NATURAL RESOURCES COMMITTEE: BUSHFIRE TOUR 2012 CASE STUDY, MITCHAM HILLS

Adjourned debate on motion of Hon. S.W. Key:

That the 65^th report of the committee, entitled Bushfire Tour 2012 Case Study, Mitcham Hills, be noted.

(Continued from 15 May 2013.)

The Hon. I.F. EVANS (Davenport) (11:53): I want to touch on the report by the Natural Resources Committee on Bushfire Tour 2012 Case Study, Mitcham Hills. There is only seven minutes left on the clock, so I will be brief. I just want to make the point to the parliament that this report shows the hypocrisy of the government. I congratulate the committee on the report, and I congratulate the members for the sincerity with which they went about this report.

On this committee, there are four Labor MPs; I will not name them for the sake of Hansard, but it is in the committee's report who they are. Having considered all the evidence put before them on this matter, what this committee recommended, with the four Labor members of parliament, is as follows:

That the parliament should support the establishment of a standing committee for natural disasters. The purpose of this committee would be to provide a parliamentary forum to hear reports with regard to natural disaster policy, modelling, planning and response—

The SPEAKER: Can I interrupt the member for Davenport?

The Hon. I.F. EVANS: Yes.

The SPEAKER: Alas, it has been brought to my attention that you have already spoken on this motion.

The Hon. I.F. EVANS: I don't believe so. I spoke on the first one, but not on the second report, I don't think. There have been two reports. Have I?

An honourable member: Let me check.

The Hon. I.F. EVANS: Well, I did it that well, I thought I would have another go. If that is the case—

The SPEAKER: On 9 May. The member for Stuart.

Mr VAN HOLST PELLEKAAN (Stuart) (11:54): Thank you, sir. I would like to speak on the Bushfire Tour 2012 Case Study, Mitcham Hills report from the Natural Resources Committee of parliament. I am a member of that committee and I am fully behind the work that committee has done and the recommendations it makes. The key issue here is obviously about the Mitcham Hills, but it is part of a broader issue with regard to bushfires. Bushfires affect our whole state and our whole nation. It is a very important issue. Bushfires can be very devastating.

The risks that we, as a committee, see affecting the Mitcham Hills area particularly are especially concerning. Not so long ago we had a devastating bushfire in the hills near Wilmington, where I live. I am an active CFS member and was very involved with that, but we did not lose any lives. It was devastating—approximately 20,000 acres of country was burnt—but it was absolutely nothing compared to what could happen in the Adelaide Hills.

We have bushfires very regularly which do a great deal of damage, but what they can do in this sort of highly vegetated, difficult to access and highly populated area is absolutely dreadful. Unfortunately it is very similar to what happened in Victoria not too many years ago, so we know that this can happen. This is not a fear about something that might—nobody is beating this up. We know from the Victorian experience a couple of years ago that people can die; hundreds of people can die. We fear that that might happen in the Adelaide Hills. I would like to touch on three of the six recommendations. The first one I would like to address is that:

The Minister for Police and Emergency Services consider the merits of recommending that Mitcham Council institute and enforce a policy of zero tolerance to illegal parking in fire prone areas.

Zero tolerance to illegal parking is not something that would naturally roll off my tongue as something I would be wholeheartedly supporting, but in this situation, in the Adelaide Hills in high fire prone times, that could be what makes the difference, because when people are parked so that you cannot get even a regular-sized passenger car up or down the street quite easily, let alone a fire truck, during the mayhem that could happen when people are trying to evacuate in a panic, that is when this sort of parking could be absolutely devastating to that area. Another recommendation is that:

The Minister for Transport review road infrastructure in the Mitcham Hills, in consultation with Mitcham Council, with the aim of improving the ability of residents to evacuate early on a day of declared catastrophic fire danger.

Again, this is a very serious recommendation. It is not about saying we need to rebuild the roads necessarily, although that might be part of it. It is actually very much about trying to identify what is required for early evacuation. In a certain situation, early evacuation might be hours in advance of a risk. In another situation, early evacuation might actually be the day or the night before. That is what this recommendation is about: trying to assess the roads and also trying to assess the time frame that is required. The last recommendation is that:

Parliament support the establishment of a standing committee for natural disasters.

Everybody in this place knows that that is something that the shadow treasurer, the member for Davenport, has been pushing for tirelessly on behalf of his community and on behalf of our state. We also know that the majority of members in this place support that recommendation very strongly. It is a great shame that the government has so far decided not to support that recommendation, but that is something that comes out of this report, which is into bushfires in the Adelaide Hills but would extend the issues and the risks to all sorts of natural disasters in other parts of the state as well. It is a very important recommendation.

I cannot emphasise enough the issues that we are dealing with here. Bushfires happen; some are avoidable and some are not avoidable. We are not suggesting for a second that it would be possible to remove all risk. What we are suggesting is that the risks that are evident in the Adelaide Hills are extreme and catastrophic. There is the very serious risk of hundreds of people dying if a bushfire gets out of control in the Adelaide Hills, and it would be remiss of this parliament, it would be remiss of our government and our community, to not try to address those issues before they actually happen.

I say again, we know from the very sad Victorian experience that these things can happen, so we must address them. We saw exceptionally graphic evidence which was provided to us by CFS members from that area about what happened in the Canberra bushfires not too long ago, and about the panic, essentially, and the difficulty, not only for residents but also for experienced and trained CFS members and other firefighters in that sort of situation. In that situation in Canberra, they were not dealing with the sort of congestion that we might have in the Adelaide Hills. I seek leave to continue my remarks.

Leave granted; debate adjourned.