Page 4115 - Week 11 - Wednesday, 16 Sept 2009
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Under these new arrangements it has been agreed nationally that the Bureau of Meteorology will issue daily fire danger indexes. In addition to this, the Council of Australian Governments, at its April meeting this year, agreed to take immediate steps to enhance Australia’s emergency management arrangements through the development of a telephone-based emergency warning system. This system will enable states and territories to deliver warnings to landline and mobile telephones based on the billing address of the subscriber. This initiative, which is being led by Victoria, will provide a technical infrastructure and application layer which will be utilised for emergency warning across the country.
In his Emergencies (Bushfire Warnings) Amendment Bill 2009, Mr Smyth’s amendments would require the daily issuing of the fire danger indexes during the bushfire season. In addition to this, on any day of the year that the indexes are at 25 or higher, the minister must also advise the bushfire activity category, a bushfire warning level and locations or suburbs to which the warning applies. Then, as the fire danger index rises, there is additional information to add to this. Mr Smyth proposes that these be broadcast by television and radio and published in all daily newspapers.
To add to all of this confusion that Mr Smyth proposes with the minister issuing all of these above warnings, I note that under section 114 of the current Emergencies Act 2004 the commissioner, that is the commissioner of the ESA, would still be required to issue and broadcast total fire bans if the commissioner is satisfied that severe weather conditions conducive to the spread of fire exists or are likely.
So we now have two levels of decision making. Under Mr Smyth’s bill, first of all the minister must do certain things, but there is still the requirement for the commissioner to make the decision about the broadcast of total fire bans. If this bill is passed today, we would see the Bureau of Meteorology issuing the fire danger indexes consistent with the national decisions and then the minister issuing fire danger indexes as well, along with bushfire activity categories and warning levels and locations. Then we would have the commissioner for the ESA issuing and publishing a total fire ban.
On top of all this, surrounding us in New South Wales there would still be warnings given by the New South Wales fire authorities under the nationally agreed framework for that region. But, of course, those warnings would be broadcast here in the ACT as well because we all know that our news agencies cover the whole region and not just the ACT.
This is a recipe for dangerous confusion. These proposed amendments are impractical, unworkable and contrary to the nationally agreed warning framework which has been developed by land managers, the Bushfire Cooperative Research Centre, fire behaviour experts, the rural and metropolitan fire agencies of all states and territories and the Bureau of Meteorology. The government believes that the Assembly should accept the advice of these national experts. The bushfire CRC, the rural and metropolitan fire agencies and the Bureau of Meteorology are the people that we should turn to and whose advice we should accept when it comes to the issue of warnings and the assessment of fire danger and risk.
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