Page 4804 - Week 16 - Thursday, 29 November 1990
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Page 7, proposed new section 5Q, lines 11 to 15, omit the proposed new section, substitute the following section:
Policies of insurance against fire
"5Q. Where damage is caused either directly or indirectly, by the exercise of a power or the performance of a function by a person under this Act, the damage shall, for the purposes of any policy of insurance against fire covering the property damaged, be deemed to be damaged by fire notwithstanding a provision to the contrary in the policy.".
Mr Speaker, in the Minister's reply he said that the volunteers were owed a debt of gratitude. If we agree not to support these proposed amendments we may have no volunteers. Farmers would not waste their time in court when they could be out working on their farms making money. Mr Connolly made the point that they could be spending days in the witness box giving evidence in relation to the fact that the ACT Government could be sued. I find it absolutely incredible that the Minister would believe that people would be prepared to give up their valuable time and be harassed, as we know they can be, by lawyers when this could easily be changed.
Mr Jensen pontificates more than anybody else in this house. Some are born great, some become great, but Mr Jensen just grates. None of them answered my or Mr Connolly's challenge to prove that New South Wales is wrong and that the ACT is right. I do not believe that the ACT is right; this is completely wrong.
As for the Minister telling me that he attended the meetings, I know that he did not attend the last meeting. A member of his staff, someone from the Law Office and a gentleman from the department attended the meeting. The Minister was not there when we brought up these things. I understand from members of the Volunteer Bush Fire Brigades Association that they tried to get the Minister's ear and explain this to him. I understand that he was passed a letter by Ms Maher; that Mrs Nolan had a copy of the letter; and that other members had copies of the letter from the Volunteer Bush Fire Brigades Association. Mrs Nolan sat in on that meeting and agreed with what was said, but she could not get it changed.
We are quite prepared to put this off until the Minister can have a meeting with the Volunteer Bush Fire Brigades Association and Mr Cheney from the CSIRO, who is an expert on bushfires. But he is not prepared to do that. He is not prepared to listen to these people. He is just going to railroad it through. It does not matter how the people feel about this. This is the Government that said, "We are going to talk to the people". The people have spoken to you, but you are not interested in listening to them.
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