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Legislative Council - Fifty-First Parliament, Second Session (51-2)
2008-02-12 Daily Xml
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METROPOLITAN FIRE SERVICE

The Hon. T.J. STEPHENS (16:40): I seek leave to make a brief explanation before asking the Minister for Emergency Services a question in relation to fire services in the north-eastern suburbs.

Leave granted.

The Hon. T.J. STEPHENS: On 15 September 2006, the minister wrote to the Tea Tree Gully council to reassure it that the planned reorganisation of fire stations in the north-east would not undermine response times. The minister's letter stated, 'In relation to emergency response within the Tea Tree Gully and surrounding areas, a state of the art fire station at Golden Grove covers the north-east and is complemented by a two-appliance station at Oakden.' However, one of the two appliances at Oakden referred to by the minister is in the process of being relocated to Beulah Park. My questions are:

1. Will the minister explain whether there has been a decline in the fire risk in the north-eastern suburbs to a point where the planned resources are no longer needed?

2. If not, does the relocation of the Oakden appliance undermine the government's fire response strategy for the Tea Tree Gully area as outlined in the minister's letter?

The Hon. CARMEL ZOLLO (Minister for Emergency Services, Minister for Correctional Services, Minister for Road Safety, Minister Assisting the Minister for Multicultural Affairs) (16:41): I have to say that the Hon. Stephen Wade is now the third shadow spokesperson for emergency services that I have faced in the three years that I have been minister, and it looks as if he has a few other people in waiting. I did write to the Tea Tree Gully council because I think, at the time, there were concerns in relation to the proposed Paradise station and the actions of a firefighter who disagreed with the then MFS in relation to the positioning of the new station.

In relation to Tea Tree Gully and the surrounding areas, the state-of-the-art fire station at Golden Grove covers the north-east and is complemented, as the honourable member has said, by the Oakden station. The crew from Glynde will be going to Beulah Park, because that particular station will eventually, of course, be closed. In the interim, the strategy that the chief officer has advised the UFU will be to take one of the crew from Oakden to go temporarily into the Glynde station until the Paradise station is opened. We need to put that on the record.

As I have already said twice today and, indeed, many times previously, both the Paradise and Beulah Park stations are being built in sequence and, as I have said, the Glynde station will remain operational until both new stations are commissioned and fully operational.

The honourable member would, of course, be aware that we have an interlocking emergency response networking which includes mutual aid and dual response arrangements between the MFS and CFS which exist for Highbury and Vista and which further support these facilities. I think on more than one occasion today I have already responded to the question that has been asked by the honourable member. The MFS would never compromise community safety, and this media campaign serves no-one well at all.

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