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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 2003 Week 2 Hansard (5 March) . . Page.. 577 ..

MR PRATT (continuing):

Mr Deputy Speaker, it might be considered that willing communities which already have in place Neighbourhood Watch committees would use these committees as a basis for developing their bushfire fighting community teams. They may seek to employ fire wardens and evacuation guides, et cetera. The Emergency Services Bureau would design the most appropriate models.

An association of fire units, dedicated to suburban areas, would also be advantageous. This would develop an operational partnership and would lead to smoother operations in the mayhem of firefighting. Of course, such dedication cannot be guaranteed because you cannot lock fire units easily into operational zones. To do so would mean the alleviation of operational flexibility. However, in the winter and spring months approaching the bushfire season a dedicated support for fuel reduction burn-offs, training and safety audit purposes would be valuable.

Fire units that go into suburbs such as Duffy, Holder, Isaacs and O'Malley, and suburbs on the north side, would be able to rehearse actions that they might need to take at the height of a fire disaster four or five months down the track. They would become familiar with the suburb and the people and, importantly, they would know the ground.

Mr Deputy Speaker, I again call upon the ACT government to ensure that mandatory bushfire education for all government schools is established and that the same service is offered to all non-government schools. Hansard is peppered with my calls for what at least I think is a very important initiative, so I need not go back into the detail of all that. You will recall that such a program would be designed primarily to teach preventative skills to children to better safeguard our bushland and suburban fringes. It would also be designed to teach emergency and safety procedures for children caught up in a bushfire situation.

I can recall the experiences of the three daughters of a very good friend of mine whose house was destroyed in Chapman. They said that in the five different schools they have been to over the last 12 years, they really had not had any decent education about bushfire preventative measures. They told me that had they been given the information perhaps they would have been able to better handle the situation and assist their parents on the afternoon of 18 January.

Mr Deputy Speaker, the program, as I have previously proposed, would also contain an element of combating youth arson. This would be delivered through the mainstream program so that youth at risk are not necessarily singled out. Intervening early in the school life of children would minimise the risk that children who might be prone to do silly things later in life might be impressed enough to think twice about such activities when they mature.

Mrs Gallagher, in a question on 20 February-

Ms Gallagher: Ms Gallagher, Mr Pratt.

MR PRATT: Sorry, for some reason I have got "Mrs"written down in a number of places.

Ms Gallagher: Yes, you've got it written everywhere.

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