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House of Assembly - Fifty-Fifth Parliament, First Session (55-1)
2022-11-01 Daily Xml
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Be Bushfire Ready Campaign

The Hon. L.W.K. BIGNELL (Mawson) (15:09): My question is to the Minister for Emergency Services. Can the minister inform the house about the Country Fire Service's Be Bushfire Ready campaign?

The Hon. J.K. SZAKACS (Cheltenham—Minister for Police, Emergency Services and Correctional Services) (15:09): I certainly can, and I appreciate the question and thank the member for Mawson for his interest, particularly given the way that fire has affected his community and the way that he continues to represent them in their recovery phase.

Mr Speaker, you know that our climate is changing. You see the effects that climate change is having on the way fire is behaving. It's only very recently that I have come across information from the United Nations which shows that, as we speak and as we currently face risk, the Arctic is facing wildfire risk. That's quite an astonishing fact that serves me no pleasure in bringing to this house's attention, but it gives some context about the changing environment that we see fire in.

The reason that fire is changing, and that the nature and frequency of these catastrophes are changing, is that the human input into our environment is changing as well. Man-made human-led climate change is having a profound impact on the way that disasters are being responded to, but, most importantly, it does have an impact on the way that disasters need to be prepared for by our community.

Recently, a report, entitled Spreading like Wildfire, from the United Nations, predicted that by 2030 there will be a 14 per cent increase in the number of bushfires and wildfires across the world, 30 per cent by 2050 and a further 50 per cent by the turn of the century. Less invasive but perhaps more insidious is the anxiety that that brings to communities now. We know that even though bushfires and wildfires don't pose the greatest financial impact on our state or on our nation when it comes to natural disasters, I think by most measures they bring the most anxiety, the most fear and the most trauma felt by those communities who lived through those fires and must recover from those fires.

Today, five districts around the state start their fire season, and yesterday the very first district, the north-eastern pastoral district, was declared an extreme fire risk under our new Australian Fire Danger Rating System. Despite the fact we have hail literally coming down on us here in Adelaide today, we are seeing very significant fire risk already permeating across this state. Knowing this means it must be important for every member of our community to be bushfire ready.

That's why, starting today, we will see a significant paid advertising campaign being led by the CFS that brings to the community's attention the importance of being prepared for fire. Simple questions will be asked of our community, things like, 'What will happen, and what will you do if your power goes out? What will you do if your phone loses coverage? What will you do if you are in a metropolitan area, but you have left your children in the care of loved ones when a bushfire comes through?'

This Be Bushfire Ready campaign is not just targeted towards people who live in these regions but it's also targeted very firmly towards people who are holidaying or travelling through areas of bushfire risk. We know that, as we are recovering from the pandemic, domestic tourism is becoming more and more frequent, so we are calling upon people, whether they live in an area which is prone to fire risk or in fact if they are travelling from a peri-urban or urban region, that they become familiar with what they need to do in the case of a fire because complacency is a real danger here, in addition to the fire risks. So be bushfire ready, plan now and don't wait for it to be too late.

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