Page 508 - Week 03 - Wednesday, 14 March 2007
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community to emergencies. The minister’s amendment must be defeated. (Time expired.)
MR GENTLEMAN (Brindabella) (11.19): I support Minister Corbell’s amendment to Mr Pratt’s motion. Mr Pratt moved:
That this Assembly …
(2) rejects the new structure of the Emergency Services Agency and calls on the Government to immediately re-establish a statutory authority …
I remind members that this is just five days after he publicly told the Canberra community that he would give the new structure a go. Mr Pratt is concerned about restructuring but he must realise that organisations go through changes, and sometimes these are significant changes. Perhaps Mr Pratt would rather the government was not tackling the ESA’s $5 million overspend. Perhaps Mr Pratt would rather the ESA did not seek to modernise and streamline its management practices. I believe that the new structure for the ESA is forward thinking and looking to a future that will result in a more coordinated approach to emergency planning and response to the community of the ACT.
I know that some volunteers have criticised the new structure, but the government is confident that the volunteers will see the benefits to them once the new structure is fully implemented. Separate silos prevent an organisation from effectively sharing its skills and resources. The territory is a small jurisdiction; therefore, it is important that we work together to serve the ACT community.
I state today that the government does not support the re-establishment of the Emergency Services Authority at this time. The Emergency Services Agency was included in the Department of Justice and Community Safety in the middle of last year to reduce the duplication of administrative functions and to improve financial management. Since this change the agency has maintained its operational autonomy and its direct line to the minister. In fact, the operational autonomy of the agency is enshrined in the Emergencies Act 2004 and this cannot be changed without amendments being made by this Assembly.
This motion calls on the government immediately to re-establish the Emergency Services Authority to streamline the chain of command and ministerial oversight. The motion seems to be based on a number of myths about the new structure of the Emergency Services Agency and about the benefits of an authority structure. Mr Pratt’s public response to the restructure last week was to indicate that he is unaware that all governments across Australia, with the exception of New South Wales, are structuring their emergency services in a similar way to the ACT.
In Victoria the Department of Justice brings together activities concerned with reform, administration and enforcement of law. Members would be correct in thinking that that sounds similar to our Department of Justice and Community Safety. It is worth noting that the Victorian Department of Justice includes the police force, the court and prison systems, tribunals that protect citizens’ rights, and emergency services. The structure of the department is an executive committee made up of a secretary, eight
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