By Parker McKenzie
Liberal Opposition Leader Matthew Guy announced his support for a new SES unit to be established in Olinda on Thursday 2 June to relieve two of the busiest units in the state.
On Thursday 2 May, Mr Guy — alongside Mt Evelyn MP Bridgett Valence, Upper House MP Cathrine Burnett-Wake and Monbulk Liberal Candidate Gareth Ward — visited Olinda Recreational Reserve to announce the election promise.
“12 months on from what was a devastating storm event in the Dandenong Ranges, it is a very important announcement I make today,” he said.
“This announcement of 8 million to establish a new SES unit right here on the ridge in Monbulk Olinda is so important for local people who rely on the SES.
“They need the SES, the SES is the saviour in so many different problems from what was the most devastating storm we’ve seen in the hills for a very, very, very long time.”
The three closest SES units — in Emerald, Knox and Lilydale — were kept busy in 2021. Emerald SES received 1,971 requests for assistance, making them the third busiest unit in the state for 2021. The nearby SES unit in Lilydale was the second busiest with close to 2000 jobs, only behind Frankston for total call-outs.
Emerald SES commander Ben Owen said the new unit is needed because “when you think of Emerald, Lilydale and Knox, there is nothing up here on the hill.”
“If a tree comes down on Mountain Highway at four in the afternoon, to get the resources there within five minutes instead of 25 frees the road up much quicker,” he said.
“We’ll probably run it ourselves initially under Emerald and skill them up, but as soon as we know it’s going ahead we will come up here and use the haul if we need to and train people,” he said.
A Spokesperson for the State Government said the SES volunteers do an incredible job keeping the Victorian community safe.
“We’ll always ensure they have the facilities and resources they need to continue their critical work,” the spokesperson said.
“Thanks to the advocacy of the local community, we’ve recently delivered a $7 million brand new state-of-the-art VICSES unit on the Belgrave-Gembrook Road that will meet the growing demands of the community and support our hardworking local volunteers.”
An additional unit in the Dandenong Ranges has been considered by the State Government to take pressure off of the 46 volunteers at Emerald SES.
Mr Ward, who will run in Deputy Premier and Monbulk MP James Merlino’s electorate, said he takes “full credit” for the idea to build a Monbulk-Olinda SES unit.
“This is something I thought that we needed before I was even involved in politics after the storm,” he said.
“We didn’t have anything up here and I was trying to help get people out of their homes through my own business and I could see how hard it was people.”
Mr Ward said pressing issues for the electorate included more funding for Monbulk CFA and installing underground power lines.
Mr Owen said he would also like to see action on placing power lines underground in the future.
“If we get a tree that has fallen on power lines, we can’t touch it,” he said.
“If you’ve trees falling on the road and the powers underground, we can deal with the tree.”
Mr Merlino was contacted for comment on whether he would support a new SES unit in the electorate.
