Page 2535 - Week 08 - Thursday, 30 August 2007
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It has been at least two years since announcements were made that this government, rather than re-building Curtin, would redeploy the entire array to Fairbairn. To this point we have seen about 20 per cent to 25 per cent of the organisation move. The minister is going to have to answer questions in the not too distant future, I fear, about the state of the buildings at Fairbairn, the progress of the relocation and what is holding it up. He will also have to answer questions about the rents being paid for buildings at Fairbairn and how much of those rents now amounts to dead money.
I now go on to talk about the ambulance service. The ACT Ambulance Service is set to receive funding of $4.9 million over four years for staffing and vehicles in this year’s budget, including funding for 16 additional staffing positions and four new ambulances. They are specialist ambulances. They are not general front-line vehicles. Again this is playing catch-up.
Mr Barr: Two of them are, Mr Pratt.
MR PRATT: Two of them are, okay. You raise me two and I will raise you two. Previously we have seen an ambulance service that is overstretched. While the budget funding goes some way to address the problem of insufficient teams to meet the seven teams per shift requirement, it is clear that the shifts remain under strength. The minister must ensure that training and appropriate classifications are upgraded so that ambulance teams have sufficient depth to adequately serve the ACT community and ensure that appropriate recognition and conditions are attributed to these valuable professionals.
On the question of ambulances, we are reminded of the situation last year where it became quite clear that front-line ambulances have been overstretched. I understand that with the restructure of hours and shifts and additional training, the situation has improved but we remain wary of whether the seven shifts, 24 hours, seven days, are going to become a reality. There is still also the question of the technical officers and the reclassification of ambulance officers to see whether that provides the additional front-line capacity that apparently has been lacking.
I will finish by saying this: the problems clearly revolve around a lot of confidence lost by the volunteers and many permanent officers over the ESA restructure. Mr Corbell and I have argued about a thousand times about the wisdom or otherwise of removing the ESA from an independent authority to an agency under the umbrella of JACS, and I am sure that we will continue to do that. He says that it was very important and necessary. I understand his logic, but I disagree with it, that that move allowed him to get close ministerial oversight or departmental oversight, but that was not necessary.
Governments all over this world have independent authorities operating in particular strategically important areas, and they still maintain ministerial oversight of their administration and their financial management. The opposition maintains that those arrangements can be put back in place so government can maintain oversight, so FireLinks are not repeated and so emergency service remains an operationally responsive entity that can react to protect our community without being encumbered by bureaucracy. But the Labor Party loves bureaucracy because its members are control freaks, and it is a lot easier to keep things that much under control.
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