Page 1949 - Week 06 - Wednesday, 7 June 2017
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(b) what planning or actions the ACT Emergency Services Agency is undertaking for when the built-up areas encroach onto the New South Wales border.
and on the amendment moved by Mr Wall—Insert new paragraph (3)(a):
(a) “the rationale behind the 2011 changes and to explain, for the benefit of the community, how BAZ is controlled both in regards to fuel-reduction burning and in the event of a fire being within metres or kilometres of built-up areas.”
MR GENTLEMAN (Brindabella—Minister for Police and Emergency Services, Minister for the Environment and Heritage, Minister for Planning and Land Management and Minister for Urban Renewal) (10.37): Once again I would like to thank Mrs Jones for her motion on the bushfire abatement zone, the BAZ. The government will agree to Mr Wall’s amendment to the motion and the motion as then amended.
I welcome the opportunity to report back to the Assembly in August to provide further detail on how well placed the ACT Emergency Services Agency, ESA, is to protect and preserve life, property and the environment during bushfire seasons. The report back to the Assembly will include information on the command and control arrangements in the BAZ, fuel reduction burning in the BAZ, actions undertaken by the ESA regarding built-up areas close to the New South Wales border, and the rationale behind the changes made in 2011 to clarify response arrangements as agreed by the then chief officers of the ACT fire brigade and the ACT Rural Fire Service.
I would also like to take this opportunity to inform the Assembly that I have been recently advised of a minor administrative error made in amending the Emergencies Act in 2016 relevant to the matters under discussion today. The intention of the amendments contained in the Emergency Amendment Bill 2016, as stated in the explanatory statement and supporting speeches, was to remove the concept of the BAZ from the Emergencies Act for the purposes of operational planning and response. One of the proposed amendments was to delete section 29(3)(d), which gives the Chief Officer of ACT Fire & Rescue responsibility for operational planning in the BAZ. While this amendment was debated and passed in the Legislative Assembly in June last year, I have been advised that section 29(3)(d) was not removed.
This is an oversight that will be corrected through the next justice and community safety legislation amendment bill, scheduled to be introduced into the Legislative Assembly in September this year. All other references to the BAZ in the Emergencies Act, for the purposes of operational planning and response, were removed. It is only section 29(3)(d) that was not removed on the re-publication of the Emergencies Act for amendments on 21 June 2016.
I would like to give my strong assurance to the Assembly that the Emergencies Act has been applied as intended following the amendments made to the legislation last year and that these arrangements are working extremely well. This was highlighted
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