Page 1998 - Week 06 - Thursday, 9 June 2016
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So we will be opposing clause 5, clause 11, clause 15 and clause 46, because in effect they gut the Bushfire Council of the ACT.
MR CORBELL (Molonglo—Deputy Chief Minister, Attorney-General, Minister for Capital Metro, Minister for Health, Minister for Police and Emergency Services and Minister for the Environment and Climate Change) (7.59): Madam Speaker, I reject the assertion by the shadow minister on this matter. The Bushfire Council will continue to perform a range of very important functions. The Bushfire Council has always been there as a watchdog for the community and the minister on the effectiveness of our planning and preparedness and response capability to fire. That is why it is there.
In my previous tenure as minister and my current tenure as minister in this portfolio, my view has always been, and it is embodied in the powers of the Bushfire Council, that it is there to make sure that the RFS, the ESA and the land managers are all doing their jobs to try to mitigate and be as well prepared as possible for fire. They have the capacity to report to the minister and draw to the attention of the minister problems that they believe exist and need to be remedied. When a report is given to the minister, it cannot just be given to the minister and never see the light of day; the minister has to provide it to this place. They perform a very important accountability and watchdog role. That is unchanged. The composition of the council will always be that it has the breadth of experience and expertise across a range of disciplines to be able to give that advice.
Mr Smyth bemoans the fact that certain capabilities are not required to be there but there must be endeavours for them to be there, that the minister must endeavour to make sure that they are there. Look at the practice, Mr Smyth. Look at the practice over the past decade or more. What has been the practice of governments: I as the minister, my predecessors as ministers? We have maintained the appointment of people with significant fire expertise, significant fire science capability.
Mr Smyth: So why change it?
MR CORBELL: We are not changing that part, Mr Smyth.
Mr Smyth: You are.
MR CORBELL: We are not. It is exactly the same arrangements for those people now as it will be under the new legislation.
Madam Speaker, Mr Smyth is jumping at shadows, but I guess that is what oppositions have to do from time to time.
The provisions in relation to the appointment of chief officer and deputy chief officer or a volunteer member to a position of senior rank—that is, a paid position in the service—and the changes around this are, I believe, sensible.
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