Page 2658 - Week 09 - Wednesday, 25 August 1993
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I therefore would urge members to support what I believe is a sensible suggestion. I repeat that this is not a political issue. It is commonsense that we should be installing these. If the Government takes up this suggestion to install smoke detectors in Housing Trust properties, I would like to think that that initiative will be a powerful incentive to people in the private sector to install also. I do believe that the Government should lead by example in this case. I repeat that it is a sensible move and I hope that members will support the motion.
MR CONNOLLY (Attorney-General, Minister for Housing and Community Services and Minister for Urban Services) (12.15): Madam Speaker, there is no doubt that smoke detectors save lives, as we have now painted every fire truck in the ACT to say, and that the so-called $12 smoke detector is a useful thing for anyone - public tenant, private tenant or home owner - to have installed in their household. The issue is whether this Assembly should urge the Government to install those detectors in Housing Trust properties, and I would argue that that would not be a sensible thing to do. I have circulated an amendment to the motion which is before members which notes and in fact supports the efforts that the Government has been making to promote installation of the cheap and accessible smoke detectors. They are a very valuable item. Some years ago when they first came onto the market they were quite expensive. They were in the order of $30 to $40 per unit. Now they are made offshore, tragically, at a very cheap price and they are available through the major discount stores for in the order of $10 to $12.
We think they are such a good idea that we have been running a promotion in recent months which will continue for some little time. Citizens can purchase the smoke detector for $10 or $12 at major chain stores, put their name down on a list and a Fire Brigade officer will come around to their house to install it. We are doing that through the ingenuity of the Fire Brigade, using an adhesive velcro taping device. The fire officer simply comes around, puts the velcro on the back of the detector and installs it. He simply places it on the ceiling. That is why Mr Cornwell is right in pointing out that I was photographed doing that. I certainly would not have been doing any technical maintenance there. It was simply a matter of sticking it up. While the Fire Brigade officers are out performing that community service they are in constant radio contact with the base. If there is a fire, the fire officers will simply jump in the truck and take off. A very useful community service is being performed by Fire Brigade officers. They are also taking the opportunity while they are in residents' houses to give residents a little bit of advice about fire safety. They have detected a few cases where there are nylon curtains over where the chips are fried and things like that which are clearly quite dangerous. So it is a very useful community service that the Fire Brigade is performing there.
The important thing about the $12 smoke detectors is that the householder has to want to have them, has to be aware of the risk of fire and has to assume some responsibility for wanting to take risks about fire protection. As anyone who has one of those smoke detectors in their home would know, particularly if they have them fitted in a hallway or anywhere near a kitchen, they are so effective that they do tend to go off if you open the oven door when the roast is nearly ready or
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