Page 3165 - Week 10 - Wednesday, 24 September 2014
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . . Video
MR CORBELL: I withdraw, Mr Assistant Speaker. But whether he deludes himself into believing these or whether he knows that what he claims is untrue is really the issue at play here. Mr Smyth’s motion attempts to detract the focus of the community from all of the significant achievements of our emergency services and the commitments the government has made to support and enhance the ESA’s functions and capability.
Today I am going to start by addressing what the government has done to support our emergency services, in particular what I as the minister have sought and received support of the government on to ensure that our emergency services can do their job. The government has significantly invested in emergency services and this was recognised by the Auditor-General in her bushfire preparedness audit report last year, where she noted the government had increased the ESA’s recurrent funding from the level of $44.8 million in 2004-05 to $104.3 million in the most recent financial year, a 133 per cent increase in funding.
With that funding we have ensured, as a government, that there are new ambulances, new vehicles for Fire & Rescue, RFS and SES, specialist and command vehicles for the emergency services fleet, as well as investing in more firefighters on the ground, more front-line ambulance officers. We have also invested in the provision of new and upgraded emergency services facilities and equipment. This has been demonstrated through the new state-of-the-art ESA headquarters at Fairbairn, the very well-received and supported multipurpose ESA training centre at Hume, the construction at Hume of the helibase and hangar facility to support rural fire aviation operations, a new ACTRFS station for the Tidbinbilla brigade, upgrades to the Rivers and Jerrabomberra stations, over 50 community fire units in the ACT, to name just a few.
But these investments have also included significant funding to implement stages 1 and 2 of the ACT Ambulance Service sustainable front-line resourcing model which has seen a total growth of 51 front-line and support staff in the Ambulance Service as well as, of course, the government’s commitment to ongoing cultural growth through initiatives such as the women in the emergency services strategy initiative.
Since 20l2-13 this Labor government has made further significant funding investments in our emergency services, including capital funding of over $18 million for the development and delivery of the west Belconnen co-located ambulance and Fire & Rescue station. Name for me any firefighter in the ACT who does not think that is a fantastic facility to be based in. There has been $17.95 million for the south Tuggeranong Fire & Rescue station to improve fire response times for people who live in the Lanyon valley in particular, $20.8 million for the Aranda co-located Ambulance and Fire & Rescue station which will see a state-of-the-art fire and rescue facility in Aranda and will mark the completion of stage 1 of the station’s upgrade and relocation program.
There has been $7.4 million for the territory’s radio network and computer-aided dispatch replacement, $9.5 million for stage 2 of the ACTAS sustainable front-line resourcing model, $3.4 million for the replacement of the ESA’s cardiac monitors and
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . . Video