Page 2466 - Week 08 - Tuesday, 9 August 2016
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MR CORBELL: I thank Mr Jeffery for the question. The matters he raised have been thoroughly and comprehensively reviewed through a series of independent inquiries and reports, and I refer him to those matters and the outcomes of them. What I would also say, though, is that Canberrans can have every confidence in the capacity of our emergency services to respond in a very effective way should we see similar circumstances to those that surrounded the commencement of the 2003 fires. That was, of course, a lightning strike in the Brindabella ranges in Namadgi national park or adjacent areas in New South Wales.
I would point Mr Jeffery directly to the response that the authorities demonstrated in relation to the fire that was started by a lightning strike in Namadgi national park last summer: exactly the same set of circumstances, a dry lightning storm starting a fire, inside Namadgi national park in a very remote area. We had a very short period of time to tackle that fire before weather conditions deteriorated significantly.
I can advise members that the response from the emergency services was as it should be, and that was a very heavily weighted response that involved bulldozers, that involved aerial attack using aerial appliances and that involved the deployment of remote area firefighting teams winched into the scene as well as ground crews with vehicles, even though that was limited because of the terrain in which the fire commenced. That fire was contained and extinguished in short order. That is at it should be.
It demonstrates that our emergency services have the right tactics, the right equipment and the right capability to respond to fires such as those that led to the tragedy of 2003.
MADAM SPEAKER: A supplementary question, Mr Jeffery.
MR JEFFERY: Mr Corbell, why has the government abandoned the recommendation of the McLeod inquiry to establish an independent emergency services authority as a statutory authority?
MR CORBELL: The government has ensured that there is complete statutory independence for our emergency services when it comes to their operational decision-making and roles. We have four independent chief officers who have clear and untrammelled legal capacity in their legislation to ensure that they and the services they lead can do the job they need to do to respond to an emergency.
That is the critical issue. We are not interested in creating a bureaucracy for the sake of it. We are interested, however, in making sure that our emergency services have full legal independence when it comes to their occupational capacity and that is exactly what they have.
MADAM SPEAKER: Supplementary question, Mrs Jones.
MRS JONES: Minister, why did the government fail to warn residents of Uriarra forest in 2003 until the morning of 18 January? What arrangements are in place to better protect residents of rural villages?
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