On 13 February 2009 Brumby announced that Justice Bernard Teague , former judge of the Supreme Court of Victoria , would chair the Commission , to be assisted by two other Commissioners . On 16 February , the assistant Commissioners were appointed : Ron McLeod , former Commonwealth Ombudsman and the head of an inquiry concerning the 2003 Canberra bushfires ; and Susan Pascoe , the Commissioner of the State Services Authority . The Commission was given very broad terms of reference , with Premier Brumby saying that the Commission would be " t he most open inquiry that is possible . No stone unturned . Every bit of information on the table . And if that means calling ministers or premiers , or whoever it is , we will be happy to assist . " In the preliminary hearing on 20 April , commission counsel Jack Rush delivered in his opening address that an interim report assessing the inadequately short notice warnings would be delivered by the commission to the government by August . The report would evaluate the current " stay or go policy " for bushfire evacuation , and during the commission various bureaucrats ' performance and judgment was scrutinized , including Commissioner of Emergency Services Bruce Esplin , and CFA Operations Officer Jason Lawrence but most significantly CFA Chief Officer Russel Rees
2003 Canberra bushfires
2003 Canberra bushfires
2009 Victorian Bushfires Royal Commission