Page 4784 - Week 15 - Thursday, 8 December 1994
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Mr Deputy Speaker, the legislation obviously contains some protection against the abuse of that power. In particular, directions which are given under proposed section 12C may be challenged in the Administrative Appeals Tribunal. In addition, in a fire emergency - which is defined as a period of high fire danger or a period when there is immediate and serious danger to life or property - it is possible for the brigade officers to actually enter the premises and direct an owner or occupier to take the appropriate steps or, failing that, to take those steps themselves. It is also appropriate that in those circumstances the Territory has the right of action for the cost of doing that against the owner who has failed to take part in the removal of that material.
Obviously, this requires a lot of give and take. For instance, a fire officer may instruct someone to remove flammable material from premises. There may be lots of brushwood or wood for log fires against the fence line, and the owner may begin to remove it but may not be able to do it quickly enough. The Fire Brigade officers can also remove flammable material. In that case, one would not expect what the owner or occupier cannot do to become a cost that he has to bear, particularly if there has not already been a directive under proposed section 12C. But I think that that is something which will be worked out in the give and take of these arrangements. I am sure that officers of the Fire Brigade will exercise this power responsibly. I am sure that we can look forward to some improvement in the problems that the Territory faced last year. I hope that we will not have to face them in the immediate future.
MS SZUTY (11.30): Mr Deputy Speaker, this Bill seeks to prevent, as far as possible, the devastating effects of fire during the approaching summer and bushfire season. I note that the Bill deals predominantly with the reduction of fire hazards in urban or built-up areas, as rural areas are already covered by the relevant provisions of the Bushfire Act. I am pleased to note that the Bill focuses on the preventive measures that both residents and the ACT Government can take to reduce fire hazard. Officers of the Fire Brigade will now be able to request that residents take certain steps to reduce the fire hazard around their homes or to take those steps themselves to reduce the fire hazard for both those residents and the general community.
Appropriate appeal mechanisms and procedures have been put in place to ensure that residents' rights are protected and that there are appropriate processes by which they can pursue decisions that they disagree with. That is a fairly fundamental point, Mr Deputy Speaker. I have been assured by the officers who have briefed me that they will be concentrating on those residential blocks in the urban-rural interface areas and responding to complaints by residents about fire hazards in their communities. There will not be a systematic inspection of all blocks in Canberra. The Government and its property will be treated in the same manner as residential properties are treated. I think that is an important point to note. After all, Mr Deputy Speaker, there is no benefit to the community in asking an individual resident to clear their back fence of long dry grass if that fence backs onto government land which also contains long dry grass which constitutes a fire hazard.
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