❓ The Minister for Police and Emergency Services outlines the Gallop government's efforts to recognize emergency service volunteers, including advocating for a $300 tax rebate at a national conference. The proposal received support and was referred to the Australian Emergency Management Volunteer Forum.
AnsweredQoN 633Legislative Assembly
QuestionView source ↗
Can the minister inform the house of what the Gallop government is doing to recognise and acknowledge the role of Western Australia’s emergency service volunteers? Mrs M.H. ROBERTS
AnswerView source ↗
I thank the member for Southern River for his question and for his support of our emergency service volunteers. Western Australia has more than 28 000 emergency service volunteers, who are available 24 hours a day, seven days a week, every week of the year to protect our local communities in the event of any kind of disaster or emergency. When these dedicated and committed people are not repairing roofs, searching for people, putting out wildfires, attending to crashes or rescuing stranded boat owners, they are busy training for the next emergency. Our Western Australian communities, particularly in rural and remote areas, would not be able to survive without the essential services that our emergency service volunteers provide. On Saturday, 15 October, I attended the Augmented Australasian Police Ministers’ Conference, which is essentially a conference of ministers responsible for emergency management. At that conference I asked all the other states and territories, and the federal government, to consider a proposal that all the emergency service volunteers in Australia be eligible for a $300 tax rebate. That is not a huge amount of money, but it would provide some recognition of the tremendous job that our emergency service volunteers do to boost community safety and would be a token of appreciation for those people who are prepared to put their lives on the line when a crisis occurs. It would also help reduce their out-of-pocket expenses. Around the nation more than 250 000 emergency service volunteers are on call. If we were to pay those people for their commitment, work, training and the like, the cost to our nation would be in excess of $18 billion. That is a staggering sum of money; it would certainly send the national economy reeling. More importantly, though, it is a figure that shows how reliant our nation is on the goodwill of these good Samaritans. The proposal was supported by the other states and territories, and the matter has been referred to the Australian Emergency Management Volunteer Forum to progress. This issue needs to be progressed, because there is very different treatment for members of the Army Reserve, for example; yet if a cyclone or terrorist incident did occur, our emergency service volunteers would turn up alongside the Army Reserve volunteers and the like. I assure members that I will be taking up this issue at the national level, and I look forward in due course to the federal government’s support.
Mrs M.H. ROBERTS replied: I thank the member for Southern River for his question and for his support of our emergency service volunteers. Western Australia has more than 28 000 emergency service volunteers, who are available 24 hours a day, seven days a week, every week of the year to protect our local communities in the event of any kind of disaster or emergency. When these dedicated and committed people are not repairing roofs, searching for people, putting out wildfires, attending to crashes or rescuing stranded boat owners, they are busy training for the next emergency. Our Western Australian communities, particularly in rural and remote areas, would not be able to survive without the essential services that our emergency service volunteers provide. On Saturday, 15 October, I attended the Augmented Australasian Police Ministers’ Conference, which is essentially a conference of ministers responsible for emergency management. At that conference I asked all the other states and territories, and the federal government, to consider a proposal that all the emergency service volunteers in Australia be eligible for a $300 tax rebate. That is not a huge amount of money, but it would provide some recognition of the tremendous job that our emergency service volunteers do to boost community safety and would be a token of appreciation for those people who are prepared to put their lives on the line when a crisis occurs. It would also help reduce their out-of-pocket expenses. Around the nation more than 250 000 emergency service volunteers are on call. If we were to pay those people for their commitment, work, training and the like, the cost to our nation would be in excess of $18 billion. That is a staggering sum of money; it would certainly send the national economy reeling. More importantly, though, it is a figure that shows how reliant our nation is on the goodwill of these good Samaritans. The proposal was supported by the other states and territories, and the matter has been referred to the Australian Emergency Management Volunteer Forum to progress. This issue needs to be progressed, because there is very different treatment for members of the Army Reserve, for example; yet if a cyclone or terrorist incident did occur, our emergency service volunteers would turn up alongside the Army Reserve volunteers and the like. I assure members that I will be taking up this issue at the national level, and I look forward in due course to the federal government’s support.
I thank the member for Southern River for his question and for his support of our emergency service volunteers. Western Australia has more than 28 000 emergency service volunteers, who are available 24 hours a day, seven days a week, every week of the year to protect our local communities in the event of any kind of disaster or emergency. When these dedicated and committed people are not repairing roofs, searching for people, putting out wildfires, attending to crashes or rescuing stranded boat owners, they are busy training for the next emergency. Our Western Australian communities, particularly in rural and remote areas, would not be able to survive without the essential services that our emergency service volunteers provide. On Saturday, 15 October, I attended the Augmented Australasian Police Ministers’ Conference, which is essentially a conference of ministers responsible for emergency management. At that conference I asked all the other states and territories, and the federal government, to consider a proposal that all the emergency service volunteers in Australia be eligible for a $300 tax rebate. That is not a huge amount of money, but it would provide some recognition of the tremendous job that our emergency service volunteers do to boost community safety and would be a token of appreciation for those people who are prepared to put their lives on the line when a crisis occurs. It would also help reduce their out-of-pocket expenses. Around the nation more than 250 000 emergency service volunteers are on call. If we were to pay those people for their commitment, work, training and the like, the cost to our nation would be in excess of $18 billion. That is a staggering sum of money; it would certainly send the national economy reeling. More importantly, though, it is a figure that shows how reliant our nation is on the goodwill of these good Samaritans. The proposal was supported by the other states and territories, and the matter has been referred to the Australian Emergency Management Volunteer Forum to progress. This issue needs to be progressed, because there is very different treatment for members of the Army Reserve, for example; yet if a cyclone or terrorist incident did occur, our emergency service volunteers would turn up alongside the Army Reserve volunteers and the like. I assure members that I will be taking up this issue at the national level, and I look forward in due course to the federal government’s support.
Mrs M.H. ROBERTS replied: I thank the member for Southern River for his question and for his support of our emergency service volunteers. Western Australia has more than 28 000 emergency service volunteers, who are available 24 hours a day, seven days a week, every week of the year to protect our local communities in the event of any kind of disaster or emergency. When these dedicated and committed people are not repairing roofs, searching for people, putting out wildfires, attending to crashes or rescuing stranded boat owners, they are busy training for the next emergency. Our Western Australian communities, particularly in rural and remote areas, would not be able to survive without the essential services that our emergency service volunteers provide. On Saturday, 15 October, I attended the Augmented Australasian Police Ministers’ Conference, which is essentially a conference of ministers responsible for emergency management. At that conference I asked all the other states and territories, and the federal government, to consider a proposal that all the emergency service volunteers in Australia be eligible for a $300 tax rebate. That is not a huge amount of money, but it would provide some recognition of the tremendous job that our emergency service volunteers do to boost community safety and would be a token of appreciation for those people who are prepared to put their lives on the line when a crisis occurs. It would also help reduce their out-of-pocket expenses. Around the nation more than 250 000 emergency service volunteers are on call. If we were to pay those people for their commitment, work, training and the like, the cost to our nation would be in excess of $18 billion. That is a staggering sum of money; it would certainly send the national economy reeling. More importantly, though, it is a figure that shows how reliant our nation is on the goodwill of these good Samaritans. The proposal was supported by the other states and territories, and the matter has been referred to the Australian Emergency Management Volunteer Forum to progress. This issue needs to be progressed, because there is very different treatment for members of the Army Reserve, for example; yet if a cyclone or terrorist incident did occur, our emergency service volunteers would turn up alongside the Army Reserve volunteers and the like. I assure members that I will be taking up this issue at the national level, and I look forward in due course to the federal government’s support.
I thank the member for Southern River for his question and for his support of our emergency service volunteers. Western Australia has more than 28 000 emergency service volunteers, who are available 24 hours a day, seven days a week, every week of the year to protect our local communities in the event of any kind of disaster or emergency. When these dedicated and committed people are not repairing roofs, searching for people, putting out wildfires, attending to crashes or rescuing stranded boat owners, they are busy training for the next emergency. Our Western Australian communities, particularly in rural and remote areas, would not be able to survive without the essential services that our emergency service volunteers provide. On Saturday, 15 October, I attended the Augmented Australasian Police Ministers’ Conference, which is essentially a conference of ministers responsible for emergency management. At that conference I asked all the other states and territories, and the federal government, to consider a proposal that all the emergency service volunteers in Australia be eligible for a $300 tax rebate. That is not a huge amount of money, but it would provide some recognition of the tremendous job that our emergency service volunteers do to boost community safety and would be a token of appreciation for those people who are prepared to put their lives on the line when a crisis occurs. It would also help reduce their out-of-pocket expenses. Around the nation more than 250 000 emergency service volunteers are on call. If we were to pay those people for their commitment, work, training and the like, the cost to our nation would be in excess of $18 billion. That is a staggering sum of money; it would certainly send the national economy reeling. More importantly, though, it is a figure that shows how reliant our nation is on the goodwill of these good Samaritans. The proposal was supported by the other states and territories, and the matter has been referred to the Australian Emergency Management Volunteer Forum to progress. This issue needs to be progressed, because there is very different treatment for members of the Army Reserve, for example; yet if a cyclone or terrorist incident did occur, our emergency service volunteers would turn up alongside the Army Reserve volunteers and the like. I assure members that I will be taking up this issue at the national level, and I look forward in due course to the federal government’s support.
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