Page 57 - Week 01 - Tuesday, 11 February 2020
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . . Video
In response to the hailstorm, 692 kilometres of road have been swept, with many streets having to be swept multiple times to clear them, and crews undertaking additional shifts. Even today, our street sweepers are still responding to the leaf litter created by that storm. Our tree team has also been very busy working to support the ESA to address hazardous trees across the city. Our city presentation team continues to work to remove the large amount of leaves and branches in parks and along paths in areas impacted by the storm.
I call on our community to continue to bear with us while we continue to work through the backlog of tree maintenance that has been required because of the diversion of resources to address the key fire risks and also in relation to the extensive work that is ongoing in the clean-up of leaf litter and branch litter throughout the city.
Apart from their day-to-day jobs, many TCCS staff and other staff from right across the ACT government, and even in my office, are volunteer firefighters who would have otherwise volunteered their time to assist during these extreme weather events, such as through the SES. I want to thank every person who contributed their time to help those in need. They are worthy of our heartfelt recognition and thanks.
We must be mindful of the impacts in this extreme year, and the more extreme years to come, of weather events that are not over. We continue to see our city’s trees severely impacted by the drought. We have seen the impact on our recycling system as well, having to store baled mixed paper recycling because of the severe fire impact on plantations around Eden, which means that the Tumut paper mill is unable to process the same amount of recycled paper from our Hume MRF. Our city’s infrastructure will continue to be tested going forward, with climate change contributing to a longer fire season and hotter and drier weather going forward.
Beyond the countless hours diverted away from business as usual to support our city in response to this trying summer, our staff across government have endured smoke-clogged streets, the anxiety of living in suburbs under threat of fire, and losing their summer holiday at the coast as well—which is important for them to recuperate for the year ahead. Only in the months ahead will we know what the total toll of the fire really is. I again pass on my thanks to the many staff of the emergency services agencies and across the ACT government and community service organisations and the broader community for their work during this challenging time.
MR GUPTA (Yerrabi) (3.12): I rise to support the motion moved by the Chief Minister noting the unprecedented nature of our current fire season and offering our thanks and support to the many people and organisations who are working to ensure the safety of ACT residents during this time.
I am sure we can all agree that the bushfires that have been burning across the country since September are not only of a severity that we have never seen before but also undoubtedly a result of our changing climate. Our summers are growing longer and hotter and we are struggling to keep up. This fire season is the worst Australia has ever experienced, but this may become our normal. The ACT must continue to lead policy to combat climate change and to restore habitat, particularly in the wake of such extensive damage to Namadgi National Park.
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . . Video