WANGARY CORONIAL INQUEST WORKING PARTY

The Hon. CARMEL ZOLLO (Minister for Emergency Services, Minister for Correctional Services, Minister for Road Safety, Minister Assisting the Minister for Multicultural Affairs) (15:27): I seek leave to make a ministerial statement about the government's response to the coronial inquest into the Wangary bushfires.

Leave granted.

The Hon. CARMEL ZOLLO: On 18 December 2007, the Deputy Coroner, Anthony Schapel, handed down his findings into the bushfires on Lower Eyre Peninsula, known as the Wangary bushfires. I would like to take this opportunity to thank the CFS volunteers, their families, their employers and the wider community for their commitment to public safety and their professionalism during the inquest and for their work in protecting South Australia from bushfires this summer.

Even before the Wangary coronial inquest, the South Australian government took decisive action to ensure improvements to our emergency services. Following both the independent review of the fire by Dr Bob Smith and Project Phoenix (an internal CFS project), the CFS made a number of changes to both its operations and its preventive activities. The recommendations of the Deputy Coroner that require legislative change will be referred to the Review of the Fire and Emergency Services Act, which is currently being undertaken by Mr John Murray. The report from that review is due in April this year and I expect any suggested legislative change arising from the Deputy Coroner's recommendations to form part of that review and report.

Mr David Place, Commissioner of Fire and Emergencies, was tasked with coordinating the government's response to the Wangary coronial inquest. The Wangary Coronial Inquest Working Party was established to provide leadership and advice to government about the recommendations. It is a high level working group that reports through me, as the Minister for Emergency Services, to the Emergency Management Council and to the cabinet.

The Wangary Coronial Inquest Working Party convened for the first time on 7 January 2008. The Wangary working party has met on three occasions since the handing down of the Deputy Coroner's findings and continues to meet on a regular basis.

Membership of the group consists of representatives from the SA Fire and Emergency Services Commission (SAFECOM), the CFS, the MFS, the SES, South Australia Police (SAPOL), the Department for Environment and Heritage, ForestrySA, the Department of Primary Industries and Resources SA, the Local Government Association, the Office of Local Government, the South Australian Farmers Federation, the Department of Treasury and Finance, the Attorney-General's Department, the Department for Transport, Energy and Infrastructure, the South Australian Country Fire Service Volunteers Association, and the Department of Water, Land and Biodiversity Conservation.

Already, many of the Wangary recommendations have been implemented, and interim measures have been put in place to ensure that the intended outcomes from the Deputy Coroner's report are operational for this fire danger season. This includes the taking of immediate action by the CFS Chief Officer, via a directive, that, for level 2 and level 3 bushfire incidents, incident management teams make all attempts to contact landholders where a fire is situated and seek information about the conditions pertinent to the land and possible containment measures. Those interim actions are in addition to the improvements the CFS has already put in place.

Some examples of improvements already made post Wangary include increased personnel for use in state level 3 incident management teams and an expansion of training in rural firefighting skills to better equip volunteer firefighters through additional funding of $2.538 million over four years, announced in the 2007-08 budget. Five new training programs have been introduced, with a target of 10,500 volunteers—that is, two-thirds of the CFS volunteers. The government has acted to ensure that the laws relating to the use of vehicles has been amended and that public awareness has increased about the use of vehicles during the fire danger season.

In the 2007-08 budget, $500,000 additional funding for each year from 2007-08 to 2010-11, to match increased commonwealth funding, was provided by the state government for aerial firefighting. The government has more than doubled its spend on aerial resources. In particular, the spend on aircraft for use on the West Coast, on Lower Eyre Peninsula, has greatly increased. This fire danger season, two Airtractor 2500L fixed-wing bombers and a surveillance/coordination aircraft have been located on Lower Eyre Peninsula. We will consider the Deputy Coroner's recommendation about aircraft and take operational advice from the CFS.

An automatic weather station for Lower Eyre Peninsula, commissioned in 2007, has been partly funded by the state government. Significant advances have been made in the provision of community education to the community. In the 2007-08 budget, $2 million was provided over four years. This has allowed additional seasonal positions to complement the base 3.2 FTEs who visit at-risk communities and conduct Bushfire Blitz and other community fire safe programs. This funding continues the expansion of the activities announced in October 2005, when almost $1.2 million over two years was allocated to expand CFS community education to allow 300 additional presentations and an extra 20 community fire safety groups to be established across the state.

The government has also expanded its media and community information campaign. In October 2006, the government approved an additional $225,000 for the community awareness campaign for bushfire prevention, preparedness and safety, entitled Dispelling the Myths. Funding in this year's budget will go towards a further community awareness campaign, which includes television, radio and print advertisements, direct mail to 80,000 vulnerable homes, as well as advertisements on ad shells at bus stops.

The CFS hotline has been developed to be an exceptional tool for the community to find out bushfire information. Bushfire information and warning messages were introduced in the 2005-06 campaign and continue to provide superior service to the community. The CFS has established new memoranda of understanding with media outlets to transmit bushfire warnings. The process has been finetuned to ensure that that information is provided to the public via the ABC and FIVEaa, and MoUs will be pursued with other media outlets.

SAFECOM has worked in partnership with the Local Government Association to simplify further the resource sharing arrangements and see a formal agreement approved at a state level for use of plant and equipment. A draft memorandum of understanding has been signed between the LGA and SAFECOM on behalf of the MFS, the CFS and the SES, and I am advised that at this time eight councils have signed up to the MoU.

A ministerial review of bushfire management in South Australia was conducted, and key reforms were recommended to update bushfire planning and management arrangements. In addition to these improvements and developments, the Wangary working party will work over the coming months to ensure that the recommendations of the Deputy Coroner are given due consideration and appropriate changes are made to ensure the desired improvements.

On 7 February 2008, the Minister for State/Local Government Relations convened a meeting of the State/Local Government Forum to deal specifically with the recommendations relevant to local government. This meeting was attended by Mr David Place (Commissioner of Fire and Emergencies), the Chief Officer of the Country Fire Service and me, along with representatives of the LGA and metropolitan and regional councils, as well as my colleague the Hon. Gail Gago. At the forum the Deputy Coroner's recommendations were discussed, and a task group will be established to put forward options to the Wangary Coronial Inquest Working Party for consideration.

It is clear from the work already completed and from the plans of the Wangary working group and its task groups that significant progress has been made and will be made in the very near future. The work being conducted by emergency services and other government agencies is focused on ensuring enhanced and superior prevention, quality service delivery and behavioural change in the community with respect to bushfires and bushfire prevention.

I reiterate my thanks for the tireless efforts of our volunteers in their work. It is anticipated that in March 2008 final workshops will be held to bring together all the agencies and task forces and the respective work that has been completed. This will form the basis for the recommendations of the Wangary Coronial Inquest Working Party and the government's response to the Deputy Coroner's recommendations. Once government has considered its response, a feedback and consultative process will be initiated with key stakeholders in the community. Consultation is occurring with all relevant stakeholders as this process moves forward, and it is hoped that I will be able to bring to the parliament definite outcomes within the coming months.