Apalling behaviour. I'll never drink Foster's again - not a hard pledge to keep, I don't drink beer! but I do purchase it, I usually have some on hand for visiting folkies when I have a session.

In the meantime, a couple of law firms are instigating class actions against Singapore-owned electricity company SP AusNet, which is responsible for maintaining most of the power lines in eastern Victoria.

A two-kilometre stretch of power line in Kilmore East snapped during strong winds and record heat about 11am last Saturday. Within minutes a nearby pine forest was ablaze. Within six hours the fire had destroyed nearly every building in the towns in its path.

The Insurance Council of Australia estimated the cost of the fires at about $500 million. But SP AusNet's legal liability has been capped at $100 million under a deal struck by the former Kennett government with private utility operators, when the former State Electricity Commission was privatised in 1995. Legal sources said this meant the Brumby Government could be forced to cover a shortfall of hundreds of millions of dollars.