Page 2752 - Week 09 - Wednesday, 12 August 2015
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(b) the establishment of three executive positions to oversee support services will not lead to improved efficiencies and effectiveness in emergency service provision for ACT residents; and
(c) while the ESA had taken steps to establish operational capabilities across the ACTF&R and ACTRFS following the 2003 bushfires, there is now a perceived reversion to pre-2003 structures and mindset; and
(2) calls on the Government to:
(a) re-establish the ESA as a statutory authority, independent of the Justice and Community Safety Directorate, and to be headed by a chief executive officer; and
(b) make redundant the role of the Commissioner with amendments to the Emergencies Act 2004 with new arrangements including the Chief Police Officer to be made Emergency Controller.
All here would remember the disastrous fires of 18 January 2003, and many would remember the aftermath. There is now a well-established cycle called the bushfire cycle—some call it the cycle of complacency, whereby following a significant event you see lots of government interaction. They set up authorities, they fund lots of things, they buy lots of trucks, they build lots of structures, but then over time apathy sets in and the effort diminishes, until you have another major event whereby you go through the same routine. We see this in the ACT. We see that some organisations, be they volunteer or employee based, are very concerned about the return to the bad old days of 2003.
The problem is that in 2003, following the McLeod and Doogan inquiries, everyone agreed there should be a stat authority. It was formed, and it lasted for about three years. Three years, and the Emergency Services Authority was dragged back into JACS. Since then, as one looks at the last nine years, it has not been a particularly happy relationship. So today I have moved this motion to again say that emergency services in this city should be a statutory authority with direct access to the minister without any filtering of any kind by any department.
There are many who are calling for this—volunteers in the Rural Fire Service, volunteers in the State Emergency Services. Members privately in the Ambulance Service have said the same thing to me. Indeed we know that there is a letter from the United Firefighters Union of Australia saying exactly the same thing. They are worried about the arrangements that this minister is putting in place, and they are worried that it is a return to what they see as the very poor set-up that existed in 2003. They say:
The United Firefighters Union (ACT Branch) raises significant concerns regarding the proposed changes to the executive structure of the ESA. The position of executive support services was created approximately three years ago to oversee areas of support of the ESA, and irrespective of continual complaints from the service no substantial improvements have been made to any of these areas.
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