CHERRYVILLE FIRE

The Hon. D.W. RIDGWAY (Leader of the Opposition) (15:54): By leave, I move my motion in an amended form:

That it be an instruction to the Select Committee into Community Safety and Emergency Services in South Australia that its terms of reference be extended by inserting new paragraph 1A:

1A Inquire into and report on the Cherryville fire in order to:

1. Determine the circumstances of ignition and immediate CFS response;

2. Evaluate the effectiveness of the deployment and procurement of aerial assets;

3. Assess the fire danger season process and other decision-making processes in relation to imposing interim fire bans or other fire controls; and

4. Evaluate the communication of emergency response.

As members would be aware, over the last weekend we had the Cherryville fire, and we are all very grateful for the fact that we have had some lovely rain now and that that fire danger, certainly in that area but also right across the state, has passed. As members would know, this bushfire affected some 600 hectares of land. I also take the opportunity to acknowledge and thank all the volunteers and community members who worked tirelessly to ensure this fire was brought under control.

However, a number questions are yet to be answered, especially in relation to the aerial fire bombings: why they were not made available sooner, could they have been on standby, could other helicopters have been used—a whole range of questions have been posed. I do not intend to raise those questions and answer them in this brief contribution now, but we have an emergency services and community safety select committee. It was my initial intention to refer this to the Environment, Resources and Development Committee, which we know is a very hardworking committee with terms of reference and is often a bit cumbersome because it is a committee of the House of Assembly and Legislative Council members.

The Hon. J.S.L. Dawkins: A very awful chair.

The Hon. D.W. RIDGWAY: Other members of this chamber are reflecting on the chair: it would be inappropriate for me to reflect on the chair of the committee, but nonetheless we have a select committee here that probably would be able to look at this swiftly and come back with an interim report on the Cherryville fire. With those few words, I commend my amended motion to the house.

Debate adjourned on motion of the Hon. G.A. Kandelaars.