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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 2003 Week 8 Hansard (20 August) . . Page.. 2890 ..

MR PRATT (continuing):

would advise the board and the CFO on the preparation of their budgets, the scope and limitation of budgets, the procedural issues relevant to acquisition of equipment, resources and property, ongoing maintenance and recurrent spending, and all matters relevant to accountability and financial management. They would assist with these processes and they would monitor progress without interfering or impeding operational requirements in those emergency agencies.

JACS would undertake a similar role in respect of personnel support. It must be stressed that in respect of JACS' supporting role it would be the responsibility of the bushfire authority board to design and provide to JACS the "operational user requirement"to which JACS would be expected to tailor that administrative and logistical support.

Mr Speaker, all of that which I have described above is replicated in fine detail for the emergency services authority-that is, the "SES"-style organisation currently stuck well inside the innards of the existing ESB structure and the bushfire agencies.

Mr Speaker, we would seek to cut the emergency services organisation-that is, the SES guys and women who carry out flood mitigation, flood and storm rescue-free from the bushfire service family. By all accounts, from talking to the volunteers and other seasoned observers, the emergency services have been treated and ignored as the "poor cousin". It is fundamental to their morale, and retention of their volunteers, that the ACT emergency services be given back their operational autonomy.

The ACTES would, too, have its own board, CEO and operational units directly commanded by the CEO. It, too, would be supported by JACS in exactly the same fashion. The board of ACTES would, too, report direct to the minister, not through any other agency. The CEO of ACTES would have exactly the same range of responsibilities as does the CFO for the bushfire services.

Mr Speaker, I envisage that the urban fire service and the ACT Ambulance Service would, too, be cut away from the existing conglomeration and given a combined board for both services. Unlike the other services, both the ambulance and urban fire services would be combined, reporting under one board. That board, and the new combined services statutory authority, would be called the metropolitan fire and ambulance authority. This board would therefore be the fourth entity within the emergency arena which would report direct to the minister, noting of course, that the Chief Police Officer is one of four people in the emergency arena who reports directly to the minister.

Further consultation with the urban fire services and the ambulance services are yet to be had about this detail, and I stress that we have not concluded our consultations with them in this area. Mr Speaker, I feel that it is very important that the services be given back their operational autonomy and their individual direct links to the minister.

Meanwhile, we would guarantee interoperability amongst those agencies. As occurs with the three services in the defence force, for example, the emergency agencies will come together for regular headquarters and field exercises. At these times, interoperable procedures, particularly communications and emergency responsiveness, will be tested. Headquarters exercises would run in winter and

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