Page 1610 - Week 05 - Wednesday, 10 May 2017
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In the event that agreement is not reached between the Chief Officers as described in this Guideline, the Emergency Services Commissioner will appoint an Incident Controller and other key IMT roles as required.
I have been advised that the IMT can take up to two hours to set up. It might be interesting for people here to note that the minister’s office has wondered what this is about, and I am now getting to the crux of what this is about. That is why I am giving a speech, and it would be good if people were listening.
Mr Rattenbury: You walked off today when the minister was clarifying a question time matter you had asked about.
MRS JONES: I was listening as I walked and I was not talking over the top of the minister, thanks Mr Rattenbury. I am glad you find it funny whether we are prepared for a bushfire or not.
MADAM DEPUTY SPEAKER: Order, Mrs Jones. It is unnecessary to respond to Mr Rattenbury’s interjections; he should know better.
MRS JONES: Maybe Mr Rattenbury could stop. Well, are Mr Rattenbury’s interjections going to stop?
MADAM DEPUTY SPEAKER: You have six minutes and 32 seconds to finish your speech.
MRS JONES: I am now getting to the crux of the matter. There were 15 minutes between the calling of a state of emergency and when the first houses were burning. With the passage of the Emergencies Act amendments in 2016 the concept of the BAZ for operational purposes was abolished. This means that arrangements for a response are that the first available unit responds. In this arrangement there does not appear to be any capacity for the Chief Officer of Fire & Rescue to assume control in the event that a fire is thought to be threatening a built-up area.
In simple terms, in 2004 command fell to ACT Fire & Rescue if the fire was moving towards the suburbs and control went to the Rural Fire Service if it was heading away from the suburbs; a very simple and clear calculation for those on the ground to make. Command for fire events was then changed to whoever gets there first, to quote the act, “the first available appliance”. With the 2011 and 2016 arrangements there is a risk that ACT Fire & Rescue capabilities will not be used properly or, indeed, that they may not be able to act on a fire as controllers within a few kilometres of our suburban fringe.
Say, for example, someone throws a fire lighter into Stromlo and the wind is blowing towards the built-up area, the new suburbs in the new Molonglo in my electorate. The fire is encroaching and an RFS unit arrives first. If the RFS does not want to hand over control of that fire as it encroaches on the suburbs, then Fire & Rescue may have no say on what happens with that fire until it crosses the road and enters Wright or any of the other new suburbs being built.
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