Ministerial Statement

BUSHFIRE PLANNING

The Hon. P. HOLLOWAY (Minister for Mineral Resources Development, Minister for Urban Development and Planning, Minister for Small Business) (15:49): I seek leave to make a ministerial statement.

Leave granted.

The Hon. P. HOLLOWAY: The Victorian bushfires and their tragic loss of life and property have again brought home to South Australians the danger inherent in living within our natural bushland. Victorian Premier John Brumby has already announced that a royal commission will investigate the causes and aftermath of the Black Saturday fires, and that will no doubt inform some of the policy making in other states. Whilst you can never create a zero risk in bushfire-prone areas, we can attempt to minimise the risk to life and property as much as possible through better planning and building codes. South Australia has implemented a number of initiatives since the Premier's Bushfire Summit in 2003, a meeting called soon after the ACT bushfires that cut a path of destruction through Canberra, a city that portrays itself as our bush capital.

As part of the summit process, the Premier called on South Australians to provide ideas and raise concerns about bushfire preparedness across the state. These contributions from the public and government agencies identified 15 initiatives that the government endorsed on 10 November 2003. In response to some of those initiatives, this government conducted a major review throughout the state to identify bushfire protection areas and rate them in terms of risk—general, medium or high. This was a huge exercise that required identifying and mapping bushfire protection areas and then introducing development plan amendments affecting 39 local councils.

The planning requirements in these bushfire protection areas include such features as: dedicated water supplies for fire fighting; buffer zones between houses and flammable or combustible vegetation; appropriate access roads; and building features which increase bushfire protection. Since the implementation of those protection areas, new housing applications within a high bushfire risk level have to be referred to the Country Fire Service to ensure that the bushfire planning provisions contained in the development plan are met. This approach empowers the CFS to direct the local planning authority to refuse a building application in a high risk area should the bushfire threat be found to be too great, or direct that stringent conditions be imposed.

South Australia has already adopted Australian Standard 3959-1999 in relation to the construction of new homes located in bushfire protection areas. New dwellings in these designated areas need to be designed and built in accordance with the Building Code of Australia and the South Australian Housing Code. While progress towards a national agreement on a building code for bushfire prone areas has dragged on for some time, South Australia has taken the lead by already adopting the national standard. This government has also gone a step further than the Australian Standard to mandate perimeter protection for elevated dwellings to prevent embers, etc., endangering a building from below. To complement the building standard, this government has also introduced requirements through council development plans that deal with clearance distances, access and on-site water capacity.

In the light of the Victorian bushfires, and with the prospect of climate change leading to more extreme weather events more often, South Australia will now review those bushfire protection areas to determine whether the risk ratings need upgrading. That could mean that protection areas that were previously rated as a general risk may need to be upgraded to medium, and medium to high.

A draft of Minister's Code—Undertaking Development in Bushfire Protection Areas has been under development for some time, including a thorough review by the CFS. It is my expectation that legislative force will shortly be given to the final version of that code. Even then, the new code is likely to require further updating as new information comes to light, such as the interim report of the royal commission into the Victorian bushfires. This Minister's Code will enshrine prescriptive bushfire control requirements throughout the state and provide a uniform standard across the 39 local councils that now contain bushfire protection areas within their boundaries. Existing development regulations will require some amendment to ensure that development applications are assessed against these sections of the code.

The government can take measures under the building and planning codes to minimise the general risk, but South Australians living in bushfire prone areas are also required to play their part. This government encourages residents to develop their own bushfire action plans and be prepared to implement them when required. Information on how to develop bushfire action plans can be obtained from the CFS.