Environment, Water and Natural Resources Department Fire Management

The Hon. G.A. KANDELAARS (15:48): My question is to the Minister for Sustainability, Environment and Conservation. Could the minister outline how the Department of Environment, Water and Natural Resources delivers its prescribed burning program, and some of the important outcomes that have been achieved?

The Hon. I.K. HUNTER (Minister for Sustainability, Environment and Conservation, Minister for Water and the River Murray, Minister for Climate Change) (15:48): I thank the honourable member for his most excellent question. Every year, the Department of Environment, Water and Natural Resources conducts a program of prescribed burning as part of a broader five-year rolling program, and we do this because we know that prescribed burning has been recognised as the most effective and economical way of reducing bushfire fuels on a landscape scale.

This was reinforced for us after the Sampson Flat bushfire early in 2015, where fire intensity mapping has shown that prescribed burns played a pivotal role in modifying bushfire behaviour and the spread of fire. It was again, I think, shown in January 2016 when a lightning strike on private land bordering the Seal Bay Conservation Park started a potentially dangerous blaze. Thanks in part to a prescribed burn that was conducted at the edge of Seal Bay Conservation Park in 2013, the impact of the fire was minimised, saving land, wildlife and community assets.

The Country Fire Service and DEWNR estimate that, because of the reduction in fuels from that prescribed burn, the fire was contained to just 10 hectares on the park boundary. I will be seeking leave in a minute to table a photograph to give to honourable members so that they can get a sense of how important the prescribed burning was in this case. It makes it very clear from an aerial perspective just what strategic burning can do, just to buy time for our firefighters and to reduce the intensity of the fire that they are combating.

The CFS state coordinator, Ms Yvette Dowling, has said, 'I am advised that this was an excellent example of how well-planned and strategic fuel reduction from prescribed burning can help reduce the intensity of a bushfire and give firefighters a tactical advantage for containing bushfire when conditions permit.' That is a crucial statement—'when conditions permit'. The CFS understands, as does DEWNR, that prescribed burns can only take place when weather conditions are deemed suitable for the planned activity to be conducted safely. We only do prescribed burnings when we consider that action to be safe to our communities.

This does not appear, however, to get through to some people. Every single year, a scare campaign is mounted about the number of prescribed burns that were carried out as opposed to the number that were planned for. Every year, I have to intervene in the media to explain to people that it is a five-year rolling plan, that if we don't get to the planned burn in autumn we will try to do it in the next spring and that we actually plan ahead over a long period of time.

Some people seem to enjoy creating fear and concern about our fire safety management in the eyes of the public, and I think that is a great shame. The opposite is actually true. We are putting in place secure firefighting mechanisms to reduce the intensity of fire and allow our firefighters time to regroup, to analyse the fire and to make some strategic decisions, without having the huge intensity of the fire bearing down on them because they know that strategic burns have been put in place in the previous years.

As the program is, as I have said, part of a rolling season, the burns not conducted in this spring we will carry out in the following season, if conditions permit. In recognition of the importance of prescribed burning, this government has, of course, invested significantly in the program. In 2002-03, the fire management operating budget was approximately $390,000: now the budget for 2015-16 is $10.3 million. This increase reflects the state government's commitment not only to prescribed burning but also to the training and development of our firefighters. Within this time, the government has doubled DEWNR's budget for trained firefighters and almost doubled the number of DEWNR brigade members.

There is no doubt that DEWNR staff involved in the planning and conducting of prescribed burns take their role incredibly seriously. They pride themselves on their expertise and the work that they do. The program is carried out by highly trained professionals with fire management experience and skills. Burns are meticulously planned, including a thorough assessment of the environment and any associated risk factors, such as wind and temperature, the dryness of vegetation, the geography of the site, and the last time there was a burn there. I would like to take this opportunity to thank the CFS and DEWNR staff, who work tirelessly throughout our prescribed burning season.

Bushfires have always been a feature of our environment. We know that; they always will be. Fuels are the only physical aspect of bushfires that we can realistically influence. Prescribed burning does not stop bushfires from occurring; of course, it doesn't. But, as we have seen from our experience, it does provide firefighters with a tactical advantage, earlier containment options and a safer working environment. It is vital that we work together in a constructive way to ensure the safety of everyone involved.

I table a photograph of the fire that burnt through the Seal Bay Conservation Park in January 2016. The aerial photograph shows the fire as well as the land that was subject to the prescribed burns program in 2013 and highlights the way in which prescribed burning can help to reduce intensity during bushfires.

Finally, while I have the opportunity, I would like to warmly congratulate my new Leader of the Government. I was very pleased that he was prepared to step up and take on this important and onerous position.

Members interjecting:

The PRESIDENT: Order!

The Hon. I.K. HUNTER: I look forward to his continued leadership for the remainder of this term and, most importantly from a strategic point of view, his position here as Leader of the Government after the next election.

I also want to thank my previous leader, the Hon. Gail Gago—

Members interjecting:

The PRESIDENT: Order!

The Hon. I.K. HUNTER: —who has led this government in this place with great distinction. She has always been warm and inclusive as a leader, but when needed she had a backbone of steel. Of course, in this place she sometimes needed that backbone of steel, enduring ceaseless attacks from a threatened opposition with grace and a certain insouciance. A great role model for women in politics, she shows all of us that women in leadership positions are now the norm and that the position is no longer the sole purview of male honourable members. That is why she was such a threat to those opposite. I thank her for her outstanding service to this house and to my party.