Page 3323 - Week 10 - Thursday, 19 October 2006
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more on emergency services and bushfire preparedness than anyone else, should have used that money wisely.
The Chief Minister is interested in history. I am a bit of a history buff as well. The previous government inherited a deficit of $344.8 million. Despite that and despite the problems for us of getting into a position to hand over a surplus to the current government, we still managed to replace 50 per cent of the vehicle fleet. Mr Smyth was quite right in saying that not a single house was burned down during that time. I will accept that Mr Stanhope is partially right in saying that previous governments could have done more.
The problem with things such as fire trails and backburning probably went to a view the Labor Party had federally and around the states in relation to leaving national parks in a pristine state to overgrow, not having the sensible trails which help in firefighting, not having most members of the community able to use them with things such as four-wheel drives, and also not taking the requisite steps there to ensure that necessary precautions were taken. That was something for which the Hawke government was famous—the deal Richo did with the Greens—and that was perpetuated here during self-government by governments of all persuasions. If there was any failure on the part of the previous Liberal government, it was probably that it did not do enough in that regard.
But there is no excuse for events after December 2001, given the wake-up call we got, and there was even less excuse, after that wake-up call, for the current government in January 2003, no excuse at all. This is not something that the opposition has cobbled together just as a stunt. I think the Chief Minister is the master of stunts. This is not something just cobbled together. This is a result of concerns by people out there on the front line. I am surprised that Mr Corbell does not appreciate that. The opposition, especially my colleagues Mr Pratt and Mr Smyth, who is a dedicated volunteer firefighter, are getting to hear about them from people out there on the front line, people who are putting their lives at risk, as does Mr Corbell, in protecting our community.
Surely we should be capable, and this government should be capable, of learning the lessons of history. Given the wonderful financial state which we left to you and which you have squandered, and you have had surplus budgets for about four of the last five years, and given the extra money you have put in, one would expect that some of the bugs would have been ironed out, one would expect that vehicles that had to be replaced would have been replaced. One would certainly expect that the communications system would work, especially when you are spending something like an extra $18 million on it. My understanding is some of the old communications system is still being used.
Mrs Dunne: That the Humphries minister put in place.
MR STEFANIAK: Indeed, that the previous government put in place, as my colleague Mrs Dunne quite rightly points out. You have put in extra money in relation to that, but we are still having trouble with the new systems that a lot of money has been spent on—the FireLink system to indicate where vehicles are and the TRN radio network. That must be immensely frustrating for people out there on the ground. That is basic. That is something one would expect the lot opposite would have got right after these years. It is basic also to expect the vehicle fleet to be fixed up and improvements made during the off season, during the winter season, rather than having major units unavailable during
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