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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 2004 Week 05 Hansard (Thursday, 13 May 2004) . . Page.. 1789 ..

parents had come home from shopping and it was about 11.30 on a Saturday morning. Similarly, those of us who have lived in Canberra for a long time have very clear recollections of what they were doing on 18 January, especially those of us who had anything to do with the fires, whether we were in Canberra or whether we were interstate.

I was in Wollongong. I had travelled down by bus the night before to pick up my wife and two small children from my eldest stepdaughter’s home. I remember leaving Canberra with considerable trepidation on the night of 17 January. I recall being at the opening of a subdivision to the east of the Gungahlin town centre that lunchtime and feeling the hot, searing winds in that case coming in from the south west. I wondered whether it was safe to leave Canberra but, having had no warnings and trusting that the authorities knew what they were doing, I took the bus to Wollongong despite my trepidation.

Mrs Dunne: We did not get the briefing.

MR STEFANIAK: And I did not get a briefing, as Mrs Dunne said. I recall quite clearly the conversation I had at 4.30 pm on the Saturday when I was rung and advised of the fires and the danger they posed to Canberra including, it would seem, my home in the north-west of Belconnen. I recall very vividly details being given of where the fires were at that time. It seems the information was slightly incorrect in some aspects because I was told that the fires were getting into south-west Holt. I vividly remember thinking of you, Mr Speaker. I thought you and your family might be in danger and your house might be going up at that time.

I recall quite clearly a number of other phone calls I made to see what the situation might be over the next four hours. One call was to a neighbour who, as it turned out, had had a very nice party that day and said he had drunk a fair bit of alcohol. Nevertheless, he was able to give me a very detailed point-by-point description of what was happening at that time, it then being about 8.15. He stated that the winds had changed and the danger, as far as Macgregor was concerned, had apparently passed for the moment. It was therefore with considerable incredulity that I heard the Chief Minister say he could not remember, at about 10.00 am on that fateful day, a six and three-quarter minute telephone conversation he had with the Chief Executive of Justice and Community Safety, Mr Tim Keady.

That particular incident is not the only reason we are here today moving this motion of no confidence. The Chief Minister was among the ministers formally briefed on 16 January about the bushfires. By 17 January he, as Chief Minister, needed to be constantly by the phone in case a state of emergency had to be declared, something that only he could do. On that day he commenced acting as emergency services minister. The Chief Minister says he had no contact with emergency authorities from Thursday 16 January until the middle of Saturday 18 January, and we now know that that is wrong. Mr Stanhope has misled the Assembly and the community.

As members know, I was a lawyer before I came into this place. I have spent a total of about 16 years both in private practice and with the DPP. A lot of the time was spent in court for both the prosecution and the defence. In addition, I have been counsel assisting the coroner in quite a few coronial inquests in Canberra, as well as counsel representing

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