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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 2004 Week 06 Hansard (Tuesday, 22 June 2004) . . Page.. 2383 ..

I applaud the government’s design of the legislation to significantly improve the provision of timely information but I believe it needs further development, which is the aim of this amendment.

MR WOOD (Minister for Disability, Housing and Community Services, Minister for Urban Services, Minister for Police and Emergency Services, and Minister for Arts and Heritage) (9.38): The government will support this amendment because it is consequent upon the passing of 147B. Yes, the minister may do all that. As a minister, I would not want to intrude on the proper role of officers in also providing information. I think they are the prime source. But it is also appropriate for the minister to get involved, as he did before, bearing in mind that the major carriage is with officers. But in stressing the importance of communication, we picked up that message very strongly and we are happy to support this amendment.

Amendment agreed to.

Clause 152, as amended, agreed to.

Clause 153 to 164, by leave, taken together and agreed to.

Clause 165

MR PRATT (21.39): I move amendment No 20 circulated in my name [see schedule 2 at page 2441].

Mr Speaker, the legislation, for very good reason, lays down a directive that emergency units are not allowed to deploy across the border into New South Wales. That is extremely sensible. The requirement not to remove ACT personnel, equipment and assets out of this territory to go perhaps racing off on some sort of wild goose chase somewhere certainly needed to be enshrined in legislation.

However, my concern is that flexibility and initiative, taken in the right spirit and in good faith, could be penalised by this legislation. For instance, one of our emergency units operating close to the border may, after observing that a New South Wales emergency unit was not within cooee of them, move quickly across the border in order to look after their own safety or protect somebody nearby.

So while the legislation is important—and I agree that it is—I just would like to see us qualify it. The aim of this amendment is to qualify the legislation in order to look after the best interests of our people who sometimes have to make decisions in isolation. Maybe they will not be in communication with the territory controller when they want to take care of somebody in close proximity to the border or take evasive action to look after their own safety.

MR WOOD (Minister for Disability, Housing and Community Services, Minister for Urban Services, Minister for Police and Emergency Services, and Minister for Arts and Heritage) (9.41): Mr Speaker, I see what Mr Pratt is getting at but the government and officers have a real problem with this amendment and just cannot support of it. The amendment tampers with a fundamental principle, which is that in a declared emergency,

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