet Aussie bushfire inquiry

VICTORIA - As the terror fades and the grief and mourning are slowly overcome, a new emotion is emerging among those affected by Victoria's bushfires.

Anger.

At Myrtleford in Victoria's northeast on Wednesday the royal commission into the February fires that claimed at least 210 lives opened by venturing into one of the affected communities.

More than 100 people came to the town's Savoy Club from places like Mudgegonga, Barwidgee Creek, Gundowring and Whoruly to tell royal commission chair Justice Bernard Teague and his fellow commissioners what they thought.

And among the feelings running through the meeting was the common one of frustration and finger-pointing.

Government authorities and local councils came in for the bulk of the complaints at the first of the royal commission's 12 community consultation sessions.

Accusations of negligence, ignorance and incompetence flowed freely as a community that had assessed the damage was asked for its opinions.

Although huge tracts of land were burnt by the Beechworth Complex near Myrtleford, the area avoided the mass carnage of February 7, with two lives lost in Mudgegonga and limited property damage.

The Myrtleford meeting, and those that will follow it, are designed to allow the affected communities to tell the royal commission what they believe it should examine.

Justice Teague told them the meeting was to gather information and identify key issues for further research and investigation.

He was at pains to tell them it wasn't to gather evidence.

Many at the Myrtleford meeting were nevertheless keen to point the finger of blame.

Sil Garoni, whose farm was ravaged by the fires, came to the meeting to raise the issue of forest management, accusing the state's Department of Sustainability and Environment (DSE) of failing in its duty.

"There needs to be a lot more debate about that sort of thing," Mr Garoni said.

"You could see the difference - where there had been controlled burning in the past few years, the fire stayed on the ground.

"Where there'd been none, it went straight up to the crowns of the trees."

He also believes there was a lack of communication between the Country Fire Authority (CFA) and the DSE.

"The fire would go through, they'd black it out and then the other mob would come and do back-burning at the same place," Mr Garoni said.

"They weren't talking to each other."

Cattle farmer Stuart Tooley said he saved his house only through good luck and his own hard work.

He wanted to know why no emergency services were sent to help him and his neighbours.

"I know the CFA was stretched, but I could hear them on the radio saying they would send two tankers, but they never came," he said.

"There were two of us left to save the house and the sheds."

Mr Tooley also has the Department of Primary Industry in his sights as he looks for compensation that he says is proving hard to access.

"I can't get in touch with anybody," he said.

"No one answers the phone, there's no one to talk to."

Trevor Cousins from Mudgegonga said he'd gone into the meeting sceptical but emerged hopeful.

"If something comes out of it, I'll be happy," Mr Cousins said.

"It's a start."

Mr Cousins' thoughts and those of the rest of the meeting were written down on large sheets of paper and collected by commission staff.

In three weeks' time the royal commissioners will have heard from around 1500 people and will have collected a lot of paper and a lot of opinions.

Then it will begin the more onerous task of taking evidence.

- AAP