Page 3870 - Week 13 - Tuesday, 4 December 2007
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can get firefighters to it quickly. We know that we will not always be able to get a vehicle there. We know it may be difficult to walk firefighters in. Therefore, we have this remote area firefighting capacity on hand.
Mr Smyth: Which we’ve always had.
MADAM TEMPORARY DEPUTY SPEAKER: Mr Smyth!
MR CORBELL: I note Mr Smyth tries to claim we have always had it.
Mr Smyth: We’ve been sending RAF teams up for 20 years.
MADAM TEMPORARY DEPUTY SPEAKER: Mr Smyth, don’t interject.
MR CORBELL: It is an absolute joke, Madam Temporary Deputy Speaker, and he knows it. Of course, the very extensive fire vehicle replacement program will accelerate the replacement of a large number of the old ACT Rural Fire Service fleet. This program replaces about 50 per cent of the fleet. It is a significant investment in making sure that our firefighters have the equipment they need to do the job that we ask them to do and which they want to do. We have also replaced nine command vehicles, we have completed specification for the new RFS tankers, and ambulance vehicles have been ordered and will arrive early next year following a build in Sydney. We have increased the number of community fire units to 38.
There is still more that we are doing. I turn now to the issues around the headquarters and communications. We have in place now a very effective communications framework. With the provision of the TRN digital radio network, with the commencement of the tower on Mount Tennant, TRN now has effective coverage into a large part of the more remote areas to the south of the ACT. That has allowed us to turn to TRN as the primary radio network for the Rural Fire Service.
Mr Pratt: Has that footprint been tested?
MR CORBELL: That has been tested and it has a very comprehensive level of coverage. Of course, in a mountainous area you will not get 100 per cent coverage because of the nature of the terrain, but we achieve a very good level of coverage and one that has given the RFS confidence to switch to that new network. So that is the result of our investment.
In relation to FireLink, I will always assert that it was the poor project management of the previous statutory authority that led to that debacle. It is a debacle, and we do not want to see it happen again. That is why the government has put in place measures to make sure it will not happen again, to make sure we have put in place proper business planning, to make sure we have put in place proper cabinet sign-off of these matters, so that we do not have a statutory authority running off and doing this work without any proper reference back to government. Senior managers do need to accept responsibility. Ministers need to accept responsibility, and I have, but senior managers need to as well, and I will not accept an argument to the contrary.
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