Christopher Back (WA, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I seek leave to return to a document listed under 'Responses to Senate resolutions' on page 5 of today's Order of Business relating to the correspondence from the Premier of Western Australia, Mr Barnett.

Leave granted.

I thank the Senate for its indulgence. The Premier commented on the horrific fires in January 2016 in the south-west town and community of Yarloop, around Harvey and Waroona, in which 181 residential properties and businesses were destroyed and, most regrettably, two elderly gentlemen succumbed. It involved loss of livelihood and livestock. And, from the other place, the Chief Whip, Ms Marino, and her husband had to use power from their tractor to continue milking twice a day, which they then poured onto the ground because trucks could not get in to take the milk.

Premier Barnett refers to the appointment of Mr Euan Ferguson, the distinguished officer from the Country Fire Authority of Victoria to undertake an independent review of the fires and to provide recommendations. I have put in a submission to Mr Ferguson in a private capacity because of my keen interest in this area. I want to record the enormous work undertaken by both paid and volunteer firefighters and those who service and support: state emergency service personnel, police, counsellors—a very significant number of people involved in fires which regrettably went on for far too long.

I have had discussions with the minister, my colleague the Hon. Joe Francis, Minister for Emergency Services, because I am deeply concerned about the status of where we are in Western Australia. I was the last chief executive officer of the bushfires board in 1997. That organisation was then subsumed into what was known as the fire and rescue service of WA, then the fire and emergency services and now the Department of Fire and Emergency Services. It is my concern that Western Australia has moved away from the concept of a rural fire service.

Your state of New South Wales, Acting Deputy President Williams, has a Rural Fire Service, as does Victoria, South Australia, Queensland and the Northern Territory. I have expressed my view to Minister Francis and to Mr Ferguson that we need to be looking to return to the concept of a rural fire service, principally involving local governments and volunteer officers, supported by paid professionals. I have said it so often in this place that there are three parts to the fire triangle: one is oxygen, the second is a source of ignition and the third is fuel to burn. Time does not permit in the few moments allowed to me to reflect on the fact that we cannot control much about oxygen or ignition but we can control levels of fuel. I remain incredibly concerned that in this country, particularly in my state, that we are not doing enough to protect assets, lives, property, animals and natural environmental assets through fuel reduction. We have seen this in Tasmania in recent times and it is a subject that we must continue to prosecute in this place.

John Williams (NSW, National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

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