Tania Lawrence (Hasluck, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

My question for the minister is: how is the government ensuring we are better prepared to face bushfire in the next high-risk weather season? I ask this because I live in the Perth Hills surrounded by the Beelu forest and, due to the effects of climate change, the risk of fire in some parts of Australia is elevated. The south-west of the country—of Western Australia, in particular—over at least the past 30 years has been experiencing a drying climate. The region includes about 92 per cent of Western Australia's population. These challenges are shared across the south-west and are felt most keenly by people who live in my electorate across the hills and in the forests of the region. Some of us have sadly also experienced losing a house to fire. My husband and I and 37 other families lost our home in the Toodyay fires in 2009. More recently, in Wooroloo in 2021, 86 homes were lost across the community. We neither wish to repeat this experience nor want anyone else to have to experience it.

In the face of the growing environmental challenges and the high risk of fire in my electorate, I did organise recently a disaster resilience and adaption forum in Mundaring. We provided information and advice to over 100 people who attended to hear about how they could improve their resilience to storms and bushfires and also access insurance savings. We had presenters from: Natural Hazards Research Australia—funded by the federal government; Telstra; the NBN; the Resilient Building Council, which has a wonderful app now that people can access to learn how to mitigate and lower their risk; insurers; and the Western Australian state government. The event was really well received, with many electors from my community grateful to obtain the tools that they need to increase their own household resilience.

Attendees also took comfort in the fact that the government's researchers and service providers are all working towards a common goal: to make our communities safer. The first duty of government is to provide security. Security in relation to bushfire requires the federal government to take a coordinating and support role where appropriate, to marshal its resources in a consistent and useful manner and to work in concert with the states, who do have the primary responsibility to meet the needs of bushfire preparedness, emergency response and disaster recovery in a timely manner.

Prior to the election of the Albanese government, we had a coalition government that couldn't even hold a hose. No single Commonwealth department had overall emergency management authority. Moreover, they allowed the federal funding of the National Aerial Firefighting Centre to slide to a mere 23 per cent by 2017, with the states left to pick up the rest. By 2019, as we know, the country was on fire. Across Australia, there were 34 fatalities and over 3½ thousand homes lost. Following black summer, the Royal Commission into National Natural Disaster Arrangements, which reported in October 2020, recommended a greater role for the federal government and in chapter 8 stressed the need for a sovereign aerial firefighting capability.

The Albanese government, under the leadership of Minister Watt, has acted. We have established NEMA, the National Emergency Management Agency, bringing together the functions of Emergency Management Australia and the National Recovery and Resilience Agency. We have provided additional funding to support the work of NEMA—$188.2 million over four years and indicative ongoing funding of $48.2 million thereafter.

We acknowledge that emergency management needs a secure footing as an enduring entity so we can plan for the challenges of the future as well as those in the present. These provisions afford certainty to NEMA and also demonstrate the government's commitment to reducing risk and bringing about systemic change in the way we prepare for and respond to emergencies such as bushfires. We have provided more funding for a review this year into Australia's national firefighting fleet requirements with a view to creating a fleet that is capable, cost-effective and adaptable for use not only in firefighting but also in other emergency situations too. Without waiting for that review, the budget already sees increased funding for the national aerial capability by $35.1 million over the next two years, bringing the total annual funding over that period to about $50 million.

In addition, the government has injected extra funding into the National Emergency Management Stockpile with funding of over $26 million over the next three years, with an independent review expected again in 2026. This commitment to preparedness is matched by mitigation, with our support of initiatives through the Disaster Ready Fund. Examples include fire breaks, business cases to develop infrastructure investigation planning and many others that demonstrate our commitment to keeping our community safe while being mindful of climate change and its effects and being prepared for the future.

Proposed expenditure agreed to.

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