Page 3397 - Week 11 - Wednesday, 18 September 2013
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recommendation to include an explicit statement of resources needed to meet the objectives of the plan at the time. As has been outlined in the Auditor-General’s report, the directorate stated that this explicit statement of resources would be included as part of the development of the next strategic bushfire management plan.
The government has welcomed the release of the Auditor-General’s report because it praises the framework that the government has in place for bushfire preparedness. The government has welcomed the Auditor-General’s conclusion that the government has in place a robust governance and planning framework for its bushfire management activities.
I have already on several occasions responded to Mr Smyth’s call to release the emergency services requirements and capability data. Following the estimates hearing for the ESA on 19 June this year, I provided a detailed response to Mr Smyth regarding the provision of internal reviews conduct by the ESA over the past six years. I provided that response to the select committee on estimates. I also provided further information in response to inquiries from the Canberra Times in relation to Mr Smyth’s media release on the issue earlier this year.
The Auditor-General recommended that the ESA should comply with the requirements of the act for the strategic bushfire management plan by including in the plan an explicit statement of all resources needed. The auditor went on to say that the ESA conducted an assessment of additional resources it required to implement specific activities in the plan but concluded that the plan did not provide an explicit statement of resources.
As I have indicated earlier, the Justice and Community Safety Directorate has accepted this recommendation and is moving forward to include it in the new version 3 of the SBMP. However, Mr Smyth’s request that this be done during the life of the current plan, a plan that is coming to an end, is really not a good use of the government’s resources, financial or otherwise, at this time. The plan will come to an end in October next year. Any provision of resources to support it will need to be considered in the forthcoming budget cycle.
The directorate agreed that recommendation 2 of the audit report is an area for improvement. The ESA and my directorate have stated in the response to this recommendation that a statement of resources:
… will be included as part of the development of the Strategic Bushfire Management Plan version 3 …
Furthermore, the statement of resources will be required to deliver each element of version 3 of the plan under the framework of prevention, preparedness, response and recovery. This statement of resources will also be able to identify the necessary functions, capability, equipment and infrastructure that the government and its directorates require to deliver version 3 of the plan.
So Mr Smyth’s assertions that the government failed to comply with the act by not explicitly stating all resources to meet the objectives of the plan is a gross overstatement of what has actually been concluded by the Auditor-General.
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