Page 1999 - Week 06 - Thursday, 9 June 2016

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The chief officer and deputy chief officer are public servants. Their job is to perform their duties professionally to meet their obligations under the Public Sector Management Act and their obligations under the Emergencies Act. The proposed change reflects the fact that it is not for the council to make judgements about the individual person, particularly given that the council is not a selection committee. There has actually been a selection committee process separate from consultation with the council under the current arrangements. The council’s job is to ensure that the person being appointed has the relevant experience. This proposed change provides for the council to be consulted and to give its views on what experience and criteria should be applied to ensure that appropriate people are appointed to these important positions. I think that is a reasonable change, because its focus is on the experience needed and on the expertise required, not on the specific individual.

The review of the Emergencies Act concluded that these functions do not exist in similar bodies in other jurisdictions. In particular, in New South Wales, none of the statutory bushfire-related advisory committees—the Bush Fire Coordinating Committee, the Rural Fire Service Advisory Council or the Fire Services Joint Standing Committee—has any statutory role in relation to the appointment of the chief officer or any other member of the New South Wales RFS. I think it is worth making that point. That is the largest rural fire service in the world, and they seem to be able to get it right in terms of the appointment of relevant personnel without their advisory bodies being directly involved in the identity of the person that assumes those positions.

It is, I think, important that the expertise represented on the Bushfire Council informs the criteria—the professional requirements, the professional experience—needed for a person to properly fill and perform those roles. That is what this change is about.

Question put:

That clause 5 be agreed to.

The Assembly voted—

Question so resolved in the affirmative.

Clause 5 agreed to.

Clauses 6 to 10, by leave, taken together and agreed to.

Clause 11.

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