Page 4794 - Week 16 - Thursday, 29 November 1990
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Let me just read it into the record so that if, at some stage, Mrs Grassby, perhaps, rereads these debates she will be able to recall and refresh her memory as to what the rural fire control manual is all about. I am referring to the bottom of page 5 of the explanatory memorandum for the Bill, where it states:
New subsection 5KA (2) stipulates that the Manual shall include:-
(a) the organisation and structure of the Service;
I notice that Mrs Grassby is reading the paper rather than reading this particular matter. That just shows the interest that Mrs Grassby has in this particular issue.
It continues:
(b) the powers and duties of fire control officers, bushfire brigade members and emergency volunteers;
(c) the standards and requirements for recruitment and training of fire control officers and bushfire brigade members;
(d) the procedures and conditions for the recruitment of emergency volunteers; and
(e) equipment requirements and communication specifications for the Service.
That is what is in the fire manual. Clearly, Mrs Grassby needs to do a lot more homework before she comes into this place and pontificates on this subject. Now that I have put to rest the majority of the arguments that have been put forward by those opposite, let me move onto some particular comments. As a result of the devastating fires throughout south-eastern Australia, including the ACT, during January 1939, the ACT Bush Fire Council was established for the purposes of implementing the Careless Use of Fire Act 1936. Since that time there have been very few changes or amendments to the Act.
Over the past 10 years legal proceedings following major bushfire events have become commonplace in Australian States. These recent court actions exposed a number of shortcomings in our current legislation, particularly with regard to legal protection for bushfire fighters, but also demonstrated the need for landowners to be made responsible for the fuel management of their land.
The measures proposed within the Bill take account of the growing need for an environmentally conscious approach to the management of bushland and rural fire hazards which is, and always will be, a necessary adjunct to safe and effective fire fighting, particularly in what we know as the bush capital.
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