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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 2004 Week 06 Hansard (Tuesday, 22 June 2004) . . Page.. 2347 ..

times, urging members to recognise the value of this opportunity to improve on what we have by using what we have learnt.

Not only does this bill give substantial effect to the recommendations of the McLeod report, it also builds on our knowledge of emergency management in other jurisdictions. It has already attracted interstate interest as a potential model for the consolidation of all emergency management legislation within jurisdictions. The government has taken up the challenge presented by recent events and the recommendations of the McLeod report, and produced what I believed to be an exemplary piece of legislation.

I must say that this is in no small way attributable to the open and frank debate on the subject of emergency management both within and outside this Assembly, and to the willingness of all members of the Assembly to engage in discussion about the draft legislation. I echo Mr Pratt’s appreciation to all members of this house for their cooperation in producing what has evolved.

I know that all members are now aware of the fundamental elements of this bill, such as the creation of a statutory authority headed by a commissioner; the broadened objectives of the new authority, acknowledging responsibility to the environment and to the community; the separation of the Rural Fire Service and the State Emergency Service; the regeneration of the Bushfire Council as a core advisory body; and the comprehensive consolidation of existing emergency management legislation.

At this point, I would like to return the attention of members to some of the significant innovations presented by this bill that may not have been strongly emphasised throughout discussion of the proposed new arrangements. The bill provides for the establishment of community fire units, whose role will be to protect homes and property in the event of fire in their local areas. The employment status of members of the fire brigade will change upon the signing of a certified agreement so that they, together with all employed staff of the authority, will be employed under the Public Sector Management Act 1994. This move represents a great leap of faith by our firefighters who have, until now, been employed under their own statute. It is symbolic of the will shown by all involved that they embrace those important changes.

The bill makes express provision for the territory’s capacity to scale up in emergencies. The authority or the territory controller will have the ability to obtain and direct resources from outside the territory, or to direct territory resources to incidents outside the territory.

There is a clear obligation upon agencies and government land managers to work together to ensure that land management and hazard reduction standards are maintained. The authority will conduct audits of the bushfire preparedness and capability of land-managing agencies. The inclusion of a bushfire abatement zone around more fire-prone parts of the city will apply new planning and management rules to the urban edge and its surrounds so that the possibility of large-scale harm to our physical assets and our people is minimised.

Compliance and enforcement provisions have been significantly simplified and strengthened in this bill. The old provisions of the Bushfire Act 1936 have been overhauled and reproduced in simple form in the bill, which will now apply some

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