Page 499 - Week 03 - Wednesday, 14 March 2007
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authority over the top of the service agencies needs and how it has to be structured. We have seen David Prince voting with his feet. He is disgusted with the restructure. So are the professionals. So are the volunteers. Mr Speaker, we call upon the government to reverse its decision. (Time expired.)
MR CORBELL (Molonglo—Attorney-General, Minister for Police and Emergency Services and Minister for Planning) (10.46): Mr Speaker, the government will not be supporting this motion by Mr Pratt this morning. I would like to start by quoting directly from Mr Pratt’s comments on ABC radio last Friday morning when he said:
I’m prepared to let it … let’s have a look to see how it goes.
He left it for four or five days to see how the restructure would go. Today, he is in here rejecting it.
Let me once again examine what is under discussion here today. Recommendation 7 of the report of Coroner Doogan recommends the re-establishment of a statutory authority for emergency services. Members of the opposition have expressed their support for this recommendation on the basis that it is essential to the operational independence of the ESA. The government does not agree with this view. Indeed, this view is simply incorrect.
The opposition misunderstood the position last year and it continues to insist on misunderstanding it now. That is why the government will be moving to amend Mr Pratt’s motion. The opposition simply fails to acknowledge the facts as they are presented and continues to use its own misinformation to generate disquiet in our community about the status of emergency management in the ACT.
The simple facts bear repeating. The government moved the Emergency Services Authority back into the Department of Justice and Community Safety last year to reduce the duplication of administrative functions and to improve financial management. The operational independence of the ESA remains. The commissioner and the newly created deputy commissioners will have a direct line to me as minister on any matter, even within the justice portfolio.
The agency simply does not need to be a stand-alone authority to maintain its operational independence. Its membership of the department will add to the effective management of its financial and administrative requirements. The ESA’s operational independence is enshrined in the Emergencies Act. It is made clear that the commissioner and other officers have statutory powers. Those statutory powers and responsibilities remain and there is no intention to change those statutory powers.
The Department of Justice and Community Safety does not and cannot, according to law, interfere with the response to emergency incidents in the ACT. The chief executive of the department has no powers on operational matters. The Emergencies Act confers those powers on the chief officers of the ESA, and emergency incidents in the ACT continue to be run entirely by the ESA, as was the case with the recent storm incident that resulted in significant damage to inner Canberra.
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