Page 389 - Week 02 - Wednesday, 2 March 1994

Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . .

I endorse the comment by Ms Ellis that it is at times of adversity that Australians show what they are, that is, the greatest race on Earth. I was in Sydney at the time, doing something in relation to the bushfires, and I took the opportunity of saying, "Listen, we do actually bleed in Canberra when we are cut. We are human beings and we are Australians as much as anybody else". It is at times of adversity that Australians come to the fore. The thing I learnt through that period was how all Australians came to help their fellow men. I agree with Ms Ellis that it is a pity other nations could not emulate what we did here. I think we have a lot to be proud of in our emergency services. I congratulate Mr Lamont and all the other speakers, and I am delighted to endorse Mr Lamont's motion.

MR CONNOLLY (Attorney-General, Minister for Housing and Community Services and Minister for Urban Services) (12.14): Madam Speaker, I rise briefly, as the Minister responsible for the emergency services, to thank members for their contribution. It is certainly a great privilege to have been the Minister responsible and to see at first-hand the camaraderie, the spirit, that members have referred to in the groups that went to Sydney. Mr De Domenico is right when he talks about character building and the contribution volunteers put in, and also what they get out. I was very pleased, when I attended the field day early in the bushfire season, late last year, to see the new recruits. Many of them are young people, but many of them are women. I am not taking a gender-specific point, but Mr De Domenico said that it made his son a man. Perhaps it also has some influence on young women. It is a great thing that we have such a dedicated group of young Canberrans involved in the emergency services.

Ms Ellis made the point that those that went were served by those that stayed behind. There was a fabulous level of cooperation from those that stayed behind - the coordinators. The Federal Police played a big role in that coordination. The Federal Police were champing at the bit. They would love to have gone and made a contribution as well. In fact, the New South Wales police advised us that they were not in a position where they required assistance, but certainly there were some AFP officers who were champing at the bit, wanting to get up there and do their bit - and good luck to them for that. They were very helpful in organising events back here.

I want to pay tribute to the fire union. The issue of taking award condition firefighters and sending them to a different jurisdiction where they would be working flat out for 36 or 48 hours was potentially full of enormous industrial minefields. From the moment the request for assistance came in, and we were able to respond with our first crews within an hour-and-a-half, we had the union working with management to work out shift arrangements and all the rest of it. There was not a hint of any industrial problem or squabble during the whole exercise, and that is a great tribute to those officers of the fire union. In the past the area of fire and emergency services has been a rocky road. Apart from the police-fire and emergency service barrier, there has been rivalry within the services, the professionalism of the Urban Fire Service versus the volunteer ethic of the Rural Firefighting Service and the emergency service. It is terrific to see that that has all now died down and that they are working very much as a team. Mr Humphries made the point that that scene is a model for other fire services. It is indeed.

2 March 1994

388363

Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . .