Page 3609 - Week 12 - Tuesday, 22 October 2013
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plan. That is designed to give the ACT the best protection we can against the coming fire season.
I cannot walk in here and guarantee (a) there will be no bushfires or (b) those bushfires will not threaten the community in some way. It has been quite clear from the Emergency Services Commissioner that we are facing a potentially difficult season, with high levels of grass growth and the potential for dry and hot conditions. That does create a difficult environment. The bushfire operational plan has been implemented to best protect the Canberra community and that is what TAMS is working on.
MADAM SPEAKER: A supplementary question, Ms Berry.
MS BERRY: Minister, can you describe the maintenance or repair work that you just mentioned that is being carried out on trails behind Dunlop and west Macgregor?
MR RATTENBURY: Thank you for the question, Ms Berry. I will take those specific trails on notice so that I can give you an answer because I know that you have a great interest in Belconnen and the suburbs in your electorate. So that I can give you the best possible advice, I will take that particular question on notice for that level of detail.
MADAM SPEAKER: A supplementary question, Ms Lawder.
MS LAWDER: Minister, why were six of the identified fire trail maintenance activities not completed?
MR RATTENBURY: As was explained in the annual report hearings on Friday, some projects are not completed in the year they are scheduled to be completed, and that is because circumstances change and priorities change through the course of the year. Mr Iglesias, the senior official from TAMS who was with me in the committee on Friday, explained that in some detail.
He identified, for example, when a major storm event occurs and certain priority areas of a track get damaged, it may be that a lower priority work will be rolled over into the following year so that resources can be dedicated to the higher priority work. And that higher priority work may be an area that is a critical point of access and has particular strategic significance.
I think members would agree it makes sense in those circumstances that a work that perhaps was a long-term maintenance requirement and that can be put off for another year should be put off so that those critical works can be undertaken. That is the nature of why some projects do get deferred into further years.
Royalla solar farm
MR GENTLEMAN: My question is to the Minister for the Environment and Sustainable Development. Minister, last week you officiated at the sod-turning event for the solar farm at Royalla. Can you tell the Assembly what this means for the project.
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