Page 781 - Week 03 - Wednesday, 29 March 2006
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(2) calls on the Government to take immediate action to:
(a) rectify the existing neglected areas and ensure the firebreak along the residential edge in all suburbs with vulnerable bushfire approaches is a minimum of 40 metres wide, including vulnerable inner suburbs;
(b) ensure that additional firebreaks are prepared in ACT Canberra nature parks in areas close to the urban edge on vulnerable bushfire approaches; and
(c) strengthen the Strategic Bushfire Management Plan and prepare bushfire operational plans for each vulnerable suburb, village and urban asset—
and on the amendments moved by Mr Hargreaves (Minister for Urban Services):
(1) paragraph 1(b), omit all words after “the Government’s preparations against bushfire threat”, substitute “have left us better prepared for bushfires than we have ever been; and”;
(2) insert new paragraph 1(c):
“(c) that the Stanhope Government has invested an additional $130.775m over five years in emergency services since the January 2003 bushfires;”; and
(3) omit paragraph (2).
MR HARGREAVES (Brindabella—Minister for Disability, Housing and Community Services, Minister for Urban Services and Minister for Police and Emergency Services) (3.54): I will pick up from where I left my earlier remarks, Mr Speaker. The differing widths of these inner asset protection zones are based on sound science to reflect the appropriate measures to reduce bushfire threat. It is based on work undertaken by the CSIRO and experts in fire behaviour. They also reflect reality, not just a figure plucked out of the air. The location of zones and exposure classes were considered and determined by people with a long history and sound understanding of bushfire in the ACT.
The ACT is undertaking the most effective fire management possible, not just in relation to fuel management or fire trails, but also in ensuring the community is prepared and resilient and that emergency responders are ready to fight fire effectively, efficiently and safely. The strategic bushfire management plan brings together all of these elements in the one document. This is a situation that did not exist previously in the ACT where the cornerstones of prevention, preparedness and response were bound up in a range of separate documents across different agencies.
The strategic bushfire management plan provides strategies and guidance for bushfire management to the community and the government. The achievements of the territory in reducing the threat of bushfire over the last 18 months are testimony to the strength of the plan. To significantly change the strategic bushfire management plan at this stage will serve no purpose. It has been in place for just over 12 months and land managers and the community have become familiar with the strategies and what they mean. It is a sound document and it drives change. To completely overhaul the strategic bushfire
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