Metropolitan Fire Service

Mr COWDREY (Colton) (14:50): My question is to the Minister for Police, Emergency Services and Correctional Services. Can the minister please update the house on how the Marshall Liberal government is supporting the SAMFS to keep South Australians safe?

The Hon. V.A. TARZIA (Hartley—Minister for Police, Emergency Services and Correctional Services) (14:50): I thank the member for Colton for the question. Last week, I had the great pleasure of joining Squad 58 recruits at Angle Park Training Centre. It was absolutely a delight to go to see the new recruits at the MFS—young and fit and enthusiastic, exactly like the member for Colton, actually. I joined the MFS chief officer, Michael Morgan, Deputy Chief Officer Paul Fletcher, and also Assistant Chief Officer Peter Mason to join the new recruits and hear firsthand their wonderful experiences on joining the MFS and also kickstarting their training.

I have spoken in this place before about the world-class Structural Firefighting Training Facility at Angle Park. This provides real-life, world-class training in a secure environment. Some say it is the hottest property in Adelaide at the moment—$4.3 million has already been spent. It has been invested well. What it does is deliver quite a high-quality training, a range of exercises for our emergency services personnel. Our new MFS recruits get to experience these excellent facilities, ensuring that they are ready to respond to a whole range of incidents, thereby learning skills and protecting South Australian lives and property.

I am proud to inform the house that the MFS, as I alluded to, has 18 new recruits in Squad 58—16 men and two women—the oldest being 39 and the youngest just 22. The median age of the squad is just 29. It was fantastic to meet with these young people as they commence their training. The MFS, as we know, attracts only the best. These people come from a wide range of backgrounds, a wide range of experiences and a wide range of occupations. In this cohort of recruits, they have had previous occupations. One was from police security, there was a teacher and there was an exercise physiologist and people from sales and hospitality. There was a jeweller, a tradie, a train driver, a lab assistant and even a barista. I think the barista is going to be very popular.

While the reason for joining the MFS differs between recruits, it is evident that this new squad are eager to commence their training and be out in the community as soon as they can. It's a great time to be an MFS recruit in our state. These men and women are the beneficiaries of what are excellent training facilities at Angle Park, with more appliances arriving shortly, not to mention the improvements in technology, including automatic vehicle location that is being rolled out across the state.

Since coming to government, we have invested over $67 million in additional funding for our MFS. This includes $11½ million for 12 additional heavy urban appliances that are already being rolled out in many cases, with a couple already and more to come. They are being well received. Recently, I was in the member for Kavel's electorate, and I saw one of those and the enthusiasm on the faces of the MFS recruits as they received their new appliance. Also, there is over $4 million for new helmets and breathing apparatus. Our investment in emergency services will ensure that those who put their lives on the line for the community do so as safely as possible.

Last week, we saw a warm and windy start to spring, and with that a fire already in the Parawa region. The 2021 fire season is fast approaching, and now is the critical time to take the important steps to prepare your property, check your emergency kit and equipment and review, update and practise your bushfire survival plan.

Last week's Parawa fire was a timely reminder of how important it is for our emergency services agencies to be well resourced and trained, and that is why in delivering our $97.5 million action plan in response to the Keelty review we are ensuring that our dedicated MFS, CFS and SES personnel have the tools they need to keep our state safe and strong.