Page 51 - Week 01 - Wednesday, 28 February 2007
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(1) that the lessons of the failure to properly protect the people of Canberra from the January 2003 bushfires have not fully permeated government policy and procedures; and
(2) that the ACT Government has not ensured appropriate and adequate systems and resources are in place.”.
Esplin, Williams and Bradstock, in the Age of 12 February 2007, said:
One thing is certain: playing histrionic blame games is pointless. It discourages us from gaining the understanding needed to solve a highly complex and poorly understood problem. Getting fire management right, rather, needs hard thought and informed choices about when and where to act.
Mr Speaker, in that spirit, I commend my amendment to the Assembly.
Debate interrupted in accordance with standing order 74 and the resumption of the debate made an order of the day for a later hour.
Sitting suspended from 12.35 to 2.30 pm.
MR PRATT (Brindabella) (2.30): We have had a long-winded, defensive Greens justification as to why they have contributed—so irresponsibly—to preventative bushfire planning here in the ACT. But we have not seen any contribution to this debate. We will be rejecting Dr Foskey’s amendment. It does not go anywhere near the heart of what this debate is about. However, Dr Foskey, we invite you to bring this back next week as probably a worthwhile motion. We might like to have a talk about that.
In my capacity as both community representative and the MLA who has been the shadow minister for emergency services since late 2001, I stand here today primarily to again condemn this Chief Minister, Mr Stanhope, for his negligence around the management of the 2003 bushfire emergency; his and his ministers’ negligence in 2002, paving the way for the January 2003 disaster; and his negligent actions since 2003 in failing to get to the heart of what really went wrong—in effect, going nowhere near far enough to making the ACT community safer. In these circumstances, my condemnation of his role as Chief Minister—now finally highlighted by the findings of the Doogan coronial inquiry—causes me and my community to have no confidence in Mr Stanhope continuing as Chief Minister.
The Chief Minister hangs on his own petard, his negligence exposed for all to see, and therefore no longer deserves to continue as Chief Minister of this territory. The Doogan inquiry report is the proof that drives the final nails through the Stanhope chief ministerial coffin. Chief Minister Stanhope stands here today condemned by the fact that the only really effective inquiry into the disaster, the Doogan inquiry, was finally able to report to the ACT community on 19 December 2006, three years and 11 months, and three bushfire seasons, after the disaster—much of this delay due to his deliberate obstruction of that inquiry.
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