General News
6 February, 2026
Council looks towards recovery for Skipton
CORANGAMITE Shire Council is looking towards recovery following the Streatham/Skipton fires, moving to endorse a draft framework recovery plan at the recent Ordinary Meeting of Council.
Councillors also moved to advocate for additional funding support for fire-affected communities and a reduction in regulatory red tape to streamline access to recovery resources from the state government.
The Streatham/Skipton fire was among a number of fires which were sparked by a combination of dry lightning and extreme fire conditions on January 9.
As one of 200 fires burning across the state, the fire started at around 1.30pm around five kilometres north of Streatham.
The fire travelled through Carranballac before reaching Skipton, burning the southern side of the township.
The fire was contained on Monday, January 12 after burning 19,300ha, with air quality impacted during the fire fight due to smoke haze.
Councillor Nick Cole said one of the biggest issues faced by residents recovering from the fires was regulatory red tape.
“We’ve got to try and reduce that – the fact a lot of plantations are classed as native timber plants reduces the ability of farmers to pull those down,” he said.
“On a day like Tuesday when a tree stands between five and 10 metres, it’s flaring embers go a long way across paddocks and gets away.
“If it’s on the ground, it’s only going five to 10 metres away.
“There’s such a big area at Skipton that’s been burnt – they can’t get around and check everything all the time.
“Farmers will put plantations back because we want them – they’re essential to the welfare of our animals and the health and wellbeing of our farms.”
Cr Cole also noted Skipton had previously been regarded as a ‘treeless plain’ prior to farmers adding tree plantations to their properties.
He said there had also been issues with access to impacted areas and to funding streams designed for natural disaster recovery.
“Endorsing submissions of funding applications to state and federal government recovery purposes as they arise are a really high priority, right up to advocating to the Premier and relevant ministers for the immediate reduction and removal of red tape so we can get things done,” Cr Cole said.
“People want to get things done and move on – I know in Skipton they couldn’t get insurance valuators in for a few days because no-one knew whether the roads were blocked or not.
“Police were saying the roads were unblocked but the road blocks were still sitting there.
“The other one that’s a real winner is 100 per cent rate relief for farmers who have been burnt out.
“We’ve got to rebuild, and money is going out rapidly.”
Councillor Jo Beard seconded the motion, speaking with pride about the work council staff have put in during recovery efforts.
“After a devastating start such as this, it does go to show an organisation like ours just gets in and gets stuff done,” she said.
“It’s a really quick transition from the relief stage to the handover and the recovery, and then you see our people in their element and working the best.
“We’ve talked among ourselves about how much responsibility is actually on Corangamite Shire Council – in particular with the Streatham/Skipton fire, there’s three Local Government Areas (LGAs) which have been affected but it’s not a good thing we have had experience and the amount of experience we have.
“It’s important that we fill the gap when we go into recovery or work with so many different agencies and a lot of those agencies will talk about red tape and state government agencies.
“They can’t advocate when they don’t believe in something whereas we can, so we have to fill the gap when it comes to that political side of things where we can make that recovery for our communities as smooth and as seamless as possible.”
Cr Beard said, while certain aspects of recovery do not move quickly, each disaster provides lessons council can pass on to the government.
“There is frustration in our communities around how these events are unfolding, and I take on note to Cr Cole and Cr (Laurie) Hickey who were both on the trucks that day,” she said.
Councillors also moved a vote of thanks to CFA volunteers and businesses and organisations across the state supporting Skipton’s recovery from the bushfire.
Cr Cole said times have been trying for the CFA in recent weeks.
“I was sitting in the shed in a truck waiting to go up to the fires and listening to the radio and they were calling for more and more resources – they didn’t have enough resources for asset protection, let alone putting the fire out,” he said.
“That was at the top of their priority list.”
Cr Beard also expressed her gratitude to the work of CFA volunteers.
“I’m always saying they risk their lives to protect ours, and we’re saying it’s a long summer,” she said.
“It’s a long season ahead of us yet, and we’ve got so much effort going into this already that we just have to be mindful of that impact.
“It’s not only on our communities but also on our organisation and how we manage that.
“I have the utmost faith in our staff the recovery will be well-supported for our community’s sake.”