PARLIAMENTARY COMMITTEES (NATURAL DISASTERS COMMITTEE) AMENDMENT BILL

Introduction and First Reading

The Hon. I.F. EVANS (Davenport) (10:32): Obtained leave and introduced a bill for an act to amend the Parliamentary Committees Act 1991; and to make related amendments to the Parliamentary Remuneration Act 1990. Read a first time.

Second Reading

The Hon. I.F. EVANS (Davenport) (10:32): I move:

That this bill be now read a second time.

This is a reincarnation of a bill in a slightly different form. The house might recall that I previously moved to establish a parliamentary committee into bushfires. The Natural Resources Committee of the parliament, to its great credit, looked at the bushfire terms of reference, both before the election under the chairmanship of John Rau, the member for Enfield, and, after the election, under the excellent chairmanship of the member for Ashford, Steph Key. They have reported to the house, and I will not comment on that particular report other than to say that I gave evidence to that committee, at their invitation, for which I thank them.

This bill seeks to establish a parliamentary committee for not only bushfires but also natural disasters such as earthquakes, floods, etc. It is a similar concept to what I moved prior to the election. The reason I moved it in this form is that this is the form recommended by the parliamentary committee. They suggested that they supported the concept but thought it should be broader than bushfires, and the establishment of a parliamentary committee into natural disasters was actually unanimously and strongly supported by the bipartisan parliamentary committee.

It is a joint house committee. It is a committee that would be paid as per the normal parliamentary committees. I really do not need to speak a lot more than that, other than to say that I just remind the house that other parliaments have standing committees into things like road safety. My view is that the element of bushfire, in particular in South Australia, is worthy of a parliamentary committee to look at all the issues associated with it.

When you consider that some parts of Adelaide are on a fault line, and if you look at the potential of floods to areas like Unley and the western suburbs (in certain circumstances, they get flooding), there are other issues for the committee to look at; so, I am not opposed to the concept of looking at natural disasters per se. My focus personally is on bushfires because of where I live and the electorate I represent. I do thank the committee for its bipartisan and unanimous support for the concept, and I hope that the government will come on board and support the bill in due course.

Debate adjourned on motion of Mrs Geraghty.