Bert Van Manen (Forde, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Queensland's rural fire brigades and their volunteers are heroes. They were there for communities during the horrific 'black summer' of bushfires, and they continue to be there for our rural communities today, whether it's doing fire mitigation, or education and training in our local communities. But, sadly, the current state Labor government don't see the value of our rural fire brigades and have cut funding by $6.4 million over the last two years.

To rub salt into the wound of the residents of Forde living in the suburbs of Shailer Park, Cornubia and Carbrook, instead of delivering a rural fire brigade to these communities and to the rural Redlands, the government have decided to put an urban firefighting station just down the road from an existing urban firefighting station—on the eve of an election; it's another classic example of how incompetent this state Labor government is—with trucks too big and too ineffective to fight fires in the difficult terrain. The community does not want another urban station when there are already four brigades within a 12-minute response time.

This last-minute decision by the current state Labor government on the eve of an election flies in the face of 70 dedicated locals who have already put up their hands to volunteer for the Mount Cotton rural fire brigade, a brigade only approved earlier this year after years of dithering and delay by the likes of the member for Springwood, Mick de Brenni; and the member for Macalister, Melissa McMahon. It's an LNP team that will deliver the rural fire brigade service that is needed— (Time expired)