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House of Assembly - Fifty-First Parliament, Second Session (51-2)
2008-02-12 Daily Xml
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BUSHFIRES

The Hon. G.M. GUNN (Stuart) (17:23): I want to continue along the line of the member for Finniss, who quite properly drew the attention of the house to the great difficulties that the people of Kangaroo Island faced during the recent horrendous bushfires. Those of us who saw on our television sets on a nightly basis what was happening could not help but be impressed with the effort that the volunteers, the locals and others associated with that community made to get a semblance of order into what was obviously a most stressful situation. Of course, when you get a bushfire of this nature, the disruption to the local community, the cost to the taxpayers and the cost to that community is horrendous, and the personal losses, sacrifices and the dangers that people face are immense.

If anyone has had any experience they would realise that there is an urgent need to take pre-emptive action to reduce the dangers and the hazard and to ensure that every step possible is taken so that there is not a repeat. Now, the time has come when all the bureaucrats and all the green activists—those who want to get in the way of pre-emptive action—are swept aside and commonsense prevails. It is the role of a local member to speak on behalf of his community, to raise issues of concern and to get them on the public record and, if that upsets senior bureaucrats, that is too bad. That is the democratic process. The difference between a senior public servant and a member of parliament is that the member is elected and the bureaucrat is appointed.

I heard the member for Finniss, who has had experience in these matters, speaking on the radio. I heard him speaking at the same time as Mr Euan Ferguson, and I endorse his comments that Mr Ferguson is an outstanding officer and a most reasonable person—a person who wants to cooperate—who is doing his level best to protect the public of South Australia. He should be given every support and those who get in the way should be swept aside.

I think it was unfortunate that the head of the department of environment, Mr Holmes, should make critical comments of the member for Finniss. Whether he agreed with them or not, that is his right; I do not have a problem with that. But I do have a problem when these comments are made publicly. The member for Finniss is living with the community—he is a part of it: he knows the individuals and he has had experience. His only concern was to protect his constituents and the public of Kangaroo Island and, if that means that he is going to be critical of policy, actions and decisions (or the lack thereof), so be it. If he gets it wrong, the people of Finniss can do something about it, but they can do nothing about a public servant. That is the difference.

I put on the record that I think the member for Finniss has acted properly, wisely and in the best interests of his constituents. The time has come for this parliament to take some definitive action. We have read the Coroner's report from the fires on Lower Eyre Peninsula. How many more reports and inquiries to we need? We need action. It is no good for people to put up smokescreens and excuses. We need controlled burns, firebreaks and access tracks. You cannot expect volunteers to go into places they cannot get out of. Anyone who has had any experience in large-scale burning-off operations knows that you have to know what you are doing and you have to be organised before you light a fire. If you are going to back burn, you have to have something to back burn on to. If you are going to go in there, the people have to be able to turn around and get out. That is common sense.

I am appalled that we have built up huge quantities of combustible material and still we are not allowed to go off at the right time of the year to fix these problems. I am going to test the parliament. I am bringing a bill to this parliament in the very near future to deal with some of these problems, and then it will be upon the head of this government, its ministers and those who advise it that, if they stop it or prevent it and do not allow it to be debated, the next time something happens, they will have to be fully accountable. The criticism they have received from the member for Finniss will be nothing like what they will get because the public is starting to get sick of the no action policy.

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