Page 3188 - Week 10 - Wednesday, 18 October 2006
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down a ministerial edict to stop this rot going on. You can legislate here quickly to put at rest the minds of our volunteer brigades and units so that they can get back to the job of preparing for the bushfire season.
I have been told by various experienced volunteers that this nonsense, the so-called financial and legal advice about brigade and unit bank accounts, has been going on for decades. It has been popping up and then it gets suppressed. The opposition is going to fix this now. At least we have the intention to fix this now, to get the minister’s and the bureaucrats’ hands off the money, if that is the case. We have tabled legislation here today and we invite the minister to take it up and sign off on it, if necessary, or at least support our legislation and vote with us in November so that we can implement the measures that need to be taken to get this ridiculous situation put to bed. I call upon the government to join with us and do this now in what is really a case of resolving an issue in days and weeks rather than in six months.
Finally, I stress the salient points of this amendment bill. The amendment bill seeks to ensure the following:
• bushfire brigades and SES units may hold bank accounts for the purpose of raising funds from the community for operational training and administrative purpose; and
• bushfire brigades and SES units will be permitted to spend funds so raised for operational, training and administrative purposes, in accordance with accepted financial management practice.
The amendment bill will:
• deem that volunteers selected or delegated by brigades/units will manage such accounts;
• furthermore, and importantly, authorise the Auditor-General to undertake audits of brigade/unit accounts if the AG wishes; and
• remove any doubt about the classification of such moneys raised by brigades/units.
The amendment bill states under section 6, subsection (5):
To avoid any doubt—
(a) money held or applied under this section is not public money; and
(b) the Financial Management Act 1996 does not apply to money held or applied, or a banking account maintained, under this section.
We believe that this bill puts in place the measures needed to ensure that any anomalies that may exist as a consequence of the introduction of the Emergencies Act 2004 and the requirements of the FMA do not allow this confusion to continue. We think that this bill firewalls any of those concerns and that this bill should give the minister the confidence to be able to turn around and say, “Brigades/units, get on with it. Here is your instrument. Carry on as you have traditionally done since you started fighting bushfires in this country 150 years ago. Continue to raise your funds and continue to spend your
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