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House of Assembly - Fifty-First Parliament, Third Session (51-3)
2008-09-10 Daily Xml
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MITCHAM HILLS ROAD INFRASTRUCTURE

The Hon. I.F. EVANS (Davenport) (15:40): For some years now I have been writing to the government raising the issue of the capacity of the Mitcham Hills district to evacuate in time of bushfire, and I do this because I represent the Mitcham Hills area. I have been a hills resident my whole life, and I was involved in fighting the two Ash Wednesday fires. The reason I have raised the capacity of the Mitcham Hills area to evacuate in times of fire is because there has been a significant increase in population in that area mainly due to the Blackwood Park redevelopment, which, when finished, will bring an extra 5,000 traffic movements a day to the Blackwood roundabout.

I have raised the issue with the government a number of times to be assured that the area does have the capacity to evacuate. There is then this rider, which is that the CFS policy is that people should not evacuate. I just want to raise that, in my view, that is a good theory, but I question whether in reality that is what will happen if a bad fire does go through the Mitcham Hills area. In the last 50 years we have been very lucky in the Mitcham Hills because the CFS has done a magnificent job of putting out fires early, meaning that we have not really seen a bad fire.

What we have in the Mitcham Hills is a large population base that has never actually seen a bad fire. I just question the CFS policy of saying that people should not evacuate, and I question it in this sense: I accept the premise that, in a perfect world, people should either evacuate before the fire starts (which is the CFS policy) or stay home and fight. That is the CFS policy: either evacuate before the fire starts or stay home and fight. I accept that premise from the CFS because I know, the CFS knows and research around the world shows that people who evacuate late and leave in their vehicles get burnt and die.

I accept all that, but I am just wondering whether it is practical and whether the CFS really believes that, in reality if a bad fire hits the Mitcham Hills, 20,000 people who have never seen a bad fire will not try to evacuate? I suspect that a lot of people will try to evacuate against the CFS policy, and here is my concern. In my view, the road infrastructure in the Mitcham Hills will not sustain an evacuation of any substantial size. The reason I raise it is that the Mitcham Hills needs an investment in road infrastructure that is capable of allowing people to evacuate if that is what they decide to do, because I suspect that a lot of them will decide to do that late in the piece.

Against all the advice of the CFS and against all the safety procedures, I think that a lot of people will panic and try to leave. The road infrastructure will not support that. Then, after that fire, there will be a report and the report will say, 'Shock, horror, the road infrastructure was not good enough and people should have known about the CFS policy not to evacuate.'

I have written countless letters—I think it would be well over a dozen letters—to various ministers on this and I have had no success, so I raise it here again. There will be another letter going to the minister because I think the whole thing needs to be reviewed. The important thing to remember is that it is not the CFS that decides who evacuates, it is actually the Commissioner of Police, so it is a different agency altogether that decides whether there should be a formal evacuation.

The other issue I raise is how practical is the policy. As an example, last year in the Adelaide Hills—which includes the Mitcham Hills—there were 18 total fire ban days, days of extreme fire danger, including five or six in a row in March. If you were to take the CFS policy as it is written, on 18 days the Mitcham Hills would need to evacuate on the basis that there might be a bad fire. This is my point: I think that is a good theory but it is not practical. I think that what will happen is some will evacuate the first day and come back; fire did not occur—this is on last year's example. Some will evacuate the second day; fire did not occur. By the third and fourth day they are not going to do it. Put yourself in their position: would you actually evacuate your family on 18 different occasions over a summer on the basis that there might be a fire? The practical reality of that is that I do not think many people are going to do that.

What I am trying to bring to the attention of the minister and maybe one of the advisers who might read this speech is that, although I have no argument in theory about the policy as such, I think the road infrastructure needs to be designed for what is practically likely to happen. What is likely to happen when that bad fire comes up over the hill and when you have 20,000-plus people who have not seen a bad fire in 50 years, regardless of all the best advice in the world, regardless of all the best intentions of the CFS, despite the outstanding work of the CFS over 50 years, is that some people are going to try to evacuate. What I am saying is that the road infrastructure there will not cater for it.

I do not want to be the member of parliament doing the press release or the media statement saying, 'I told you so.' So, I have written my letters, I have made my speeches, I raise it here again and I will keep plugging away because eventually there will be a bad fire there. The authorities need to get out of their policy bookwork, drive up there and have a look and say what they really think is going to happen. You only have to look at the local press the week after the Belair fire last year to see what the local reaction was. They all complained about the siren not being turned on and they all complained about not being able to evacuate. The reality is that the warnings have been raised, the government has been warned and I will continue to try to raise it with the government to get some action.

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