The United Firefighters Union is pushing for anyone charged with arson to be fitted with GPS tracking devices.
The call comes after Sunbury man, Stuart Dean Robson, 47, faced 13 charges in Melbourne Magistrates Court last week relating to fires lit in the area on December 25, 28 and 29.
Police allege that Robson lit a Christmas Day fire that burned through 100 hectares of grassland, moving quickly as it was fanned by winds of more than 55kmh.
Five fire-fighting aircraft and 65 Country Fire Authority vehicles were used to battle the blaze.
Robson’s charges include deliberately lighting bushfires that placed lives at risk, and arson. He was remanded in custody with his case due to return to court in March.
The court heard last week that Robson was out on bail at the time the fires were lit. He was facing separate arson charges from October last year.
United Firefighters Union secretary Peter Marshall is now urging authorities to fit all convicted arsonists and anyone charged with the offence with GPS ankle bracelets for around-the-clock monitoring.
“Any mechanism that prevents them engaging in that activity can only be to the community’s benefit,” he said. He said placing an ankle tracker on all people charged with arson would free up police surveillance resources.
“GPS devices would allow the relevant authorities to identify the location of offenders and enable rapid intervention.
“The community needs to be protected.”
Emergency Services Minister Jane Garrett said the GPS tracking device was relatively new, and she expected courts and parole boards would increasingly put them on people convicted of arson.
“There’s been double the number of people charged with arson in the past year,” she said.
“We’ll always be talking to Victoria Police about how we can improve ways of dealing with offenders.”
Emergency management commissioner Craig Lapsley said arson was a mental health issue that needed a mixture of responses.
“I believe that Victoria Police are doing the best they can with the powers they’ve got,” he said.
In October last year a magistrate granted Robson bail on the condition he be fitted with an ankle bracelet, but present laws only allow tracking devices to be fitted once arsonists have been sentenced and convicted. There is only one arsonist in Victoria fitted with a bracelet.
