Page 2971 - Week 09 - Wednesday, 20 September 2006
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(ab) established an Emergency Co-ordination Centre for incident response co-ordination and planning;
(ac) established a new Incident Control Centre as part of the RFS Headquarters at Fairbairn which can provide purpose-built incident management facilities for all agencies separate from the ECC;
(ad) created and published a Strategic Bushfire Management Plan, which gives a ten-year forward view of bushfire management activities, including establishing a Bushfire Abatement Zone;
(ae) developed Bushfire Operational Plans for all Government-managed lands to implement the strategies identified in the Strategic Bushfire Management Plan;
(af) established and undertaken annual audits of the Bushfire Operational Plans to ensure risks are effectively managed by GLM in the Territory;
(ag) created and distributed to all households an All Hazards Guide covering a range of different emergencies; and
(ah) created an All Hazards Warning System for the ACT, which has already been used in emergency situations.”.
Rather than trying to do anything else, I shall speak to the substantive motion and the amendment in one go to save the confusion of members thinking I might like to have two or three bites at the same cherry, which I am not entitled to do.
The strategic bushfire management plan was released in early 2005. At the time of its release it was envisaged that a revised version could be produced before the legislative revision in 2010, so jumping up and down looking for version before 2010 is being a little pre-emptive. However, I think the record should be clear that the current plan is a very well constructed and coherent document that provides sound strategic direction for the preparation of bushfire operational plans across the territory.
The plan is a series of guidelines which are already effective in helping the departments and landowners within the ACT to develop bushfire operational plans, or BOPs, for the areas for which they are responsible. These detailed bushfire operational plans lead to very comprehensive bushfire mitigation works being undertaken on an annual basis.
We should be wary of rushing too quickly into revising the SBMP. Remember, the government has only recently determined the new land management arrangements for the territory and the government has only recently made a final decision on land use for the lower Cotter catchment. Both of these issues are significant in terms of revision of the SBMP. The report on the coroner’s inquiry into the 2003 bushfires will be published in the near future. It may well contain recommendations related to the SBMP. That is another issue of significance as to why we should not rush to revise the plan until the findings of the coroner are known.
The current strategic bushfire management plan incorporates all land tenures across the ACT, and you will not find that in other states of Australia. It is already a very
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