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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 2004 Week 10 Hansard (Wednesday, 25 August 2004) . . Page.. 4173 ..

Mrs Dunne: The same amount that was there when we were there—ambulance resources—exactly the same.

MR WOOD: Wait on. The resources are there. The capacity to respond is much increased. I do not think any other area in government can claim to have had such a substantial increase as the Emergency Services Authority. It is 25 per cent—very significant.

There is $1.5 million to increase capability to respond to chemical, biological and hazardous chemical incidents. There is $3 million in increased base funding to provide additional resources to maintain service staffing across the three levels—including ambulance, Mrs Dunne—at optimal levels and to fund associated costs. There is $885,000 to increase capability through funding for equipment maintenance, training and OH&S standards. There is $3.686 million to fund additional activities and establish the structure, including the training academy.

There is $130,000 for management of community fire units. There is then an additional $420 million for capital as well. We provided $2.77 million to Emergency Services directly related to bushfires in response to the McLeod recommendations. I mentioned CADS. The trunk radio network compatible with New South Wales will be introduced over the next few months.

The authority has undertaken a feasibility study on the building of a new headquarters facility to replace the inadequate Curtin facility. We will shortly be considering the recommendation of the study prior to commencing work on the design and construction.

Talking about construction—after you people did not seem to do very much—the turning of the sod for the new Woden Police Station is not far away. That money was provided through this government. Long on the discussion—

Mr Smyth: Three years. Three years. Long on the discussion? The plans were there

MR WOOD: Long on your discussion—but we have done the work. A great deal has happened. We are participating nationally in a whole range of areas. I will not go through every one of them. Recruitment is now underway for 36 additional fire fighters, 19 ambulance staff—I say that again: 19 new ambulance staff—150 volunteer SES members and 200 members of the rural fire service.

They have been funded. We are working through those. That is a very significant increase in power to fight all sorts of emergencies. We have significantly increased the mapping capability of the authority. We have purchased four new urban four-wheel drive bushfire fighting tankers and five additional SES command units.

There have been community education programs. A vast amount of stuff has been happening in that area. We get pathetic little claims across the way that we are not doing anything very much. Whether it is police, ambulance, fire fighting, rural fire fighting or emergency services, this government has been acting very strongly. In my period as minister, I have seen an enormous amount of new resources come in—new energy, new drive—to put us in a very strong position to attend events that might occur.

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