Page 71 - Week 01 - Tuesday, 9 February 2016
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I am pleased to report that since the Auditor-General’s report in 2013 significant advancements have been made to ensure the ACT remains ready to meet the challenges posed by bushfire both now and into the future. I would like to thank the committee for taking the last two and a half years to consider the Auditor-General’s report.
The standing committee recommends guarding against complacency. One of the ways the government has guarded against complacency is through the development and implementation of the five-year strategic bushfire management plan, which was tabled last year in the Assembly in its third version in September 2014. The government’s strategic bushfire management plan version 3 incorporated the recommendations of the 2013 Auditor-General’s report.
I am pleased to report that the majority of the Auditor-General’s recommendations are embedded into current practice. One of the Auditor-General’s recommendations sought better annual reporting on the strategic bushfire management plan to the community. To achieve this, all government directorates with bushfire management responsibilities contributed to a bushfire risk management section in the 2014-15 Justice and Community Safety Directorate annual report.
A large number of the standing committee’s recommendations have already been answered through the information provided in this bushfire risk management report in the JACS annual report. The ACT’s governance arrangements, strategic bushfire management plan and reporting show that as a jurisdiction we have robust arrangements in place for bushfire preparedness, which include good governance and oversight mechanisms, rigorous strategic planning, good levels of risk analysis, effective response planning and capability, well-tested emergency management arrangements, good levels of recurrent funding for bushfire management and transparent monitoring reporting and review.
Let me provide an overview of these arrangements to reassure the committee and members that bushfire preparedness in the territory is at the level expected by the Canberra community. Firstly in relation to governance arrangements, the principal governing legislation for bushfire management in the ACT is the Emergencies Act. The act was amended in 2014 and comprehensively reviewed in 2015. The government is currently considering the 2015 review, and we anticipate tabling an amendment act as a result of that review in the coming months.
The Emergencies Act outlines requirements for a strategic bushfire management plan, bushfire mitigation and its monitoring, a ministerial advisory body on bushfires—the the ACT Bushfire Council—and an officials group across government—the security and emergency management senior officials group.
The amendments to the legislation in 2014 delivered on a number of the Auditor-General’s recommendations, including clarifying the requirements for leaseholders in relation to bushfire mitigation on leasehold land. Whilst the Emergencies Act will be continuously improved, the current legislative framework provides effective governance for bushfire management for the territory.
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