Page 4995 - Week 13 - Wednesday, 28 November 2018
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The ACT parks and conservation service—PCS—utilise all available trained, skilled, and accredited resources from across several government directorates, including EPSDD, TCCS, and JACS. PCS already maximise the opportunities for burning by utilising all available resources and scheduling multiple burns across any available burning window.
We cannot safely increase what we already undertake on any given day. It is a very clear answer to the proposal that Mrs Jones has put both in her original motion and now in an amendment to my amended amendment. I will not be supporting it.
MR RATTENBURY (Kurrajong) (4.30): In an earlier conversation with Mrs Jones she said she wanted to ask these questions and be made aware of other possibilities. I told her I thought they were fair questions to ask and I had some sympathy with her view on that. I was not aware of the additional information that Minister Gentleman has just provided, but it seems that there is a tabled question on notice asking whether other methods can be undertaken and whether resources can be increased. The answer provided by Minister Gentleman on behalf of the agency is that they cannot.
I cannot support the amendment purely as a matter of logic. The answer has been provided and on that basis and with the summer season coming up I cannot in good faith ask the agency to do further work given that they have already given an answer they believe is the most appropriate. The Greens will not be supporting this amendment.
MRS JONES (Murrumbidgee) (4.31): I am sorry that Mr Rattenbury did not have the information but I thought we should deal with the possibility of my amendment being agreed to before I completely show up the minister. The minister knows very well that motions in this place have to be put in by 12 o’clock on Monday. The answer to that question did not arrive in my office until Tuesday.
The minister also knows that the aforementioned article is not a quote from me; it is a complete misrepresentation of what was said. The article states:
But Canberra Liberals emergency services spokeswoman Giulia Jones said dry weather conditions shouldn’t be a deterrent, and the government should mobilise its Rural Fire Service and Community Fire Unit to carry out more burns when conditions were favourable.
That is a summary by a journalist of my position. It is not a quote from me so cannot be directly attributed to me, and he has been given half of the quote. I ask the minister to think very carefully about coming into this place and misrepresenting what has been said by members of this place in the media or elsewhere.
Mrs Dunne: They’ve got form.
MRS JONES: They have form. The minister has got a hide. What a grubby tactic. I made it very clear in my speech that that was not the position that I take. In fact, the speech by Mr Rattenbury makes it very clear that in his view fewer days will be
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