Page 4010 - Week 11 - Wednesday, 16 Sept 2009
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We must not let complacency overcome the way in which we must prepare for each bushfire season.
It is instructive to consider some comments that have been made in Victoria, following the release of the interim report of the royal commission. These comments are a poignant reminder of what we do not do following major emergencies. Earlier this month, the Emergency Services Commissioner in Victoria, Mr Bruce Esplin, expressed his frustration over the failure to implement recommendations that he had made as far back as 2003. Commissioner Esplin said:
We need a mechanism to ensure the lessons that come out of all emergencies, not just the catastrophic events like 7 February, are learnt and, importantly, implemented.
Commissioner Esplin also said:
I’d be a liar if I said I wasn’t frustrated in seeing the similarities between what I said in 2003 and what the commission said in 2009.
Am I surprised at Mr Esplin’s frustration? Not at all. We do need a process to ensure that the right lessons are learned, the right actions are taken and the right preparations are made to mitigate the issues following future emergencies. And this is the purpose of the bill today.
I have referred already to the Ellis report. The collective learning that was brought together in this report was extensive, and this information remains completely relevant today. An essential insight into bushfires that was made in this report is that bushfires cannot be prevented. They are a fact of life in Australia, as they are in many other countries. The critical issue faced by communities is how to minimise the risk of harm that will be caused by a bushfire. So the imperative is risk mitigation, not total bushfire prevention. I can only repeat: we cannot stop bushfires starting. What we can do is take all possible action to mitigate the effects of bushfires.
Having established the premise that we should be minimising the risk of bushfires, what does that lead to? It leads logically to communities understanding this imperative about bushfires and acting accordingly. Hence, we must act to minimise the risk that a bushfire poses to people, to assets and to the natural environment. The key activity in this context is preparation. It is essential to have appropriate reporting to ensure that the preparations are as sound as possible, in accordance with the conclusions reached in the Ellis report in 2004. The situation has not changed since the Ellis report was published in 2004. Indeed, the situation has not changed for many years. Bushfires have occurred; bushfires will continue to occur. What we must do now is act to mitigate the effect of the bushfires.
Let me turn to the detail of the bill. What the bill proposes is that the minister will table a bushfire preparedness report. It will be tabled, effectively, sometime in August for consideration by the committee in September, and with the minister to present a final report or an updated report to the Assembly before the start of the fire season.
Clause 85H of the bill looks at the previous season. It asks what was the number of total bushfires attended, the total area of land burnt by the bushfires, the cost to the
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