Matt O'Sullivan (WA, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

In any case, what we're seeing is the politicisation of a very, very serious issue being faced by this nation. It's as serious an issue as we've faced at any time in our history, really, when you compare previous fire seasons with the one that we had last year.

In the remaining time that I have, I want to give some reassurance to the Australian people of what this government is actually doing. We accept that the primary role in dealing with bushfires and bushfire management on the ground is played by state governments, and the Commonwealth government doesn't want to interfere with that at all but, rather, provide the necessary support and resources to assist. That can be done in many ways. One way is through the Defence Force. This year we're going to ensure that the ADF is poised to respond as quickly and efficiently as possible. The government has streamlined and simplified its processes for states and territories to receive that support. We've set up joint task forces for each state and territory. We've exercised and validated Reserve call-out processes, and we've conducted response planning exercises with the states and territories and with Australian government agencies, including the EMA and Services Australia. We've streamlined these processes so that we can act quickly when called upon by the states to ensure that that support is there.

There are many other things this government is doing. I haven't got time, in the 14 seconds I have left, to cover them, but I will say that Services Australia stands ready. We're ready to deal with any outbreak and of course to deal with people who require assistance from the Commonwealth government through services and funding, and that's there— (Time expired)