Tony Pasin (Barker, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

Before I put my question to the minister, I will just give some context. As a representative for regional Australia and regional South Australia in particular, and as someone who represents a large swathe of regional South Australia, the reality is: bushfires are an ever-present danger. Indeed, during the 2014 bushfire season we had no less than six large-scale bushfires raging across Barker, at Eden Valley, Rockleigh, Calperum Station, Ngarkat Conservation Park, Billiat and Tintinara. They burnt out of control between 20 December and 23 January. They burnt 232,000 hectares. They destroyed many significant assets.

I will give some further detail. The Eden Valley fire ignited just after midday on Friday, 17 January. It burnt through almost 25,000 hectares and was not declared as contained until Monday, 20 January, much to the relief of those on the front line and the personnel involved in managing the incident in the fire-affected communities.

Just after 5.30 on 17 January, a lightning strike ignited a fire within the Ngarkat Conservation Park, burning some 90,000 hectares. A fire also ignited near Rockleigh, on the Murraylands, just after 3 pm on 14 January. This is the third time communities in the area have been threatened by fire within 12 months. More than 80 CFS firefighters responded.

Just after 6 pm, on 14 January, fires ignited in the Margaret Dowling camp site, at Billiat, Katarapko and Kringin, with additional lightning following in the next few days, sparking the Calperum fire, exposing the community of Cooltong to significant danger. My question to the minister is this: given, Minister, what you have just heard about how my local community was so seriously affected by bushfires between December last year and January this year, what budget measures will help us better prepare our communities for bushfire events in the future?

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