Bruce Billson (Dunkley, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Small Business, Competition Policy and Consumer Affairs) Share this | Hansard source

I want to acknowledge the motion from the member for Shortland and thanked the member for Riverina for drawing out some of the operational facts and realities that respond to much of the motion, which is quite specific to an area of New South Wales. I will focus my remarks primarily on the opening point of the motion:

That the House:

… acknowledges the outstanding contribution made by both full time, retained fire fighters and volunteer fire fighters within our community …

My electorate of Dunkley is one of those 'interface' communities, where the urban sprawl starts and the magnificent Mornington Peninsula begins. It is where we have both firefighting expertise that is at its best in an urban and industrial environment, and firefighting expertise, skills and capability that are ideally suited to the rural fire and bushfire fighting task. It is great to see the MFB and the CFA interact with each other, and I want to put on the record my ongoing admiration and support for their efforts, and encourage all of our community to get behind their work.

It is in that spirit that I think we should set about thinking what else we can do to get behind the work of these two great organisations. We see, from the opposition leader's fine personal example, the commitment he displays in volunteering with the Rural Fire Service. And what a magnificent example that is to all of us about staying engaged in and involved with the communities we seek to lead through our civic service. He not only talks about that; he walks that talk, and I have great admiration for that commitment.

Another example I would like to draw to the House's attention comes from the Rotary Club of Frankston. Mr Deputy Speaker Scott, you may not be aware—as many are not aware—that there are actually some indigenous Australian plants that have fire-retardant properties. This is a fact that is not well known, not well appreciated and, I think, underembraced in terms of what our fire risk response strategy should be. Alan Soderlund, who has a leading and lifelong involvement in the nursery and garden industry, along with Keith Kimpton and the dedicated crew at the Rotary Club of Frankston, have approached me about a fantastic initiative called 'Fire smart plants'. Their vision is to see the fire-retardant properties of some Australian indigenous plants embraced and promoted in nurseries and at points-of-sale right across our country so that people, like members of my family, who wish to enhance their living environment can choose thoughtfully—particularly in areas where there is a heightened fire risk—between plant species that would act as an accelerant in the event of a fire and plant species that have fire-retardant properties. This could make quite a useful contribution alongside the fire response and prevention plans that are implemented throughout the municipalities on the edge of the urban sprawl like mine, and well beyond, and also support the work of our firefighters. It would help to save lives and property from bushfires, and it is a good initiative.

Their idea is to have these plants tagged in such a way that they are recognised and promoted as fire smart and see some of that revenue come back to Rotary to support its important work but also back to the fire services as a way of saying, 'Thank you for your work; we are doing our bit as a property owner or homeowner by choosing plants with these fire-retardant properties uppermost in our minds.' I commend Alan and the team at the Rotary Club of Frankston for that initiative. I will continue to do what I can—maybe a bit of a shout-out to Wesfarmers and others that are known to be heavily involved in the hardware and garden supply area; they might want to embrace this as part of their engagement with the broader community and get the message about fire smart plants out more widely.

Another area where I think we can do some work is around the coalition's Green Army commitment. Fifteen thousand strong, this Green Army will work in partnership with communities, with land management and Landcare groups, with friends groups and with others that have an important role in caring for our natural systems. Again in my area, we have communities that are blessed by wonderful natural bushland surrounds. But that is also a fuel source that needs to be carefully managed. I see the Green Army playing an important role in working alongside the friends groups and local councils, to work through those natural bushland reserves that are the neighbours of so many of the citizens in my community to make sure we reduce the fuel load. We have a skilled team that can be mindful of the important environmental values and the flora and fauna objectives that are part of the reason we have these reserves, and actually make that contribution to reducing the fire risk and the fuel load, improving access to those areas so our firefighters can respond if called upon. That is the kind of collaboration I would like to see more in our community—a couple of practical initiatives to support the magnificent work of our firefighters.

Debate adjourned.

Sitting suspended from 13 : 36 to 15:29

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