"There has been total mismanagement of the Australian forest environment." In announcing that the fires would be investigated by a Royal Commission, the Premier of Victoria, John Brumby, suggested that the long-standing "stay-and-defend-or-leave-early" policy would be reviewed, saying that while it had proven reliable during normal conditions, the conditions on 7 February had been exceptional. Brumby said that "There were many people who had done all of the preparations, had the best fire plans in the world and tragically it didn't save them." Commissioner Nixon, however, defended the policy, saying that it was "well thought of and well based and has stood the test of time and we support it". Similarly, Commissioner of the New South Wales Rural Fire Service, Shane Fitzsimmons, said that "Decades of science, practice and history show that a well-prepared home provides the best refuge in the event of fire". Nixon also dismissed potential policies involving forced evacuations, saying "There used to be policies where you could make people leave but we're talking about adults." A former Victorian police minister, Pat McNamara, argued that forced evacuations could have worsened the death toll, as many of the dead appeared to have been killed while attempting to evacuate the fire areas by car. Building codes In response to the Black Saturday bushfires new building regulations for Victorian bushfire-prone areas were fast tracked by Standards Australia. Through the Department of Planning and Community Development the Victorian government has published a range of new guidelines and standards for bushfire planning and building. Based on this information, the Building Commission Victoria has released a range of publications to assist with people returning to properties, moving into temporary dwellings, retrofitting existing dwellings, and building new dwellings in bushfire areas. The new standard states that all properties (not just those in bushfire areas) will now require a "bushfire attack assessment", and will be given a Bushfire Attack Level (BAL) rating that outlines the type of construction required. The BAL takes into consideration such factors as the Fire Danger Index, the slope, and surrounding vegetation. BALs range from "BAL-LOW", for properties with no specific construction requirements such as suburban buildings, to "BAL-FZ" for properties in the fire zone likely to experience direct exposure to the fire front, as well as high heat flux and ember attacks. While a draft national building code for bushfire-prone areas proposed using as the standard for the assumed temperature