Page 3560 - Week 12 - Tuesday, 20 November 2007
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . .
impression that there are landowners who are not being helpful. All landowners, I know, take their responsibilities very seriously in terms of fire management on their properties. I do not want to suggest for a moment that there are landowners and land managers who do not.
Mrs Dunne: You did just a minute ago.
MR CORBELL: I am clarifying my comments, Mr Speaker, because I do not want them to be misconstrued by serial misconstruers such as Mrs Dunne. What I want to make clear is that, where landowners—
Mr Stefaniak: Point of order on that: “a serial misconstruer” is completely unparliamentary, Mr Speaker.
MR SPEAKER: To suggest that people misunderstand things is hardly—
Mrs Dunne: Point of order, Mr Speaker: “misconstruer” implies malice.
Mr Barr: We know you’ve got plenty of that—
Mrs Dunne: While we are on the subject, we might get Mr Barr to withdraw that as well.
MR SPEAKER: I missed whatever that was.
Mr Barr: Sorry, Mr Speaker. I withdraw.
MR SPEAKER: Thank you. Just bear with me for a while; this is a first. It merely means “to misunderstand”. I could not rule that to be unparliamentary, Mrs Dunne.
MR CORBELL: In response to Mrs Dunne’s question, the RFS and the ESA work closely with rural landholders and other land managers. There is also close contact between many rural land holders and the volunteer brigades in different districts around the territory. For all of those mechanisms, formal and informal, there are statutory powers available to the ESA to enforce conditions of bushfire operational plans and in particular fire management planning. Fortunately, and I think favourably, they are not employed often, because a cooperative approach is always preferable, and that is the approach which is continually adopted through both those formal and those informal contacts between representatives of the ESA, RFS and rural landholders and land managers.
Emergency Services Agency—relocation of headquarters
MR SMYTH: Mr Speaker, my question is to the minister for emergency services. Minister, during the estimates hearings this year you confirmed that there were a number of components of the Emergency Services Agency that had not made the transition from Curtin to Fairbairn.
Minister, as effective communications is one of the most critical components of the Agency, when do you anticipate that the communications centre will transfer from
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . .