Page 593 - Week 03 - Thursday, 15 March 2007
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equipping our ambulance officers. That is where it should be spent, that is what our commitment is, and that is what we are now setting about trying to achieve.
Let us talk about some of the other issues that are dealt with in the restructure. One of the biggest complaints in terms of the management of this organisation is how units are dispatched to fires. You talk to any volunteer and they will say very clearly, “We are frustrated by the fact that we are stood up at a shed, ready to go to a fire and we see some other unit being dispatched ahead of us to the fire, even though we know we are the closest. Why is this happening?”
This is a serious problem and the restructure proposes changes to that. It proposes reducing the costs of staffing the Comcen with paid firefighters and it proposes a civilianisation of the Comcen in the same way as has been achieved in relation to the ambulance service, so that the best unit gets sent to the fire—not, “Well, it’s this service” or “It’s that service.”
These are the issues that the government is focused on addressing. But, unfortunately, it is this level of detail which those opposite refuse to engage in because they are welded on to the simplistic answer. The simplistic answer is a statutory authority and the world will be full of lollipops and roses. But it is simply not the case. And if they want to seriously suggest that they have a better idea about managing emergency services, they need to do better than simply suggest that it is a statutory authority or it is nothing. They need to spell out in detail how they will improve issues around training, risk management and analysis, coordination between the various services, the operation of the Comcen and all those matters. Mr Pratt has had nearly three years as the shadow minister and he has provided answers on none of that except to say, “Make it a statutory authority; that’ll fix it.” Well, Mr Speaker, I am sorry, but it just does not cut it. It just does not cut it.
Mr Pratt: You will see the detail.
MR CORBELL: We will?
Mr Pratt: Yes, you will.
MR CORBELL: We have been waiting nearly three years, Mr Pratt. But it is coming Mr Pratt says.
Mr Pratt: Time of my bloody choosing—not yours, son.
MR CORBELL: I know that Mr Pratt needs a bit of time, you know, to work through these issues, but I would have thought if he had such strong opinions on this matter he would have dealt with these before now.
I want to conclude with the action that we saw this morning. I understand that volunteers are angry. I understand that change is a difficult thing and it can be a very confronting thing. What I have said to volunteers this morning is that I will continue to sit down with them, and the commissioner will continue to sit down with them, and talk to them about the detail of the proposals so that they can better understand what the objectives are.
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