Page 517 - Week 02 - Wednesday, 13 February 2013
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . . Video
matters, the review identified seven key actions to be undertaken. I understand that of the seven key actions identified in the Bushfire Council review, all have been implemented, with three items being of an ongoing nature.
An example of the issues that have been addressed since the Bushfire Council’s review is the significant work undertaken by the ACT Rural Fire Service to strengthen links with New South Wales agencies and to participate in cross-border exercises and activities. The ESA has a memorandum of understanding with the New South Wales Rural Fire Service and the New South Wales National Parks and Wildlife Service, as well as mutual aid agreements with the surrounding New South Wales Rural Fire Service zones.
In addition to incident management and interoperability with New South Wales, the ACT Rural Fire Service has, for the last two years, participated in incident management exercises with the New South Wales Rural Fire Service at both the regional and zone level. The ACT Rural Fire Service has developed a strong rapport with surrounding New South Wales Rural Fire Service zones, and as part of that memorandum of understanding has developed a robust communications capability between the services.
There have also been cross-border operational exercises, with the New South Wales Rural Fire Service and surrounding zones participating every year in the ACT Rural Fire Service field day, when crews get the opportunity to work together in an operational environment.
Canberra may experience more catastrophic bushfires in the future; however, our response will be much different. The significant reforms implemented by the government over the last 10 years will make a huge difference to the safety and wellbeing of Canberrans during the next major bushfire.
What will be equally critical, however, in our response to the next major bushfire is the extent to which Canberrans themselves prepare for such events. Public awareness and community education play an important role in this, and significant improvements have been implemented in this area, including the use of social media, the new emergency alert system and the “prepare, act, survive” messaging to the community.
The new Emergencies Act 2004 established the position of ESA commissioner, who has the responsibility for the coordination and strategic management of the ESA. The legislation also gave each of the services unambiguous roles, and it clearly described the functions of each of the service chief officers. Similarly, the governance, management structure and operational preparedness within the ESA have been strengthened. This legislation has since been amended to provide the ESA commissioner with enhanced powers. These reforms are significant and ongoing.
Since the 2003-04 budget the government has increased the ESA’s recurrent funding by approximately $55.6 million or 169 per cent. There has been significant investment in new firefighting, specialist and command vehicles for the emergency services fleet, more firefighters and an upgrading of the emergency services facilities and equipment.
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . . Video