Grievance Debate

STATE EMERGENCY SERVICE VOLUNTEER CHARTER

Dr McFETRIDGE (Morphett) (15:05): Last Sunday I had the pleasure of attending the launch of the South Australian State Emergency Service Volunteer Charter, which was tabled in the house by the Minister for Emergency Services today. As the shadow minister for volunteers and a former shadow minister for emergency services and a longstanding member of the CFS, I have had a lot to do with the SES over the many years and I am a strong supporter of the fine things it does for the state of South Australia.

At the current time we have 67 units within the SES, with about 1,600 volunteers who turn out for all sorts of disasters, dramas and rescues, helping the South Australia Police in their work and do an exceptionally fine job, so it is good to see that the government is recognising them in this volunteer charter.

The history of the SES is an interesting one, with the roots of it back in the civil defence organisations and air raid precaution organisations in the 1940s. Then in the 1960s we saw the civil defence organisation maintained in recognition of the role of protecting the community from the risks of nuclear warfare, as it was then. This changed later to the civil defence and rescue organisation, with a focus on day-to-day rescues. The name was changed to the South Australian civil defence and emergency services in the 60s and then in 1974 the organisation was renamed as the South Australian State Emergency Service.

The role of the State Emergency Service nowadays is a very broad one—everything from animal rescues, road accident rescues, trees down on the road and on houses, storms, floods and certainly helping out with fires. It has been a role that government cannot afford to ignore, and with this charter it shows that they are not ignoring it. Certainly I hope that the ideals of the charter are going to be fulfilled, because in the introduction the charter says:

The volunteer members of the State Emergency Service (SES) are fundamental to emergency management in South Australia. Their value and importance is recognised and highly regarded by the South Australian community. Volunteers and the commitment they bring to the community through prevention, preparedness, response and recovery activities remain the core strength of the SES.

As I said, there are 67 units with 1,600 volunteers approximately. The intent of this charter, which is similar to the CFS Volunteer Charter, is to ensure consultation occurs with volunteers about all matters that might reasonably be expected to affect them; consideration of their views when approving or adopting new practices or policies; consideration of their views when reviewing current practices or policies; recognition that there is a mutual obligation and practical partnership based on respect between the parties; that a fair, reasonable and non-discriminatory approach is taken by all; and that the safety of the South Australian community is paramount.

The charter identifies the key roles and responsibilities of the parties. This particular charter lays out the role of the South Australian Emergency Service Volunteers' Association and it has a list of their responsibilities. It then goes on to talk about the SES itself, the volunteers as individual volunteers and also the government of South Australia. The South Australian Fire and Emergency Services Commission obviously has a role integral with this, as does the State Emergency Service itself.

The need to recognise volunteers is something that we cannot underestimate in this place. In fact, to emphasise the significance of this particular charter, it was signed by the Premier, the Minister for Emergency Services, the Minister for Volunteers, the Chief Executive of the South Australian Fire and Emergency Services Commission, the Chief Executive Officer of the SES and last, but by no means least, the chairperson of the South Australian State Emergency Services Volunteers' Association.

We should never underestimate the value of our volunteers in South Australia. The 2010 figures put the value of volunteering at $4.98 billion. We could never as a government, never as a parliament, replace the volunteers. Certainly, when it comes to crisis intervention the SES, the CFS, SAPOL, the MFS and all our other emergency workers do an exceptionally fine job. It is a good thing to see that our State Emergency Service volunteers have been recognised in this charter. I look forward to working with the government in a bipartisan way to make sure that the consultation that is promised in this charter is undertaken and we do value our volunteers.