Page 386 - Week 02 - Wednesday, 2 March 1994
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The task force we had in New South Wales at that time was organised as two separate units, two separate response task forces. One was working in the Sutherland Shire and there was a mixed service group operating on the North Shore of Sydney, where there were some very serious outbreaks of fires. Each of those two groups was accompanied by an ACT ambulance paramedic and there was an ACT fire service fleet mechanic in attendance. It is worth noting that that arrangement is quite different, I am told, from arrangements in place for emergency teams from other States. I gather that it is not common practice to have a mechanic present to deal with possible breakdowns of equipment. It goes without saying that, if you are in the middle of an emergency, fighting a fire front, and your pumper suddenly breaks down, you want the quickest possible effort made to repair it; and to get that and your crew out of the scene as quickly as possible. That is possible with a person present on the site where the emergency is taking place.
The other important thing, of course, is having an ACT ambulance paramedic available to work with the task force on a particular fire front. Those paramedics can monitor the level of effort, the level of effectiveness, of the workers who are dealing with that problem. It goes without saying that many people involved in these sorts of situations are hyped up, they are full of adrenalin, they are obviously giving a 110 per cent effort, and sometimes that can result, at the end of a very long day or series of days, in lapses in judgment. It is very important in that circumstance to have somebody who can say to an individual, "I think you are too tired to be doing this. You should get out and let somebody else take your place". That is possible with our structure. It is a structure, I understand, that other emergency services do not have. So the ACT emergency services have, in that respect, a superior arrangement. The people I spoke to suggest that it works so well that other State emergency services might look at adopting the same kind of model.
We also need to indicate that the employers whose workers were on those task forces in New South Wales showed great support, for the most part - as far as I know, exclusively. They did not try to make life difficult for their employees, and I think they deserve to be congratulated for that. I do hear of cases in other States where sometimes employers decided to dock wages or even to sack workers.
Mr De Domenico: They are bums.
MR HUMPHRIES: As Mr De Domenico indicates, they are bums in those circumstances. That is not quite the word I would have used; nonetheless, it is a sentiment we could all agree with. I am very pleased to say that it has not happened here.
I think that the sentiment that Mr Lamont has expressed today can be translated into a very practical form. Members will, I assume, be aware that I have nominated the ACT fire and emergency services group for the Canberra Citizen of the Year award this year. That award, I take it, will be made in the next few days. Canberra Day is coming up fast, and I assume that that is when the award will be made. I hope that the motion we pass today in the Assembly can be an indication from all members of the Assembly that we agree that the people involved in that task force in New South Wales and, indeed, in the ACT deserve an award of that kind.
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