Page 1052 - Week 04 - Thursday, 3 May 2007
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period in which the Territory continues to lease the Narrabundah Long Stay Caravan Park site and up until such time as the land swap has been completed.
(3) Koomarri made a payment of $750,000 to the Territory on 30 August 2006.
Emergency Services Agency—funding
(Question No 1542)
Dr Foskey asked the Minister for Police and Emergency Services, upon notice, on 15 March 2007:
(1) Is the Minister or the Emergency Services Agency (ESA) aware of the impact of section 44 in the NSW Rural Fire Service (RFS) and its link to federal funding for NSW RFS activities;
(2) Is the Minister or the ESA aware of any implications of that section 44 funding to decisions made by the NSW RFS in fighting the Macintyre’s Hut fire in January 2003;
(3) Does the ACT have a nominee on the board of the National Aerial Firefighting Centre (NAFC) Ltd;
(4) Are there directors’ fees paid for that position;
(5) What are the costs to the ACT for that involvement;
(6) How has the activities of the NAFC Ltd been fed into ESA operations and decision making.
Mr Corbell: The answer to the member’s question is as follows:
(1) Yes.
(2) The question falls within the sub judice convention and I therefore do not propose to provide an answer or enter debate concerning the question. The relevant court proceedings are the current ACT Supreme Court proceedings arising from the January 2003 bushfires.
(3) Yes.
(4) No.
(5) $0.932m in its first year (2003/2004 Second Appropriation) and $0.732m per year thereafter.
(6) The ACT Rural Fire Service Chief Officer is currently a member of the NAFC Board of Directors, and the ACT RFS Deputy Chief Officer is a member of the Wildfire Aviation Technical Group, which advises the board on operational matters concerning the use of aircraft for fire management operations. The ACT has had two aircraft on contract each fire season since the 2003 fires, under the NAFC contracts. This has allowed access to Federal funding that assists in covering standby costs for these aircraft. NAFC arrangements also allow for collaborative resource sharing arrangements between agencies as and where aircraft are most needed. This was well demonstrated by the strategic basing of the Ericson Skycrane in Canberra this last
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