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House of Assembly - Fifty-Second Parliament, First Session (52-1)
2011-11-24 Daily Xml
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GAWLER RANGES PRESCRIBED BURNING

Mr GOLDSWORTHY (Kavel) (14:53): Thank you, Madam Speaker. My question is to the Minister for Sustainability, Environment and Conservation.

Mr Pisoni interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Member for Unley, you are warned for the third time. The next time you will go. Member for Kavel, can you start again?

Mr GOLDSWORTHY: Thank you, Madam Speaker. My question is to the Minister for Sustainability, Environment and Conservation. Did local CFS volunteers advise officers from the Department of Environment and Natural Resources not to start the most recent prescribed burning of the national park in the Gawler Ranges?

The Hon. P. CAICA (Colton—Minister for Sustainability, Environment and Conservation, Minister for Water and the River Murray, Minister for Aboriginal Affairs and Reconciliation) (14:54): As everyone knows, there was a prescribed burn that got out of control in the Gawler Ranges. It was meant to be 500 hectares and finished up being around 12,000 hectares. Certainly, my understanding of the situation is that, through the good work of the CFS and, indeed, our own officers over there, that fire after a period of time was contained in what was a very hot and trying set of circumstances. What is happening is that the—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

An honourable member interjecting:

The Hon. P. CAICA: Yes. The primary concern was to make sure that every effort was put into containing that fire. The department will certainly be doing a thorough investigation of the circumstances that caused that fire—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. P. CAICA: —the control of that fire to be lost. One of the matters I will certainly expect when that inquiry is undertaken is the procedures and the processes that the department undertook in—

The SPEAKER: Point of order; member for MacKillop.

Mr WILLIAMS: The point of order is one of relevance. The Premier did tell the house that his ministers would answer questions. We are still waiting for an answer to this question: did the local CFS—

The SPEAKER: Thank you, member for MacKillop. We do not need an explanation from you. I understand your point of order. The minister, I am sure, will get to the point of the question.

The Hon. P. CAICA: I am getting to it, Madam Speaker. Of course, those prescribed burns are not undertaken without the input of a lot of advice, not the least of which is from the CFS. With respect to the specific question, I do not know whether or not on that occasion that fire and that prescribed burn were at odds—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. P. CAICA: Crikey, it's hard—whether or not specific advice was given by the CFS not to undertake that prescribed burn. I do not know that, but I will certainly get those answers as part of the internal review that was being undertaken and I will get back to the house on that specific matter.

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