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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 2003 Week 2 Hansard (6 March) . . Page.. 816 ..


(4) The number of additional Executives employed (on either long-term or short-term contracts) in the ACT Public Service from the number of employees as at June 30 2001 (a) to date this financial year - 14, (b) in 2001-02 - 5. The increase of 9 for this financial year is in part a result of the temporary reassignment of 1 Chief Executive and 6 Executives to the Bushfire Recovery Taskforce and backfilling arrangements in agencies.

(5) The total number of Executives in the ACT Public Service for (a) the current day this financial year - 119, (b) 2001-02 - 110, (c) 2000-01 - 105, (d) 1999-2000 - 89.

ACT Forests-bushfire losses

(Question No 478)

Mr Smyth asked the Minister for Urban Services, upon notice:

In relation to information management:

(1) Given that The Australian Financial Review reported on 7 February 2003 that ACT Forests kept a back-up set of data in a fireproof safe in its Duffy office, and that office was burnt in the fires, was any documentation able to be saved?

(2) If documentation was destroyed, why did a fireproof safe also burn in the 18 January

firestorm?

(3) What percentage of documentation was lost in the Duffy ACT Forests office?

(4) What percentage of the documentation lost can be retrieved from back up sources?

(5) Are there any concerns about information that cannot be retrieved in regards to the (a) day to day functioning of ACT Forests (b) future planning (c) other?

(6) What is the Government doing to protect invaluable information against any future natural disasters?

Mr Wood: The answer to the member's questions is as follows:

(1) None of ACT Forests' documents that were located in the Duffy office were saved.

(2) Fireproof safes are designed to withstand an external temperature of 1000 degrees Celsius for one hour with the contents of the safe not exceeding 170 degrees Celsius. The fire proof safe in ACT Forests' Duffy office had a 5 millimetre wide by 30 millimetre long crack on the top corner caused by the fire intensity. The crack was sufficient for the contents in the fireproof safe to be destroyed. Such cracks can occur in high intensity structure fires. It is estimated that external temperatures exceeded 3000 degrees Celsius around the ACT Forests' office during the firestorm.


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