Grievance Debate

Bushfire Traffic Management

Mr GARDNER (Morialta) (15:18): I rise to talk about issues to do with traffic control that came out of the Sampson Flat bushfires earlier this year. It is obviously a very hard time to be talking about measures that come from the management of fires. Families that are deeply connected with members of this house are grieving this week, and of course all members of the house grieve with them. It is a very challenging time for those communities.

Those communities, hurt as they have been hit, are resilient communities and will continue to work together, rebuild and reconnect. They will not be destroyed by those fires. This is of course an issue that arises in our scorched land, in our unique environmental circumstances in South Australia, and we deal with it every year.

In the electorate of Morialta, of course, we were very significantly hit by the Sampson Flat bushfires at the beginning of this year as, indeed, we were hit by the Cherryville fires in May 2013. Our community in Morialta is resilient and has worked to overcome those issues, but the loss of life that has occurred over the last week and the very serious injuries incurred puts them in a category separate even from that.

That said, I do want to touch on a couple of the things that have arisen out of the Australasian Fire and Emergency Services Authorities Council's independent review and, in particular, a couple of things arising from the Sampson Flat fire that have regularly been raised by members of my community. I thank the shadow minister for emergency services, the member for Morphett, who attended a public meeting with me in Cudlee Creek a week and a half ago, at which we talked about a number of these matters. That community was grateful for his support during the initial period of the Sampson Flat fires and, indeed, for coming out again in November.

One of the issues regularly raised by constituents of mine on a significant number of occasions following the Sampson Flat fires was that of access. Many constituents were frustrated in the different application of the rules relating to whether they could get in and out of the area their properties were in, leaving their homes to avoid danger only to be given inconsistent treatment upon their attempt to regain entry to the fire zone. There were many anecdotes provided at the public meetings, and I have traversed some of those in the house before, but the different situations seem to range from being able to access the fire zone at a roadblock only to be told, at the same roadblock but by a different police officer, that they would not be allowed back in if they left, to one ridiculous case of someone towing a trailer who was not allowed to cross the roadblock in his car but was allowed to cross it on foot, pull the trailer across, and then attach it to another car on the other side of the roadblock.

While that was the most extraordinary situation related, it was not the only unusual interpretation and application of the rules. The Australasian Fire and Emergency Services Authorities Council (AFAC) recognised this was an issue in its independent review of the fire, and it specifically addressed it as part of its terms of reference. The AFAC report found:

The State Emergency Management Plan identified that returning communities to normality following an emergency incident in a timely manner assists in the healing and recovery process. It is appropriate to enable certain groups of individuals into the incident area, where it is reasonably safe, and doesn't adversely impact upon operations or other legislative obligations.

As such, recommendation 15 was made, which recommended the implementation of the Tasmanian three-tier model of access. The three tiers can be described as emergency services access only, essential services access only, and authorised access, which means access for local residents, other recovery workers and potentially the media. By the way, I implore all media outlets, when dealing with these matters, to be incredibly sensitive to the feelings of the people whose images they are taking, whose properties they are taking images of. A number of people in my community found themselves additionally traumatised by the way their property was trampled on, by people who had no personal connection to them, to take footage.

When this report was tabled, the Minister for Emergency Services stated that some of the recommendations had been accepted by the CFS, but as yet we are still in the dark as to which ones. I call upon the minister to fully disclose which recommendations have been adopted and whether recommendation 15, in particular, has been adopted. My constituents were left with an inconsistent approach to traffic management and, whilst I hope there is no need for traffic management to be implemented due to a major fire any time soon, a recommendation has been made and I call on the government to adopt it.