Native Vegetation (Road Verges) Amendment Bill

Introduction and First Reading

Dr McFETRIDGE (Morphett) (10:39): Obtained leave and introduced a bill for an act to amend the Native Vegetation Act 1991.

Second Reading

Dr McFETRIDGE (Morphett) (10:40): I move:

That this bill be now read a second time.

Members in this place will be familiar with my very strong stance on bushfire prevention and the need to undertake fuel reduction not only on people's properties but also along road verges. This bill is very similar to the two I have introduced in this place previously. It is a common-sense piece of legislation. I am very pleased that, since the last, very similar bill was defeated by one vote in this place, I have had an opportunity to talk to other members in this place, members of councils and mayors of local government around South Australia.

Like a lot of issues we see in this place, it takes a while for people to realise that this is a common-sense proposal. People's lives will be saved by this. As I have said with previous bills, I look forward to the opportunity to give evidence to a Coroner's inquiry into the aftermaths of bushfires. We all pass our sympathy on to the families of the two people who lost their lives in the recent Pinery bushfire.

I will say that the Pinery bushfire was a unique fire. It was really a five-hour fire with a fire danger index of over 200. That fire would not have been stopped by my bill, but let me tell you that fires like Sampson Flat and, unfortunately, the inevitable bushfires that will occur in our Hills will be, if not stopped, reduced, and escape paths will be made available to people on properties.

It bothers me that people still are leaving too late, and not taking the advice of the CFS, but those roadways and road verges need to be cleared in a reasonable fashion. People are not going to napalm the road verges. They are not going to get the D9 out and bare earth the road verges. This is reasonable clearing of the road verges—not only for road safety, but my main aim is for fuel reduction.

I just hope that members in this place look at this again and understand where we are coming from. There are some CFS members who have said, 'We don't really want this to happen. We don't want owners to do this.' I first signed on with the CFS 30 years ago next week, in fact. I am a life member of the CFS, and I have been a captain of a very busy brigade where we used burning off to train new recruits and to reinforce training.

There are some members of the CFS who say, 'We don't really want property owners to do this.' Let me tell you, I happen to disagree very strongly with them because, now, CFS brigades are unable to use this to the extent they used to. They are not able to clear the road verges or to reduce the fuel loads, and they are not able to use this as a training tool.

I very strongly support the fact that South Australians can be trusted not only on this bill but other bills we are going to be debating today. I actually think that South Australians are very sensible people and that they should be given the choice of clearing up the road verges because they may need an escape route, or just to reduce the weeds and hazards that are along their road verges.

I can give a local example of our family farm down at Meadows. Mallawa Road is a dirt road. The Mount Barker council come in and try to clear up the verges, but it is impossible because there are fallen branches and there are trees. There is phalaris 1½ metres high. The fuel height is normally about one-third of the flame height, so you have got flames over four metres high coming from that phalaris, and the radiant heat from that is seriously intense. People get killed trying to escape down those sorts of roads.

It has happened time and time again. We need to stop it. We need to give people the opportunity to undertake reasonable clearing of the verges. I hope members in this place speak in support of this. I hope the government sees the reason behind this, particularly after the fires that we have had in recent months at Pinery and Sampson Flat. There is nothing more certain that it will happen again. I do not want to see never mind property lost because the fuel load has been so intense; I do not want to see lives lost.

Debate adjourned on motion of Ms Digance.