Page 1281 - Week 05 - Thursday, 4 June 2020
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payment was also made available to ACT members. It should be remembered that when this was first announced, in January, volunteers and staff were assisting in the suppression of bushfires for the next month, and the bushfire season did not officially end till 31 March this year.
As I explained in my previous response, the ESA developed and tested a system to process volunteer firefighter support payments that incorporates the use of an online expression of interest form by the potential applicants and to inform them of the commonwealth criteria. ACT RFS, via emails to all members, Facebook posts and RFS video updates, continue to update all volunteers on the progress and steps they are required to take regarding the support program. ESA has ensured that all eligible volunteers are aware of the opportunity to apply for the payment via the ESA website, cross-government and public information spaces, service-specific newsletters and internal ESA communication channels.
Once again, I thank all of our volunteers, the staff of the ESA and the commissioner for the amazing work they continue to do to keep Canberrans safe.
Adjournment
Motion (by Ms Stephen-Smith) proposed:
That the Assembly do now adjourn.
Personal explanation
MR PARTON (Brindabella) (5.02): I want to speak briefly regarding a motion that was debated in this chamber earlier today and some of the fireworks around it. Madam Speaker, during his speech on Mr Coe’s motion, Mr Barr went off on a tangent and, I think, attempted to link Mr Coe’s motion and Mr Coe generally to news events currently unfolding in the United States. I know that Ms Le Couteur did not really understand what he was saying, and I certainly did not understand. It was completely irrelevant to the debate. I find it extremely ironic that Mr Barr then rose with a point of order suggesting that what I was saying was irrelevant to the debate.
Mr Barr suggested that I had misrepresented him. I said in the chamber that Mr Barr stated very clearly to the media that there were many better ways to spend your time and money than on poker machines. Mr Barr suggests that that was a misrepresentation, but I have the Canberra Times story in front of me. It says:
… it’s not a great way to spend your time.
Always up to individuals what they do with their time but there are many other better forms of entertainment than putting money into a poker machine.
I would suggest that someone who has made a statement that says that there are many better ways of entertainment than putting your money into a poker machine has mentally, in his or her head, done an assessment of pastimes, to some extent, and ranked them and put poker machines down at the bottom.
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