Page 1583 - Week 05 - Thursday, 5 May 2016
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The bill also amends the consultation role of the council in relation to ESA appointments. These changes remove any potential for conflicts of interests among council members, and better reflect the council’s role as an advisory body.
In relation to restricting high-risk activities during total fire bans, the bill creates a new offence of undertaking a high-risk activity in the open during a total fire ban period. It is already an offence to light a fire during a total fire ban, but the act does not specifically address activities that do not themselves necessarily involve the use of fire but which may cause a fire to ignite when undertaken in an open area. This is in contrast to the position adopted in most other jurisdictions.
High-risk activities have been defined to include welding, grinding, soldering and gas cutting. These activities have regularly been responsible for grass and bushfire ignitions and have been assessed to be of the highest risk for the ACT. The bill also creates the power for additional high-risk activities to be prescribed by regulation.
I turn to the proposal to increase penalties for lighting a fire during a total fire ban. Given that the risks associated with lighting a fire during a total fire ban may be considerably higher than lighting a fire during other periods, it is appropriate that the penalty for lighting a fire during a total fire ban be at the higher end of the range of penalties applying to bushfire-related offences. Increasing the maximum penalty will assist ongoing ACT government deterrence efforts against people who jeopardise community safety by deliberately lighting fires to threaten life, property or the environment.
I go to the provisions proposing to give the Chief Officer of the Rural Fire Service, RFS, powers in relation to fire prevention of premises. The act defines premises very broadly and includes any land, structure or vehicle or any part of any area of land, a structure or a vehicle. Currently the Chief Officer of the RFS has no power to act to address a risk to public safety or to the safety of people who are or are likely to be at the premises, even in the rural area, where the Chief Officer of the RFS is responsible for fire preparedness and fire response. This amendment ensures that the Chief Officer of the RFS is able to fulfil their statutory responsibilities for ensuring fire preparedness and response in the rural area by acting to address a risk to public safety in premises.
I turn to permissions to interfere with fire appliances. Section 190 of the act creates a number of offences relating to interfering with fire appliances, hydrants or alarms. The offences reflect the significant danger posed by persons interfering with these devices so as to prevent their effective operation. However, it is sometimes necessary for people to interfere with these appliances, such as for maintenance work on the appliances themselves. The act currently allows member of ACT Fire & Rescue, a member of the RFS or a police officer to give permission to interfere with an appliance. This amendment extends the power to give permission to do other acts that would otherwise be an offence under the section, such as isolating a fire alarm to prevent maintenance works triggering the alarm.
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