State and local governments must look at alternative forms of settlement in the wake of the Victorian bushfires, according to KPMG consultant and demographer Bernard Salt.

Pressure is being put on the regions to accommodate such huge numbers. According to Salt more than 10,000 Victorians a year have moved to ‘treechange’ towns, such as Kinglake and Marysville, since 2000.

“The issue isn’t providing housing in the country, the issue is providing housing in hilly, Eucalypt-infested terrain, where, if fire gets into it, it’s going to wreak havoc,” he said.

Between 2001 and 2006 a total of 17 "new towns" popped up in Victoria’s prime ‘treechange’ zone. 

“There are so many settlements dotted around – in that north-west corner of Melbourne, there are hundreds of tiny little hamlets that date back to the gold rush – that if a fire gets in there, it’s going to bump into those communities.”

The Brumby Government’s Royal Commission will look into all aspects of the Victorian bushfires including preparation and planning by governments, emergency services, communities and households; and the overall response.