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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 2003 Week 8 Hansard (20 August) . . Page.. 2895 ..
MR SMYTH (continuing):
angst. For instance, the donation of a utility by the CFMEU, the Kingston Hotel and Andrew Robb & Associates was highly resisted by the government. Only when this was exposed on the media did Mr Wood back down and accept the utility, and it still took months and a series of meetings to incorporate it into the brigade. So there is some angst there.
Mrs Cross asked a question yesterday about debriefs. Some of the brigades do not feel that they have been adequately debriefed. Members of the ESB have not actually gone to the fire sheds-and I understand they are doing it now-during the round of annual general meetings to elect brigade office holders. But there is some angst that volunteers are being ignored by the ESB, by the government, and that needs to be addressed.
Several volunteers have said to me that they are not coming next year simply because they do not feel that they are valued. Some very senior members, some long-serving members and some new members feel that some of the recommendations of McLeod are, in fact, insulting to volunteers. For instance, there is the insistence that they need further training. You often see this simple recommendation in reports, but in no way does it point out where volunteers failed on the day. So I think there is an issue there for the government to address. I hope they have got something in mind and I would be delighted to hear from them about what it is that they intend to do.
Mr Speaker, the final part of this motion censures the government. We on this side in opposition have not moved censure motions or motions of no confidence because we believe that they should be kept for where there is a clear case for such a thing. We have certainly not tried to trivialise these motions, as was done in the last two assemblies by the now government. But there is a clear case here to bring the government to task for failing to heed the warnings that additional bushfire education was needed. Indeed, in the lead-up to the last season Mr Pratt moved a motion calling on the government to conduct further education. I will just read some of the things that Mr Pratt said.
Mr Corbell: In schools.
MR SMYTH: Mr Corbell interjects with the words "in school", and I will take the interjection because, yes, the motion was primarily aimed at schools but in the text of the speech Mr Pratt made it quite clear that it had to be much broader than that. Mr Pratt says:
Where vulnerable neighbourhoods, particularly those fronting on to bushland on their western fringes and perhaps with western gradients falling away, have cooperated with fire units in preventive preparation education, the fire units have been most willing and they have been proactive.
The same applies to school education. Where schools have been diligent and sought to undertake education on bushfire prevention programs, employing expert assistance, fire units have been willing.
He finishes the paragraph by saying:
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