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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 2004 Week 05 Hansard (Thursday, 13 May 2004) . . Page.. 1883 ..

Question so resolved in the negative.

Amendment negatived.

MS TUCKER (9.59): I move amendment No 3 circulated in my name [see schedule 2 at page 1913].

The rules for preparing a bushfire fuel management plan do not at this point include a requirement of an inclusion of expertise on fire ecology, that is, the effect of fires of different types on the ecology of an area and, in some cases, vice versa. The CEO of the Department of Urban Services, the relevant land manager, is responsible for preparation of the bushfire fuel management plan. The plan is prepared with the relevant land managers. In the case of reserve land, the Conservator of Flora and Fauna, who is also the CEO of the environment department, is the responsible land manager and so has direct input into the plan, as it was explained to my office.

There is no formalised arrangement for consulting with relevant types of experts, but the practice has been to consult widely. The last bushfire fuel management plan, which had been put into operation but not completed by any means when the bushfires came last year, was developed by a good cross-section of experts.

This is a difficult area to object to, and indeed the government response to my concerns about this exemption was that it would be inappropriate to give the Conservator of Flora and Fauna an effective veto of the bushfire fuel management plan. But I think that this objection assumes that there is an inherent conflict between bushfire fuel management and conservation, and this is strange as it is definitely not in the interests of a reserve to be at risk of being completely burnt out. However, it is also not in the interests of a reserve, nor arguably the interests of bushfire risk reduction, to have too frequent burns at the wrong season and without proper consideration of the effects of the types and timing of fire on the particular species in an area.

It is also important to consider the effects of the different species, ecosystems and landforms on the progress of fire, particularly in a reserve. We should ensure that this kind of detailed consideration happens, and as I see it at this stage the only way to ensure that is to require a licence. This does not affect any work that is done in an emergency. It affects only the planned activities for bushfire reduction, and I think this is reasonable.

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