Regional Capability Community Fund

The Hon. T.R. KENYON (Newland) (15:11): My question is to the Minister for Emergency Services. How is the government investing in the capability of regional communities to respond to bushfires?

The Hon. C.J. PICTON (Kaurna—Minister for Police, Minister for Correctional Services, Minister for Emergency Services, Minister for Road Safety, Minister Assisting the Minister for Health, Minister Assisting the Minister for Mental Health and Substance Abuse) (15:12): I thank the member for Newland for his question and note his strong interest in and support of bushfire capabilities in his electorate and the north-eastern suburbs and foothills around Adelaide. As people would know, we are now entering the bushfire season. We have had the first two declarations of regions of our state entering their fire danger seasons, being the north-east pastoral and the north-west pastoral districts. That happened on the weekend. It is very important that all of us take what precautions we can to prepare for bushfires.

As part of that, we are running a program, as we have for a number of years, to support communities to improve their capabilities to respond to bushfires across South Australia. It is called the Regional Capability Community Fund, and it is a program initiated by my colleague the member for Light when he was the minister. This is a very worthwhile program in which $480,000 per year is devoted to supporting communities across the state with grants of up to $2,500 on a fifty-fifty cost sharing basis.

We are now in the third year of the program and 273 individuals and organisations have benefited from grants. They include things like upgraded equipment for mobile firefighting units, bulk water storage tanks, personal protective clothing and equipment, and high-volume water pumps. As a direct result of this latest round, we have seen more than $1.1 million in equipment rolled out across South Australia ahead of the fire danger season.

Today, I am very pleased to announce that the government is going to be extending this grant program for another two years to 2020. This is an additional $1 million provided to those regional communities for their disaster resilience, and it will mean we can support even more landholders and community groups to purchase equipment that will enable them to respond safely when disaster strikes. The new grants will open mid next year.

So far, the successful applicants to the program have delivered some very important safety for our communities. I will mention some examples. We all remember the devastating impact of the Pinery fire in 2015. We have seen some great responses from the community out of that devastation, one of which was the Adelaide Plains Football League, which raised over $90,000 towards water storage in the region, including a 216,000-litre tank opposite the Pinery Hall, which is in the member for Goyder's electorate.

As a direct result of this fund, we have been able to support the Pinery Community Centre to purchase two high-volume transfer pumps to complement the large tank opposite the hall. The treasurer, Ian Wedding, has advised my office that the equipment has now been purchased, allowing both CFS appliances and local farm firefighting units to simultaneously and rapidly draw from the large tank as a key refilling location in the region.

Similarly, John Harris is a farmer in Cunliffe on Yorke Peninsula, which, as a strong region for lentil production, can often see harvest fires occur. He recalls two large fires during the last harvest, one of which was just a couple of kilometres away from his farm. He attended another in Kadina with others. He was first to arrive on the scene with a farm firefighting unit before the CFS volunteers arrived to take control.

While they continued to support CFS in fighting the fire, their swift action showed John the great benefits of farm firefighting in managing incidents before they get out of control. I am happy to say that John applied for and was successful in securing a $2,500 grant towards a 1000-litre farm firefighting unit, which is now ready to use ahead of the upcoming harvest and fire danger season.

I am happy to put the call out to all MPs to make sure that your communities are well aware of this fund. It can support local community organisations as well as farmers across the state to improve their capability so that we can all be more resilient for the risk of bushfires.