Central Victorian school communities up in arms over tree removals ahead of bushfire season

Parents at two central Victorian schools are expressing outrage after trees in school grounds were cut down by state government contractors with little or no notice.

The removals at Elphinstone Primary School, east of Castlemaine, and Carisbrook Primary School, 45 minutes west of Elphinstone, have sparked protests and concerns about the impact on the schools' natural environments and student safety.

Tree removal sparks community anger

At Elphinstone Primary School, arborists abandoned their work on Wednesday afternoon amid protests from parents and media attention. Parents have threatened to climb the remaining trees to save them from being chopped down.

Helen Officer, one of the parents on site, said the school was not given notice to move or transplant trees away from the school building.

"They tried to pull out the kids' cabbages and strawberries from the kitchen garden," she said. "It's just outrageous. If we have to climb a tree we probably will."

Ms Officer said three trees and some young saplings had been removed and a further 4-5 trees were earmarked for removal, leaving little shade for students.

"We take bushfire safety extremely seriously, but we just want some more time to provide the children shade and natural spaces for the rest of the year," she said. "This is a tiny bush school with 24 kids. If they're going to rush through and remove all these assets, why aren't they also rushing to provide new assets to the school?"

School communities not consulted

At Carisbrook Primary School, school council president Sheree Lendon said the school community and staff were not aware the trees were going to be removed.

"Within two days, every tree is gone. Families are upset, staff are upset," she said. "There are families that have been attending this school for several decades, and now they feel that the character of the school and the feel of the school has just been destroyed in two days."

Among the trees removed was a Lone Pine seeded from Gallipoli and planted in 2015 to mark the centenary of the Anzac landings in World War I.

Bushfire safety concerns

The Victorian Schools Building Authority said it had halted works until it "talks to" the Elphinstone community.

An education department spokesperson said: "We will not risk the safety of students in our care, which is why bushfire safety is so important."

The schools are on a Victorian government Bushfire At-Risk Register of 850 schools and early childhood services "considered to be at significant bushfire risk".

Government funding and tree removal

In July, the government announced $8 million shared across 330 schools to clear vegetation around school buildings.

Elphinstone Primary School was allocated just over $19,000, while Carisbrook received $28,540.

Victorian Schools Building Authority CEO Jo Wadell said the authority would reflect on its practices and that there was consultation with Elphinstone Primary School.

"We do acknowledge that it did occur very quickly, but that is because there is a sense of urgency around these works," Ms Wadell said. "If these trees aren't removed, what it means is that these schools would need to close on high-risk and extreme bushfire days."

Expert opinions

University of Melbourne senior research associate Dr Greg Moore said the department had "grossly overestimated the risk" the trees pose in a bushfire.

"Very often they [the government] look at these situations and remove all the trees because it's such a simple thing to specify," he said.

Elphinstone CFA volunteer John Lewis said removing the trees did not make sense because children were never placed at fire risk.

"As soon as a bushfire is in the region, all the kids are shipped out, and they always have been," he said. "They're not going to catch fire, so come summer where are the kids going to get shade."