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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 2003 Week 8 Hansard (19 August) . . Page.. 2809 ..

MR STEFANIAK (continuing):

back-burning was being carried out in the south-eastern forests of New South Wales, which were spared the fires on that occasion. But I know that people were terrified that if the fire simply went a certain way, those forests would have caught alight and the fires would have gone all the way to the coast, as they did in 1939. But there, at least, some good back-burning was undertaken in what seemed to be a controlled, sensible way, taking advantage of whatever breaks there were in the weather.

Black Mountain certainly worries me. Being away on the day of the fires, I was absolutely aghast at what could have occurred if the fires, as a result of a slight wind change, had got into Aranda and Black Mountain. Indeed, had we not had the firebreak which resulted from the forced back-burn that I think was set off by arsonists in December 2001, we can only wonder what would have happened to Curtin, Deakin, Yarralumla and other parts of Canberra.

What potentially could happen if there is a fire on Black Mountain? Have we done enough there? Sadly, most areas to the west have certainly had a very effective back-burn as a result of these dreadful fires. But I am not sure whether there is more we can do there.

I heard Ms Tucker talk about fire trails and the effect they have on the catchment areas. I think we do need fire trails and I am glad to see some recognition of that made in this report. It is quite clear to me that we need proper and full fire trails throughout this territory. They need to be regularly maintained so that our firefighters, people such as Mr Corbell and Mr Smyth, are able to get in quickly and put out fires.

It is interesting to note some of the comments that were made by Mr McLeod in relation to what occurred on 8 and 9 January, and the likelihood that quite probably those fires, at least in the ACT, may well have been able to be put out; and the fact that in some instances it was rather difficult for crews to get to them because of the undergrowth, because of the fact that we did not have fire trails.

I have lived here all my life, Ms Tucker. I know we have had a wonderful water supply and I know we had a pretty good arrangement of fire trails in the 1960s and 1970s. My father regularly went out there. When Corin Dam was being built he used to ride shotgun on the pay truck that carried the money to pay the workers from the Department of Works. Old Frosty Kennett, a bookmaker who was an absolute classic, used to drive the truck. I remember going out there to look at the area. I seem to recall some very good fire trails, which sadly, it seemed, went into a state of disrepair in the 1980s and 1990s.

And yes, if we are laying blame, I think blame can probably attach itself in varying degrees to every single government this territory has had since self-government and, of course, Commonwealth governments before that. That is something that my party does not resile from at all because we were, on occasions, the government. And yes, we might have done a few things, but certainly, in retrospect, like other people we probably could have done a hell of a lot more.

I think it is salient to note the effective firefighting actions taken by veterans. The actions taken by Val Jeffery on his own initiative certainly greatly assisted in saving

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