HANSARD
SITTING CALENDAR
SEARCH
LIVE BROADCAST
Hansard Dynamic Subject Index
Legislative Council - Fifty-First Parliament, Second Session (51-2)
2008-03-04 Daily Xml
Contents
Pdf Xml

BUSHFIRES

The Hon. SANDRA KANCK (14:37): I seek leave to make an explanation before asking the Minister for Emergency Services a question about extreme bushfires, or mega fires.

Leave granted.

The Hon. SANDRA KANCK: The recent fires on Kangaroo Island highlighted how difficult it is to control conventional bushfires. However, there are a number of indications that climate change could create mega fires, where a number of fronts join up to form a fire so intense that it is impossible to control. In 2003, there were devastating fires in California, Europe and Australia, in particular, the Canberra bushfires.

In 2007, Dr Kevin Hennessy of the CSIRO Climate Impact and Risk Group predicted there would be a 4 to 25 per cent increase in the risk of very high and extreme fire danger days by the year 2020 and a 15 to 70 per cent increase by the year 2050 in south-eastern Australia. It is not clear whether the state government has taken these risks into account in its bushfire management plans. For instance, the Bushfire Prevention and Mitigation Review Report released by the minister last year does not even mention climate change, drought or mega fires. My questions are:

1. How has climate change been taken into account in the government's bushfire management plans?

2. Are there any particular regions that are seen as especially vulnerable to mega fires, and have specific plans been put in place for such regions?

3. What discussions have taken place with the Victorian government about the control of mega fires in the south-eastern border region?

4. Has there been any discussion with the federal government about the potential for a national approach to mega fires?

The Hon. CARMEL ZOLLO (Minister for Emergency Services, Minister for Correctional Services, Minister for Road Safety, Minister Assisting the Minister for Multicultural Affairs) (14:39): I thank the honourable member for her important question. Certainly, this state is very much aware of climate change and the repercussions of climate change in relation to so many areas of life in South Australia—and, of course, the way in which we manage bushfires is clearly one of them.

I am fairly certain that the expert to which the honourable member referred has addressed departmental and agency heads in South Australia on several occasions. Indeed, on one occasion, I remember introducing him; so, clearly, we are well connected. Also, the Chief Officer of the CFS is the current chair of the Australasian Fire Authorities Council, and part of its work is also to look at climate change. Of course, legislation dealing with climate change and the targets we want to set as a state has also been introduced into this parliament.

Yes, it has an effect on the way we manage bushfires in the state. We have seen a doubling of aerial resources in South Australia in terms of fighting fires. We have a strategic campaign to ensure that we keep the volunteers we already have, as well as increasing those numbers by a recognition package and by not only recognising firefighters themselves but also their employers in particular. We have also had changes in the way we manage planning, an area in which my colleague the Hon. Paul Holloway is also involved. We also have had improvements in the way we manage our national parks, concerning which I work in cooperation with my colleague the Hon. Gail Gago.

We now have a unit in DEH managing our parks, which is part of the CFS. We have had to respond differently in relation to how we ensure that we have water resources available: we have extra bulk water carriers, and we ensure that we have more teams responding to fires. We are a member of the Bushfire CRC and, as I have said, we are involved at every level to ensure that we can respond; indeed, we are very much aware of the situation. One of the most obvious things I can think of right now is that we have had to extend our contracts for aerial support. Clearly we are looking at temperatures well into the 30s for another week, and it is important we have that resource there. Our CFS volunteers are better trained, and we have good resources to ensure they can assist the community they serve, and do so willingly, for which we are incredibly grateful.

We have mutual aid agreements between all three services in South Australia. To give an example, on Kangaroo Island we had the CFS from all over the state responding, but we had the MFS being stationed in the towns to ensure those assets were kept under control. We have cooperative agreements with the other states so that when we need help they provide it to us. A few months ago we had to provide help to Western Australia.

The Hon. Sandra Kanck interjecting:

The Hon. CARMEL ZOLLO: Across borders as well. We have those kinds of agreements right around Australia, not just with our resources but also with firefighters. We do that all the time. Perhaps we do not make such a big show of it, but we do it all the time, I assure the honourable member. We are very much aware of what needs to be done and have many measures in place to ensure we can respond. That research is also something we are very much aware of. Two years ago we had experts here to ensure that all our agencies—not just the CFS, but also the SES, DEH, planning and local government—are across the issues and are working well together.

PARLIAMENTARY BUSINESS
MEMBERS
GET INVOLVED
ABOUT PARLIAMENT
VISIT
LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL
HOUSE OF ASSEMBLY
CONTACT