COUNTRY FIRE SERVICE VOLUNTEERS

Dr CLOSE (Port Adelaide) (15:07): My question is to the Minister for Emergency Services.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

Dr CLOSE: Can the Minister for Emergency Services inform the house about what the state government is doing to support Country Fire Service volunteers so they can keep our community safe?

The Hon. J.M. RANKINE (Wright—Minister for Police, Minister for Correctional Services, Minister for Emergency Services, Minister for Road Safety, Minister for Multicultural Affairs) (15:08): I thank the member for Port Adelaide for her question. I want to acknowledge that these people are vital in keeping our community safe. I am pleased to say that I share the Salisbury CFS with both the member for Port Adelaide and the member for Ramsay, a magnificent group of volunteer people out there. This government is committed to supporting our emergency services and our emergency service volunteers—

Mrs Redmond: So where are the volunteers?

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. J.M. RANKINE: —ensuring they have the equipment, technology and training they need. Indeed, on Monday evening I will be visiting the Carey Gully CFS station to oversee the delivery of their brand-new truck. This is one of 27 new vehicles to be delivered this year, at a cost of $7.5 million. There will be 23 new trucks, two new road crash vehicles and two large bulk carriers will be delivered to support our volunteers in 2012.

Mrs Redmond: What about the Stirling CFS?

The Hon. J.M. RANKINE: Well, I am happy to tell you about Stirling CFS, if you like. I will get to the Stirling CFS. The fire that threatened Wilmington earlier this year was a clear example of the need for appropriate facilities when dealing with a potential disaster. I think everyone involved was relieved that the Wilmington brigade had just moved into its newly upgraded station. Ten stations will have upgrades completed, and several new sheds will opened across the state this year, including Stirling. We are focused on supporting—

Mrs Redmond interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order! The Leader of the Opposition will not interject across the floor and the minister will return to the substance of the question.

The Hon. J.M. RANKINE: I understand that we have actually allocated something like $270,000 this year for the upgrade of the Stirling vehicle bay.

Mrs Redmond interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. J.M. RANKINE: We are focused on supporting our volunteers and working with them. Additional training resources to the tune of $2 million over the next four years are being provided. The importance of training—

An honourable member interjecting:

The Hon. J.M. RANKINE: The volunteer budget has actually increased. The budget has increased. The importance of training was also highlighted during the Wilmington fires. The Salisbury volunteers were caught in a burn over. Those involved said to me that the training made sense during that very tense time. They knew what they needed to do and they all returned safely.

By establishing a central, dedicated volunteer support team, we now have a more coordinated approach to recruiting, supporting and, ultimately, retaining CFS volunteers across South Australia: a new volunteer support team comprising four officers based in the metropolitan area plus another two mobile officers dedicated to travelling to regional areas and supporting the country volunteers; extra pagers, computer and broadband access for stations as well as the station upgrades are all part of a $9.4 million increase in funding since the Black Saturday fires; simplifying processes as much as possible so we can make the jobs of existing volunteers easier.

New e-learning and e-business platforms will be in place by Christmas, freeing up the paperwork and red tape and allowing volunteers to get on with what they do best. The broadband rollout and computer deliveries will also be well underway. The state government now allocates $220 million to our emergency services compared with $104 million in 2001-02.