Page 3187 - Week 10 - Wednesday, 18 October 2006
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If this is going to be the accidental by-product of the relatively new Emergencies Act 2004 or an excuse for the government or its senior bureaucrats to seize and control such funds, then this will be outrageously unacceptable. We want the minister to tell us what condition this is. Is it the accidental by-product of sloppy new legislation or is it a bureaucratic attempt, at whatever level of governance, perhaps even at RFS and SES headquarters level, to seize the brigade/SES-raised funds? That matter needs to be made clear. The minister needs to tell this place which condition this is. Is it simply a silly anomaly that popped up as a consequence of the 2004 enabled Emergencies Act or is it a case that some silly bureaucrat has seen an opportunity to extend their power and take away from units the independence that a lot of bureaucrats don’t like to see units having? Is that what it is? We need that point clarified and clarified quickly. And so do the brigades and units.
The Emergencies Amendment Bill that I have tabled today ensures that RFS brigades and SES units can carry on raising, holding and spending funds, as they have traditionally done. This bill will enable brigades/units to continue to raise funds for a specific purpose, that is, a new fire tender pump when the need has been identified. In the past, brigades have been able to purchase vital equipment and build necessary brigade infrastructure or carry out admin tasks or admin events that the government, the ESA, and the former SEB were, and still are, unable to fund. This Emergencies Amendment Bill will preserve this time-honoured practice.
We are very concerned that the minister has stated an intention to establish a working committee and address the problem “at the end of the bushfire season”. Why do we need six months to sort out what should simply be an anomaly that needs to be rectified, although it is an anomaly which is impacting severely on brigade/unit morale? Why let something fester? Why let something which causes heartburn and will distract our volunteers from their essential tasks sit around on the table for six months or more?
The minister said here yesterday in question time that he thought the volunteers would prefer to wait until the end of the season to have this matter addressed. I do not know why he said that, given the tirade of correspondence and emails around the place and the expressed opinion of the volunteer captains in both the SES and the RFS about wanting to see the matter resolved now—in weeks or days, not months. I do not know why he said that yesterday. This shows poor judgment on the part of the minister. The minister has automatically cruised into bureaucratic mode. He has taken the long-committee approach to resolving a simple but testy issue.
I repeat: this is an issue that is affecting volunteer morale now. Our volunteer units are now preparing for the bushfire season. The last thing they need now is these distractions and the uncertainty that comes when you have got changes occurring at the bureaucratic and the strategic level, with the loss of Peter Dunn and with what is, hopefully, only a temporary vacuum in leadership at the senior levels of our emergency services command structure. This is not the time to be adding further concerns and impacting on the morale of these agencies.
We need to see, the community needs to see, the brigades and the units need to see and the CO of the RFS and the CO of SES need to see leadership exercised by the minister. Minister, you need to take a few minor, managed risks, override the bureaucracy and lay
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