State Emergency Service

Dr HARVEY (Newland) (14:45): My question is to the Minister for Police, Emergency Services and Correctional Services.

Mr Malinauskas interjecting:

The SPEAKER: The leader is warned.

Dr HARVEY: Can the minister update the house on the SES response—

The Hon. T.J. Whetstone interjecting:

The SPEAKER: The Minister for Primary Industries is called to order and warned. Member for Newland, can I have the question again, please?

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

Dr HARVEY: My question is to the Minister for Police, Emergency Services and Correctional Services. Can the minister update the house on the SES response to the recent storms in Adelaide and across South Australia?

The Hon. S.K. Knoll interjecting:

The SPEAKER: The Minister for Infrastructure is warned.

The Hon. C.L. WINGARD (Gibson—Minister for Police, Emergency Services and Correctional Services, Minister for Recreation, Sport and Racing) (14:46): I thank the member for Newland for his question and note that he has an SES group in his electorate that is very passionate and does some wonderful work, based on Tolley Road. The Tea Tree Gully unit do an outstanding job, and I know that he is very aware of the great work they do in his local community.

Across the board, our SES volunteers do a marvellous job. I have said in this place before, and I will say it again and at every opportunity I get: they are fabulous and we must thank them for all the work they do in our community. We had a busy week in the emergency services sector. We might have brought on the start of the fire danger season in a few regions, but we are still battling storm fronts that cause significant damage across our state, most notably in the metropolitan area earlier this week.

The SES responded to an extreme weather event as we experienced damaging winds, thunderstorms, heavy rain and hail across most South Australian districts. In fact, in my local community, a big gum tree came down right across Brighton Road in front of the cemetery. It was very lucky that no-one was hit. Again, we thank all those emergency services workers who came and cleared the mess. The road had to be closed for a while; that is how dangerous the winds and conditions were.

Statewide, requests for assistance reached 340 by late Monday, with around 4,000 residents suffering power outages from storm damage. We have around 1,500 SES volunteers across South Australia who assist our state during times of emergency and extreme weather. The Western Adelaide SES, whom I am pleased to say I visited a few months ago, attended 27 incidents, including removing fallen trees from train lines, roads and houses, rescuing a flipped pergola—if you can believe it—and assisting with fixing a roof.

Unfortunately, three emergency services volunteers sustained minor injuries; however, they did not need hospitalisation. This just reaffirms the need for the public and our volunteers to take care outside during emergencies. Added to that, I am very pleased to say that I am opening the Loxton SES this Sunday in the electorate of the member for Chaffey. It does a marvellous job as well. We are expecting around 150 local volunteers and their families to attend what I am sure will be a great day in the local community.

A lot of the work conducted from this unit involves attending tragic road crash rescues, unfortunately. We know how sad that is. While the government is committed to lowering the road toll from vehicle accidents, it is an unfortunate component of modern-day life. It is reassuring to know that we have people working in our emergency services who will put themselves out. They are committed to dropping everything when they get the message, get the call or get the page. They go out at a moment's notice in an hour of need, often late at night or early in the wee hours of the morning, to go and help people in their local community and the surrounds. Again, we cannot thank these people enough.

Anyone who has attended an accident on the freeway will know that road accidents are traumatic events, and our volunteers lend their significant experience and skill in these difficult circumstances. When you see some of the tools they use and some of the techniques that they have to practise, they put hours and hours into this to make sure that they can offer these services to our community.

While I am attending the opening of the Loxton SES, I would like to take a minute to acknowledge the Salisbury CFS, which are celebrating their 75^th anniversary. Unfortunately, I won't be able to attend, but I would like to take this opportunity to congratulate that brigade as well. Seventy-five years of giving service to our community is a wonderful achievement.