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House of Assembly - Fifty-Fourth Parliament, First Session (54-1)
2019-10-15 Daily Xml
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Aluminium Composite Cladding

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS (West Torrens) (14:41): My question is to the Minister for Transport and Infrastructure. Does the MFS endorse his department's rating system of buildings rated as being either extreme or high risk, and did they offer any alternatives?

The Hon. S.K. KNOLL (Schubert—Minister for Transport, Infrastructure and Local Government, Minister for Planning) (14:41): To make a couple of points, the MFS have been part of this process the entire time. The MFS actually have representatives on the Council Building Fire Safety Committees, so they are very, very much involved in this process. To make a clear distinction, if we put cladding to one side for a second, there is a whole series of issues of fire danger that buildings need to contend with. Cladding is not the only thing that burns in a building. In fact, there are many substances and many building products that are used that have a degree of flammability. That's why we need to have fire protection systems in buildings of various sizes in the first place. So there is an existing structure to be dealt with.

In terms of cladding, what we are dealing with—and again it's in the assessment tool that was set up before this government came to office—is life safety. It's the idea of whether the people who are in this building from time to time are safe: if there is a fire, can they get out safely and can we preserve human life? That is the assessment tool that is being undertaken.

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS: Point of order, sir: I asked if the MFS endorsed the rating system.

The SPEAKER: I have the point of order. I will be listening very carefully. I think the minister—

Mr Malinauskas: Very, very, very evasive.

The SPEAKER: Leader, you can leave for the remainder of question time because I am trying to deliberate and you are interjecting. You can leave for the remainder of question time.

The honourable member for Croydon having withdrawn from the chamber:

The SPEAKER: I try to listen to every answer. I believe that the minister started to deviate from the substance of the question, so I ask him to come back to the substance of the question—and if not, to conclude his answer. Thank you.

The Hon. S.K. KNOLL: This is a complex topic, a very complex topic, and helping to provide information to the house I think provides assurance and reassurance to the people of this chamber and the broader South Australian public that we are on top of this and are dealing with it. Yes, the MFS sit around the table. They are part of the decisions that we make. But we are looking discretely here at life safety as distinct from asset protection, which is a different role and again one that the MFS takes on in relation to all buildings as being our front line of defence.

Can I also say that the other role that the MFS have had to play in this is to make sure that they have upped their response for these 28 buildings—well, for the 30 buildings—whilst rectification works are being undertaken, essentially making sure that they have put protocols in place to help deal with the elevated level of risk that we currently find ourselves in. I understand that the computer-aided dispatch and all of those systems have now been updated, ready to respond if, heaven forbid, something bad should happen at one of these sites.

The MFS has been involved in this process at every step of the way, and they continue to be involved at every step of the way. Again, this is a coordinated response across the various government agencies for whom this impacts. We will continue to utilise that process until the last building is remediated.

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