Page 411 - Week 02 - Thursday, 8 March 2007
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Emergency services—restructure
MR SMYTH (Brindabella) (5.06): I want to talk about Mr Corbell’s autocratic approach to emergency management in the ACT. What we saw yesterday, delivered from on high and not open to discussion—a top-down approach to emergency management by this minister—has been sadly condemned by all who have been asked for an opinion. Val Jeffery, who was so vilified today by the minister, is against this proposal. ACT Volunteer Fire Brigades Association president Pat Barling, who has provided many years of service to the rivers brigade, described it as:
…another kick in the guts for rural firefighters who were furious at the lack of consultation. It’s basically a single fire service model by default and the SES and RFS will be pushed to the side.
Paul Cortese from the SES leaders group said exactly the same thing. There is a lack of consultation, a lack of consideration and a lack of understanding of what really happens on the ground. The question is: why is it being done? During question time we were given an answer by the minister, and this is approximately what he said, “The reasons to maintain the ESA within the JACS portfolio are that they are about ensuring that the organisation works within its budget and ensuring that the taxpayer does not pay for duplicated service.”
What about giving consideration to the fact that we need more effective responses to emergencies? What about responding by stating that this would lead to greater units on the ground? What about responding by stating that this would cause more volunteers to come forward and join the service? No, this is all about cost cutting. It is about cost cutting because of ministers’ ineffective financial management. Over the past two years the minister allowed, because the minister is responsible—and Mr Speaker you would know this because you were a minister—overruns of $5 million in the ESA. It overran its budget by $10 million. Because of that we will now get a second-rate emergency management system in the ACT.
All we have is this autocratic approach from Mr Corbell. What about all the work that has been done over the past four years by McLeod and Doogan? They said, “Listen to the locals. Listen to the experience. Listen to the volunteers and provide a system for them that enables them to do their job.” Volunteers are frozen out of this organisation. They are frozen out of what Mr Corbell is doing because he is arrogant. This is an arrogant response from an autocrat who does not want to consult and it is in direct denial of the government’s consultation manual.
The minister wants to ignore the VBA because he does not like what it has to say. He wants to ignore the SES leaders group because it does not fit with what he wants to do, and he wants to ignore the 50 years of experience of Val Jeffery because it does not accord with what he wants. Val Jeffery, a bushfire captain for many years, was president of the Bushfire Council for 12 years at a time when the Bushfire Council had control of hundreds of volunteers. So he led a bureaucratic organisation that had control of large numbers of people.
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