Page 4037 - Week 13 - Wednesday, 30 October 2013
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do so. It is the job of the operational leaders of the services to make sure these things are done.
I have every confidence in our operational leaders. Really, the question for Mr Smyth is: does he have confidence in the operational leaders? They are charged with the statutory responsibility of ensuring that the services are delivering in terms of the operational response. They are charged with that. Is Mr Smyth saying he does not have confidence in the Chief Officer of the Rural Fire Service, that he does not have confidence in the Chief Officer of the ACT Ambulance Service, that he has no confidence in the Chief Officer of the State Emergency Services, and that he does not support the work done by the Chief Officer of ACT Fire and Rescue? You would think, having listened to his speech today, that he has very serious concerns about the way they do their jobs. Well, if that is the case, why does he not just say so? But he always squibs it.
Let me address the issues Mr Smyth has raised in his motion, first of all, the issue of first responder medical training and pay. Let me remind Mr Smyth that in 2004 the ACT Fire Brigade work value case that looked at the level of pay for firefighters in the ACT deliberately took into consideration the first medical response role they perform when determining the new base pay rates for firefighters. So, contrary to the claims of Mr Smyth, the responsibilities of our firefighters when it comes to their first responder medical capability have already been taken account of in their base rates of pay. It is an absolutely absurd and misinformed allegation from Mr Smyth in relation to that proposal.
In relation to the draft terms of reference for the capability review to be carried out by the Justice and Community Safety Directorate, I assume what Mr Smyth is referring to here is the expenditure review being undertaken as announced in the budget by the Chief Minister and Treasury Directorate. The purpose of this expenditure review is to identify the process for critically reviewing expenditure and ways to improve services while delivering operational efficiencies across the agency. This review is important. It is being undertaken in a transparent and consultative manner with stakeholders, and consultation is underway in terms of the conduct of the review, including the representatives of the relevant services.
I turn to the issue of cross-crewing. This is a practice where a single crew is able to respond in more than one appliance depending on the type of call. It has been used very effectively by ACT Fire and Rescue since 1994—since 1994. So all through the term of the Liberal government when Mr Smyth was the minister, cross-crewing was standard practice, as it is still today. That means that on days of relatively low fire danger, ACT Fire and Rescue crews respond with the most appropriate vehicle depending on the type of call—whether that is an urban pumper for a structure fire or whether it is a bushfire tanker for a grass or bushfire. But on days of elevated or higher fire danger, cross-crewing is not used. Instead, dedicated crewing, additional firefighters, are put on duty to respond with either vehicle as needed. So there is a dedicated crew sitting ready to go for the pumper and the tanker or light unit. So, once again, Mr Smyth gets it wrong.
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