❓ Mr. Simpson asks about the terms and release date of the independent review into the Roleystone-Kelmscott bushfires. Premier Barnett outlines the review's scope, led by Mick Keelty, focusing on prevention, planning laws, landowner responsibility, and public warnings, excluding a review of FESA's performance.
AnsweredQoN 63Legislative Assembly
QuestionView source ↗
ROLEYSTONE–KELMSCOTT BUSHFIRES — INDEPENDENT REVIEW
Having toured the fire-devastated areas of my electorate with the Premier on 7 February, I welcome his announcement today of an independent review of the bushfire management in the Perth hills. Can the Premier please outline to the house the terms of this review and advise when the report will be released? Mr C.J. BARNETT
Having toured the fire-devastated areas of my electorate with the Premier on 7 February, I welcome his announcement today of an independent review of the bushfire management in the Perth hills. Can the Premier please outline to the house the terms of this review and advise when the report will be released? Mr C.J. BARNETT
AnswerView source ↗
I thank the member for the question, and I thank him for the work he continues to do with people to re-establish their lives in that area of devastation. As everyone knows, that was a serious fire: 71 houses were destroyed and another 39 received substantial damage. The police minister, as Minister for Emergency Services, has made it clear that the Fire and Emergency Services Authority is undertaking its major incident review. I also indicated a few days after the fire that the state would look at holding another inquiry into some of the broader issues. Along with the minister today I was pleased to announce that Mick Keelty—the Australian Federal Police Commissioner for eight years—has agreed to undertake that review. The major terms of reference relate to the adequacy of prescribed burning as a prevention measure; the impact of planning, environmental and building laws; responsibility of landowners for clearing and maintaining their own properties in a safe way; and the adequacy of public information warnings, including the alert system and coordination of emergency services. Mr E.S. Ripper : Is FESA’s performance part of the review? Mr C.J. BARNETT : No; it is not. Ms M.M. Quirk interjected. Mr C.J. BARNETT : All members opposite ever did in government was talk about issues and have reports and reviews. This is a different government. Mick Keelty is ideally suited to undertake a review of what happened in Roleystone and Kelmscott and to draw from it — Ms M.M. Quirk interjected. The SPEAKER : Member for Girrawheen! Mr C.J. BARNETT : —lessons from it that can be applied — Ms M.M. Quirk interjected. The SPEAKER : Member for Girrawheen, I formally call you to order for the first time today. Mr C.J. BARNETT : Mick Keelty will undertake a review of the very recent experience of that fire to see what lessons can be learnt for application in the Perth hills area, which is an area of high risk. It has a growing population and is heavily forested, and in many cases vegetation is growing right up against people’s homes. It is anticipated this inquiry will take around four months. There will be calls for submissions, and public hearings will be held. It will be conducted as an inquiry under section 24H of the Public Sector Management Act. I have given a direction to the Public Sector Commissioner this morning to that effect, which means that anyone who appears as a witness will have the same protection as a witness before the Supreme Court—in other words, protection from defamation actions. I am delighted that Mick Keelty has agreed to take on this inquiry. Not only does he have extensive experience in the police service but also in his career he has been involved in many disaster emergency situations, including the Bali bombings. I think he will bring a very open approach to it. I know the opposition wants an inquiry into firefighting across the state. Multiple inquiries have been held into that issue. I state again what I stated in Parliament last week: when that fire was still on, when people were still fighting the fires, I was dismayed, if not offended, by calls from the opposition for inquiries into FESA, the volunteer fire brigades or the Department of Environment and Conservation. Mr E.S. Ripper : Calls you have now agreed to. What hypocrisy; what self-righteousness; what pomposity. The SPEAKER : Leader of the Opposition! Mr C.J. BARNETT : As I said at the time, the efforts of the government and all the emergency services were directed at dealing with a situation in which a fire was burning out of control in places. I said that once we had dealt with that, we would look at the issue of any inquiries or reviews. We made that very clear in that same week. The FESA major incident review is underway. We will now have this review into whether some of the preventive measures were successful, and into the experience of the fire and what can be done in a practical sense to, hopefully, avoid another devastating fire in the Perth hills. Yes, there may be implications for other areas, but it will concentrate on the Perth hills situation.
Mr C.J. BARNETT replied: I thank the member for the question, and I thank him for the work he continues to do with people to re-establish their lives in that area of devastation. As everyone knows, that was a serious fire: 71 houses were destroyed and another 39 received substantial damage. The police minister, as Minister for Emergency Services, has made it clear that the Fire and Emergency Services Authority is undertaking its major incident review. I also indicated a few days after the fire that the state would look at holding another inquiry into some of the broader issues. Along with the minister today I was pleased to announce that Mick Keelty—the Australian Federal Police Commissioner for eight years—has agreed to undertake that review. The major terms of reference relate to the adequacy of prescribed burning as a prevention measure; the impact of planning, environmental and building laws; responsibility of landowners for clearing and maintaining their own properties in a safe way; and the adequacy of public information warnings, including the alert system and coordination of emergency services. Mr E.S. Ripper : Is FESA’s performance part of the review? Mr C.J. BARNETT : No; it is not. Ms M.M. Quirk interjected. Mr C.J. BARNETT : All members opposite ever did in government was talk about issues and have reports and reviews. This is a different government. Mick Keelty is ideally suited to undertake a review of what happened in Roleystone and Kelmscott and to draw from it — Ms M.M. Quirk interjected. The SPEAKER : Member for Girrawheen! Mr C.J. BARNETT : —lessons from it that can be applied — Ms M.M. Quirk interjected. The SPEAKER : Member for Girrawheen, I formally call you to order for the first time today. Mr C.J. BARNETT : Mick Keelty will undertake a review of the very recent experience of that fire to see what lessons can be learnt for application in the Perth hills area, which is an area of high risk. It has a growing population and is heavily forested, and in many cases vegetation is growing right up against people’s homes. It is anticipated this inquiry will take around four months. There will be calls for submissions, and public hearings will be held. It will be conducted as an inquiry under section 24H of the Public Sector Management Act. I have given a direction to the Public Sector Commissioner this morning to that effect, which means that anyone who appears as a witness will have the same protection as a witness before the Supreme Court—in other words, protection from defamation actions. I am delighted that Mick Keelty has agreed to take on this inquiry. Not only does he have extensive experience in the police service but also in his career he has been involved in many disaster emergency situations, including the Bali bombings. I think he will bring a very open approach to it. I know the opposition wants an inquiry into firefighting across the state. Multiple inquiries have been held into that issue. I state again what I stated in Parliament last week: when that fire was still on, when people were still fighting the fires, I was dismayed, if not offended, by calls from the opposition for inquiries into FESA, the volunteer fire brigades or the Department of Environment and Conservation. Mr E.S. Ripper : Calls you have now agreed to. What hypocrisy; what self-righteousness; what pomposity. The SPEAKER : Leader of the Opposition! Mr C.J. BARNETT : As I said at the time, the efforts of the government and all the emergency services were directed at dealing with a situation in which a fire was burning out of control in places. I said that once we had dealt with that, we would look at the issue of any inquiries or reviews. We made that very clear in that same week. The FESA major incident review is underway. We will now have this review into whether some of the preventive measures were successful, and into the experience of the fire and what can be done in a practical sense to, hopefully, avoid another devastating fire in the Perth hills. Yes, there may be implications for other areas, but it will concentrate on the Perth hills situation.
I thank the member for the question, and I thank him for the work he continues to do with people to re-establish their lives in that area of devastation. As everyone knows, that was a serious fire: 71 houses were destroyed and another 39 received substantial damage. The police minister, as Minister for Emergency Services, has made it clear that the Fire and Emergency Services Authority is undertaking its major incident review. I also indicated a few days after the fire that the state would look at holding another inquiry into some of the broader issues. Along with the minister today I was pleased to announce that Mick Keelty—the Australian Federal Police Commissioner for eight years—has agreed to undertake that review. The major terms of reference relate to the adequacy of prescribed burning as a prevention measure; the impact of planning, environmental and building laws; responsibility of landowners for clearing and maintaining their own properties in a safe way; and the adequacy of public information warnings, including the alert system and coordination of emergency services. Mr E.S. Ripper : Is FESA’s performance part of the review? Mr C.J. BARNETT : No; it is not. Ms M.M. Quirk interjected. Mr C.J. BARNETT : All members opposite ever did in government was talk about issues and have reports and reviews. This is a different government. Mick Keelty is ideally suited to undertake a review of what happened in Roleystone and Kelmscott and to draw from it — Ms M.M. Quirk interjected. The SPEAKER : Member for Girrawheen! Mr C.J. BARNETT : —lessons from it that can be applied — Ms M.M. Quirk interjected. The SPEAKER : Member for Girrawheen, I formally call you to order for the first time today. Mr C.J. BARNETT : Mick Keelty will undertake a review of the very recent experience of that fire to see what lessons can be learnt for application in the Perth hills area, which is an area of high risk. It has a growing population and is heavily forested, and in many cases vegetation is growing right up against people’s homes. It is anticipated this inquiry will take around four months. There will be calls for submissions, and public hearings will be held. It will be conducted as an inquiry under section 24H of the Public Sector Management Act. I have given a direction to the Public Sector Commissioner this morning to that effect, which means that anyone who appears as a witness will have the same protection as a witness before the Supreme Court—in other words, protection from defamation actions. I am delighted that Mick Keelty has agreed to take on this inquiry. Not only does he have extensive experience in the police service but also in his career he has been involved in many disaster emergency situations, including the Bali bombings. I think he will bring a very open approach to it. I know the opposition wants an inquiry into firefighting across the state. Multiple inquiries have been held into that issue. I state again what I stated in Parliament last week: when that fire was still on, when people were still fighting the fires, I was dismayed, if not offended, by calls from the opposition for inquiries into FESA, the volunteer fire brigades or the Department of Environment and Conservation. Mr E.S. Ripper : Calls you have now agreed to. What hypocrisy; what self-righteousness; what pomposity. The SPEAKER : Leader of the Opposition! Mr C.J. BARNETT : As I said at the time, the efforts of the government and all the emergency services were directed at dealing with a situation in which a fire was burning out of control in places. I said that once we had dealt with that, we would look at the issue of any inquiries or reviews. We made that very clear in that same week. The FESA major incident review is underway. We will now have this review into whether some of the preventive measures were successful, and into the experience of the fire and what can be done in a practical sense to, hopefully, avoid another devastating fire in the Perth hills. Yes, there may be implications for other areas, but it will concentrate on the Perth hills situation.
As everyone knows, that was a serious fire: 71 houses were destroyed and another 39 received substantial damage. The police minister, as Minister for Emergency Services, has made it clear that the Fire and Emergency Services Authority is undertaking its major incident review. I also indicated a few days after the fire that the state would look at holding another inquiry into some of the broader issues. Along with the minister today I was pleased to announce that Mick Keelty—the Australian Federal Police Commissioner for eight years—has agreed to undertake that review. The major terms of reference relate to the adequacy of prescribed burning as a prevention measure; the impact of planning, environmental and building laws; responsibility of landowners for clearing and maintaining their own properties in a safe way; and the adequacy of public information warnings, including the alert system and coordination of emergency services. Mr E.S. Ripper : Is FESA’s performance part of the review? Mr C.J. BARNETT : No; it is not. Ms M.M. Quirk interjected. Mr C.J. BARNETT : All members opposite ever did in government was talk about issues and have reports and reviews. This is a different government. Mick Keelty is ideally suited to undertake a review of what happened in Roleystone and Kelmscott and to draw from it — Ms M.M. Quirk interjected. The SPEAKER : Member for Girrawheen! Mr C.J. BARNETT : —lessons from it that can be applied — Ms M.M. Quirk interjected. The SPEAKER : Member for Girrawheen, I formally call you to order for the first time today. Mr C.J. BARNETT : Mick Keelty will undertake a review of the very recent experience of that fire to see what lessons can be learnt for application in the Perth hills area, which is an area of high risk. It has a growing population and is heavily forested, and in many cases vegetation is growing right up against people’s homes. It is anticipated this inquiry will take around four months. There will be calls for submissions, and public hearings will be held. It will be conducted as an inquiry under section 24H of the Public Sector Management Act. I have given a direction to the Public Sector Commissioner this morning to that effect, which means that anyone who appears as a witness will have the same protection as a witness before the Supreme Court—in other words, protection from defamation actions. I am delighted that Mick Keelty has agreed to take on this inquiry. Not only does he have extensive experience in the police service but also in his career he has been involved in many disaster emergency situations, including the Bali bombings. I think he will bring a very open approach to it. I know the opposition wants an inquiry into firefighting across the state. Multiple inquiries have been held into that issue. I state again what I stated in Parliament last week: when that fire was still on, when people were still fighting the fires, I was dismayed, if not offended, by calls from the opposition for inquiries into FESA, the volunteer fire brigades or the Department of Environment and Conservation. Mr E.S. Ripper : Calls you have now agreed to. What hypocrisy; what self-righteousness; what pomposity. The SPEAKER : Leader of the Opposition! Mr C.J. BARNETT : As I said at the time, the efforts of the government and all the emergency services were directed at dealing with a situation in which a fire was burning out of control in places. I said that once we had dealt with that, we would look at the issue of any inquiries or reviews. We made that very clear in that same week. The FESA major incident review is underway. We will now have this review into whether some of the preventive measures were successful, and into the experience of the fire and what can be done in a practical sense to, hopefully, avoid another devastating fire in the Perth hills. Yes, there may be implications for other areas, but it will concentrate on the Perth hills situation.
Mr E.S. Ripper : Is FESA’s performance part of the review? Mr C.J. BARNETT : No; it is not. Ms M.M. Quirk interjected. Mr C.J. BARNETT : All members opposite ever did in government was talk about issues and have reports and reviews. This is a different government. Mick Keelty is ideally suited to undertake a review of what happened in Roleystone and Kelmscott and to draw from it — Ms M.M. Quirk interjected. The SPEAKER : Member for Girrawheen! Mr C.J. BARNETT : —lessons from it that can be applied — Ms M.M. Quirk interjected. The SPEAKER : Member for Girrawheen, I formally call you to order for the first time today. Mr C.J. BARNETT : Mick Keelty will undertake a review of the very recent experience of that fire to see what lessons can be learnt for application in the Perth hills area, which is an area of high risk. It has a growing population and is heavily forested, and in many cases vegetation is growing right up against people’s homes. It is anticipated this inquiry will take around four months. There will be calls for submissions, and public hearings will be held. It will be conducted as an inquiry under section 24H of the Public Sector Management Act. I have given a direction to the Public Sector Commissioner this morning to that effect, which means that anyone who appears as a witness will have the same protection as a witness before the Supreme Court—in other words, protection from defamation actions. I am delighted that Mick Keelty has agreed to take on this inquiry. Not only does he have extensive experience in the police service but also in his career he has been involved in many disaster emergency situations, including the Bali bombings. I think he will bring a very open approach to it. I know the opposition wants an inquiry into firefighting across the state. Multiple inquiries have been held into that issue. I state again what I stated in Parliament last week: when that fire was still on, when people were still fighting the fires, I was dismayed, if not offended, by calls from the opposition for inquiries into FESA, the volunteer fire brigades or the Department of Environment and Conservation. Mr E.S. Ripper : Calls you have now agreed to. What hypocrisy; what self-righteousness; what pomposity. The SPEAKER : Leader of the Opposition! Mr C.J. BARNETT : As I said at the time, the efforts of the government and all the emergency services were directed at dealing with a situation in which a fire was burning out of control in places. I said that once we had dealt with that, we would look at the issue of any inquiries or reviews. We made that very clear in that same week. The FESA major incident review is underway. We will now have this review into whether some of the preventive measures were successful, and into the experience of the fire and what can be done in a practical sense to, hopefully, avoid another devastating fire in the Perth hills. Yes, there may be implications for other areas, but it will concentrate on the Perth hills situation.
Mr C.J. BARNETT : No; it is not. Ms M.M. Quirk interjected. Mr C.J. BARNETT : All members opposite ever did in government was talk about issues and have reports and reviews. This is a different government. Mick Keelty is ideally suited to undertake a review of what happened in Roleystone and Kelmscott and to draw from it — Ms M.M. Quirk interjected. The SPEAKER : Member for Girrawheen! Mr C.J. BARNETT : —lessons from it that can be applied — Ms M.M. Quirk interjected. The SPEAKER : Member for Girrawheen, I formally call you to order for the first time today. Mr C.J. BARNETT : Mick Keelty will undertake a review of the very recent experience of that fire to see what lessons can be learnt for application in the Perth hills area, which is an area of high risk. It has a growing population and is heavily forested, and in many cases vegetation is growing right up against people’s homes. It is anticipated this inquiry will take around four months. There will be calls for submissions, and public hearings will be held. It will be conducted as an inquiry under section 24H of the Public Sector Management Act. I have given a direction to the Public Sector Commissioner this morning to that effect, which means that anyone who appears as a witness will have the same protection as a witness before the Supreme Court—in other words, protection from defamation actions. I am delighted that Mick Keelty has agreed to take on this inquiry. Not only does he have extensive experience in the police service but also in his career he has been involved in many disaster emergency situations, including the Bali bombings. I think he will bring a very open approach to it. I know the opposition wants an inquiry into firefighting across the state. Multiple inquiries have been held into that issue. I state again what I stated in Parliament last week: when that fire was still on, when people were still fighting the fires, I was dismayed, if not offended, by calls from the opposition for inquiries into FESA, the volunteer fire brigades or the Department of Environment and Conservation. Mr E.S. Ripper : Calls you have now agreed to. What hypocrisy; what self-righteousness; what pomposity. The SPEAKER : Leader of the Opposition! Mr C.J. BARNETT : As I said at the time, the efforts of the government and all the emergency services were directed at dealing with a situation in which a fire was burning out of control in places. I said that once we had dealt with that, we would look at the issue of any inquiries or reviews. We made that very clear in that same week. The FESA major incident review is underway. We will now have this review into whether some of the preventive measures were successful, and into the experience of the fire and what can be done in a practical sense to, hopefully, avoid another devastating fire in the Perth hills. Yes, there may be implications for other areas, but it will concentrate on the Perth hills situation.
Ms M.M. Quirk interjected. Mr C.J. BARNETT : All members opposite ever did in government was talk about issues and have reports and reviews. This is a different government. Mick Keelty is ideally suited to undertake a review of what happened in Roleystone and Kelmscott and to draw from it — Ms M.M. Quirk interjected. The SPEAKER : Member for Girrawheen! Mr C.J. BARNETT : —lessons from it that can be applied — Ms M.M. Quirk interjected. The SPEAKER : Member for Girrawheen, I formally call you to order for the first time today. Mr C.J. BARNETT : Mick Keelty will undertake a review of the very recent experience of that fire to see what lessons can be learnt for application in the Perth hills area, which is an area of high risk. It has a growing population and is heavily forested, and in many cases vegetation is growing right up against people’s homes. It is anticipated this inquiry will take around four months. There will be calls for submissions, and public hearings will be held. It will be conducted as an inquiry under section 24H of the Public Sector Management Act. I have given a direction to the Public Sector Commissioner this morning to that effect, which means that anyone who appears as a witness will have the same protection as a witness before the Supreme Court—in other words, protection from defamation actions. I am delighted that Mick Keelty has agreed to take on this inquiry. Not only does he have extensive experience in the police service but also in his career he has been involved in many disaster emergency situations, including the Bali bombings. I think he will bring a very open approach to it. I know the opposition wants an inquiry into firefighting across the state. Multiple inquiries have been held into that issue. I state again what I stated in Parliament last week: when that fire was still on, when people were still fighting the fires, I was dismayed, if not offended, by calls from the opposition for inquiries into FESA, the volunteer fire brigades or the Department of Environment and Conservation. Mr E.S. Ripper : Calls you have now agreed to. What hypocrisy; what self-righteousness; what pomposity. The SPEAKER : Leader of the Opposition! Mr C.J. BARNETT : As I said at the time, the efforts of the government and all the emergency services were directed at dealing with a situation in which a fire was burning out of control in places. I said that once we had dealt with that, we would look at the issue of any inquiries or reviews. We made that very clear in that same week. The FESA major incident review is underway. We will now have this review into whether some of the preventive measures were successful, and into the experience of the fire and what can be done in a practical sense to, hopefully, avoid another devastating fire in the Perth hills. Yes, there may be implications for other areas, but it will concentrate on the Perth hills situation.
Mr C.J. BARNETT : All members opposite ever did in government was talk about issues and have reports and reviews. This is a different government. Mick Keelty is ideally suited to undertake a review of what happened in Roleystone and Kelmscott and to draw from it — Ms M.M. Quirk interjected. The SPEAKER : Member for Girrawheen! Mr C.J. BARNETT : —lessons from it that can be applied — Ms M.M. Quirk interjected. The SPEAKER : Member for Girrawheen, I formally call you to order for the first time today. Mr C.J. BARNETT : Mick Keelty will undertake a review of the very recent experience of that fire to see what lessons can be learnt for application in the Perth hills area, which is an area of high risk. It has a growing population and is heavily forested, and in many cases vegetation is growing right up against people’s homes. It is anticipated this inquiry will take around four months. There will be calls for submissions, and public hearings will be held. It will be conducted as an inquiry under section 24H of the Public Sector Management Act. I have given a direction to the Public Sector Commissioner this morning to that effect, which means that anyone who appears as a witness will have the same protection as a witness before the Supreme Court—in other words, protection from defamation actions. I am delighted that Mick Keelty has agreed to take on this inquiry. Not only does he have extensive experience in the police service but also in his career he has been involved in many disaster emergency situations, including the Bali bombings. I think he will bring a very open approach to it. I know the opposition wants an inquiry into firefighting across the state. Multiple inquiries have been held into that issue. I state again what I stated in Parliament last week: when that fire was still on, when people were still fighting the fires, I was dismayed, if not offended, by calls from the opposition for inquiries into FESA, the volunteer fire brigades or the Department of Environment and Conservation. Mr E.S. Ripper : Calls you have now agreed to. What hypocrisy; what self-righteousness; what pomposity. The SPEAKER : Leader of the Opposition! Mr C.J. BARNETT : As I said at the time, the efforts of the government and all the emergency services were directed at dealing with a situation in which a fire was burning out of control in places. I said that once we had dealt with that, we would look at the issue of any inquiries or reviews. We made that very clear in that same week. The FESA major incident review is underway. We will now have this review into whether some of the preventive measures were successful, and into the experience of the fire and what can be done in a practical sense to, hopefully, avoid another devastating fire in the Perth hills. Yes, there may be implications for other areas, but it will concentrate on the Perth hills situation.
Ms M.M. Quirk interjected. The SPEAKER : Member for Girrawheen! Mr C.J. BARNETT : —lessons from it that can be applied — Ms M.M. Quirk interjected. The SPEAKER : Member for Girrawheen, I formally call you to order for the first time today. Mr C.J. BARNETT : Mick Keelty will undertake a review of the very recent experience of that fire to see what lessons can be learnt for application in the Perth hills area, which is an area of high risk. It has a growing population and is heavily forested, and in many cases vegetation is growing right up against people’s homes. It is anticipated this inquiry will take around four months. There will be calls for submissions, and public hearings will be held. It will be conducted as an inquiry under section 24H of the Public Sector Management Act. I have given a direction to the Public Sector Commissioner this morning to that effect, which means that anyone who appears as a witness will have the same protection as a witness before the Supreme Court—in other words, protection from defamation actions. I am delighted that Mick Keelty has agreed to take on this inquiry. Not only does he have extensive experience in the police service but also in his career he has been involved in many disaster emergency situations, including the Bali bombings. I think he will bring a very open approach to it. I know the opposition wants an inquiry into firefighting across the state. Multiple inquiries have been held into that issue. I state again what I stated in Parliament last week: when that fire was still on, when people were still fighting the fires, I was dismayed, if not offended, by calls from the opposition for inquiries into FESA, the volunteer fire brigades or the Department of Environment and Conservation. Mr E.S. Ripper : Calls you have now agreed to. What hypocrisy; what self-righteousness; what pomposity. The SPEAKER : Leader of the Opposition! Mr C.J. BARNETT : As I said at the time, the efforts of the government and all the emergency services were directed at dealing with a situation in which a fire was burning out of control in places. I said that once we had dealt with that, we would look at the issue of any inquiries or reviews. We made that very clear in that same week. The FESA major incident review is underway. We will now have this review into whether some of the preventive measures were successful, and into the experience of the fire and what can be done in a practical sense to, hopefully, avoid another devastating fire in the Perth hills. Yes, there may be implications for other areas, but it will concentrate on the Perth hills situation.
The SPEAKER : Member for Girrawheen! Mr C.J. BARNETT : —lessons from it that can be applied — Ms M.M. Quirk interjected. The SPEAKER : Member for Girrawheen, I formally call you to order for the first time today. Mr C.J. BARNETT : Mick Keelty will undertake a review of the very recent experience of that fire to see what lessons can be learnt for application in the Perth hills area, which is an area of high risk. It has a growing population and is heavily forested, and in many cases vegetation is growing right up against people’s homes. It is anticipated this inquiry will take around four months. There will be calls for submissions, and public hearings will be held. It will be conducted as an inquiry under section 24H of the Public Sector Management Act. I have given a direction to the Public Sector Commissioner this morning to that effect, which means that anyone who appears as a witness will have the same protection as a witness before the Supreme Court—in other words, protection from defamation actions. I am delighted that Mick Keelty has agreed to take on this inquiry. Not only does he have extensive experience in the police service but also in his career he has been involved in many disaster emergency situations, including the Bali bombings. I think he will bring a very open approach to it. I know the opposition wants an inquiry into firefighting across the state. Multiple inquiries have been held into that issue. I state again what I stated in Parliament last week: when that fire was still on, when people were still fighting the fires, I was dismayed, if not offended, by calls from the opposition for inquiries into FESA, the volunteer fire brigades or the Department of Environment and Conservation. Mr E.S. Ripper : Calls you have now agreed to. What hypocrisy; what self-righteousness; what pomposity. The SPEAKER : Leader of the Opposition! Mr C.J. BARNETT : As I said at the time, the efforts of the government and all the emergency services were directed at dealing with a situation in which a fire was burning out of control in places. I said that once we had dealt with that, we would look at the issue of any inquiries or reviews. We made that very clear in that same week. The FESA major incident review is underway. We will now have this review into whether some of the preventive measures were successful, and into the experience of the fire and what can be done in a practical sense to, hopefully, avoid another devastating fire in the Perth hills. Yes, there may be implications for other areas, but it will concentrate on the Perth hills situation.
Mr C.J. BARNETT : —lessons from it that can be applied — Ms M.M. Quirk interjected. The SPEAKER : Member for Girrawheen, I formally call you to order for the first time today. Mr C.J. BARNETT : Mick Keelty will undertake a review of the very recent experience of that fire to see what lessons can be learnt for application in the Perth hills area, which is an area of high risk. It has a growing population and is heavily forested, and in many cases vegetation is growing right up against people’s homes. It is anticipated this inquiry will take around four months. There will be calls for submissions, and public hearings will be held. It will be conducted as an inquiry under section 24H of the Public Sector Management Act. I have given a direction to the Public Sector Commissioner this morning to that effect, which means that anyone who appears as a witness will have the same protection as a witness before the Supreme Court—in other words, protection from defamation actions. I am delighted that Mick Keelty has agreed to take on this inquiry. Not only does he have extensive experience in the police service but also in his career he has been involved in many disaster emergency situations, including the Bali bombings. I think he will bring a very open approach to it. I know the opposition wants an inquiry into firefighting across the state. Multiple inquiries have been held into that issue. I state again what I stated in Parliament last week: when that fire was still on, when people were still fighting the fires, I was dismayed, if not offended, by calls from the opposition for inquiries into FESA, the volunteer fire brigades or the Department of Environment and Conservation. Mr E.S. Ripper : Calls you have now agreed to. What hypocrisy; what self-righteousness; what pomposity. The SPEAKER : Leader of the Opposition! Mr C.J. BARNETT : As I said at the time, the efforts of the government and all the emergency services were directed at dealing with a situation in which a fire was burning out of control in places. I said that once we had dealt with that, we would look at the issue of any inquiries or reviews. We made that very clear in that same week. The FESA major incident review is underway. We will now have this review into whether some of the preventive measures were successful, and into the experience of the fire and what can be done in a practical sense to, hopefully, avoid another devastating fire in the Perth hills. Yes, there may be implications for other areas, but it will concentrate on the Perth hills situation.
Ms M.M. Quirk interjected. The SPEAKER : Member for Girrawheen, I formally call you to order for the first time today. Mr C.J. BARNETT : Mick Keelty will undertake a review of the very recent experience of that fire to see what lessons can be learnt for application in the Perth hills area, which is an area of high risk. It has a growing population and is heavily forested, and in many cases vegetation is growing right up against people’s homes. It is anticipated this inquiry will take around four months. There will be calls for submissions, and public hearings will be held. It will be conducted as an inquiry under section 24H of the Public Sector Management Act. I have given a direction to the Public Sector Commissioner this morning to that effect, which means that anyone who appears as a witness will have the same protection as a witness before the Supreme Court—in other words, protection from defamation actions. I am delighted that Mick Keelty has agreed to take on this inquiry. Not only does he have extensive experience in the police service but also in his career he has been involved in many disaster emergency situations, including the Bali bombings. I think he will bring a very open approach to it. I know the opposition wants an inquiry into firefighting across the state. Multiple inquiries have been held into that issue. I state again what I stated in Parliament last week: when that fire was still on, when people were still fighting the fires, I was dismayed, if not offended, by calls from the opposition for inquiries into FESA, the volunteer fire brigades or the Department of Environment and Conservation. Mr E.S. Ripper : Calls you have now agreed to. What hypocrisy; what self-righteousness; what pomposity. The SPEAKER : Leader of the Opposition! Mr C.J. BARNETT : As I said at the time, the efforts of the government and all the emergency services were directed at dealing with a situation in which a fire was burning out of control in places. I said that once we had dealt with that, we would look at the issue of any inquiries or reviews. We made that very clear in that same week. The FESA major incident review is underway. We will now have this review into whether some of the preventive measures were successful, and into the experience of the fire and what can be done in a practical sense to, hopefully, avoid another devastating fire in the Perth hills. Yes, there may be implications for other areas, but it will concentrate on the Perth hills situation.
The SPEAKER : Member for Girrawheen, I formally call you to order for the first time today. Mr C.J. BARNETT : Mick Keelty will undertake a review of the very recent experience of that fire to see what lessons can be learnt for application in the Perth hills area, which is an area of high risk. It has a growing population and is heavily forested, and in many cases vegetation is growing right up against people’s homes. It is anticipated this inquiry will take around four months. There will be calls for submissions, and public hearings will be held. It will be conducted as an inquiry under section 24H of the Public Sector Management Act. I have given a direction to the Public Sector Commissioner this morning to that effect, which means that anyone who appears as a witness will have the same protection as a witness before the Supreme Court—in other words, protection from defamation actions. I am delighted that Mick Keelty has agreed to take on this inquiry. Not only does he have extensive experience in the police service but also in his career he has been involved in many disaster emergency situations, including the Bali bombings. I think he will bring a very open approach to it. I know the opposition wants an inquiry into firefighting across the state. Multiple inquiries have been held into that issue. I state again what I stated in Parliament last week: when that fire was still on, when people were still fighting the fires, I was dismayed, if not offended, by calls from the opposition for inquiries into FESA, the volunteer fire brigades or the Department of Environment and Conservation. Mr E.S. Ripper : Calls you have now agreed to. What hypocrisy; what self-righteousness; what pomposity. The SPEAKER : Leader of the Opposition! Mr C.J. BARNETT : As I said at the time, the efforts of the government and all the emergency services were directed at dealing with a situation in which a fire was burning out of control in places. I said that once we had dealt with that, we would look at the issue of any inquiries or reviews. We made that very clear in that same week. The FESA major incident review is underway. We will now have this review into whether some of the preventive measures were successful, and into the experience of the fire and what can be done in a practical sense to, hopefully, avoid another devastating fire in the Perth hills. Yes, there may be implications for other areas, but it will concentrate on the Perth hills situation.
Mr C.J. BARNETT : Mick Keelty will undertake a review of the very recent experience of that fire to see what lessons can be learnt for application in the Perth hills area, which is an area of high risk. It has a growing population and is heavily forested, and in many cases vegetation is growing right up against people’s homes. It is anticipated this inquiry will take around four months. There will be calls for submissions, and public hearings will be held. It will be conducted as an inquiry under section 24H of the Public Sector Management Act. I have given a direction to the Public Sector Commissioner this morning to that effect, which means that anyone who appears as a witness will have the same protection as a witness before the Supreme Court—in other words, protection from defamation actions. I am delighted that Mick Keelty has agreed to take on this inquiry. Not only does he have extensive experience in the police service but also in his career he has been involved in many disaster emergency situations, including the Bali bombings. I think he will bring a very open approach to it. I know the opposition wants an inquiry into firefighting across the state. Multiple inquiries have been held into that issue. I state again what I stated in Parliament last week: when that fire was still on, when people were still fighting the fires, I was dismayed, if not offended, by calls from the opposition for inquiries into FESA, the volunteer fire brigades or the Department of Environment and Conservation. Mr E.S. Ripper : Calls you have now agreed to. What hypocrisy; what self-righteousness; what pomposity. The SPEAKER : Leader of the Opposition! Mr C.J. BARNETT : As I said at the time, the efforts of the government and all the emergency services were directed at dealing with a situation in which a fire was burning out of control in places. I said that once we had dealt with that, we would look at the issue of any inquiries or reviews. We made that very clear in that same week. The FESA major incident review is underway. We will now have this review into whether some of the preventive measures were successful, and into the experience of the fire and what can be done in a practical sense to, hopefully, avoid another devastating fire in the Perth hills. Yes, there may be implications for other areas, but it will concentrate on the Perth hills situation.
I am delighted that Mick Keelty has agreed to take on this inquiry. Not only does he have extensive experience in the police service but also in his career he has been involved in many disaster emergency situations, including the Bali bombings. I think he will bring a very open approach to it. I know the opposition wants an inquiry into firefighting across the state. Multiple inquiries have been held into that issue. I state again what I stated in Parliament last week: when that fire was still on, when people were still fighting the fires, I was dismayed, if not offended, by calls from the opposition for inquiries into FESA, the volunteer fire brigades or the Department of Environment and Conservation. Mr E.S. Ripper : Calls you have now agreed to. What hypocrisy; what self-righteousness; what pomposity. The SPEAKER : Leader of the Opposition! Mr C.J. BARNETT : As I said at the time, the efforts of the government and all the emergency services were directed at dealing with a situation in which a fire was burning out of control in places. I said that once we had dealt with that, we would look at the issue of any inquiries or reviews. We made that very clear in that same week. The FESA major incident review is underway. We will now have this review into whether some of the preventive measures were successful, and into the experience of the fire and what can be done in a practical sense to, hopefully, avoid another devastating fire in the Perth hills. Yes, there may be implications for other areas, but it will concentrate on the Perth hills situation.
I know the opposition wants an inquiry into firefighting across the state. Multiple inquiries have been held into that issue. I state again what I stated in Parliament last week: when that fire was still on, when people were still fighting the fires, I was dismayed, if not offended, by calls from the opposition for inquiries into FESA, the volunteer fire brigades or the Department of Environment and Conservation. Mr E.S. Ripper : Calls you have now agreed to. What hypocrisy; what self-righteousness; what pomposity. The SPEAKER : Leader of the Opposition! Mr C.J. BARNETT : As I said at the time, the efforts of the government and all the emergency services were directed at dealing with a situation in which a fire was burning out of control in places. I said that once we had dealt with that, we would look at the issue of any inquiries or reviews. We made that very clear in that same week. The FESA major incident review is underway. We will now have this review into whether some of the preventive measures were successful, and into the experience of the fire and what can be done in a practical sense to, hopefully, avoid another devastating fire in the Perth hills. Yes, there may be implications for other areas, but it will concentrate on the Perth hills situation.
Mr E.S. Ripper : Calls you have now agreed to. What hypocrisy; what self-righteousness; what pomposity. The SPEAKER : Leader of the Opposition! Mr C.J. BARNETT : As I said at the time, the efforts of the government and all the emergency services were directed at dealing with a situation in which a fire was burning out of control in places. I said that once we had dealt with that, we would look at the issue of any inquiries or reviews. We made that very clear in that same week. The FESA major incident review is underway. We will now have this review into whether some of the preventive measures were successful, and into the experience of the fire and what can be done in a practical sense to, hopefully, avoid another devastating fire in the Perth hills. Yes, there may be implications for other areas, but it will concentrate on the Perth hills situation.
The SPEAKER : Leader of the Opposition! Mr C.J. BARNETT : As I said at the time, the efforts of the government and all the emergency services were directed at dealing with a situation in which a fire was burning out of control in places. I said that once we had dealt with that, we would look at the issue of any inquiries or reviews. We made that very clear in that same week. The FESA major incident review is underway. We will now have this review into whether some of the preventive measures were successful, and into the experience of the fire and what can be done in a practical sense to, hopefully, avoid another devastating fire in the Perth hills. Yes, there may be implications for other areas, but it will concentrate on the Perth hills situation.
Mr C.J. BARNETT : As I said at the time, the efforts of the government and all the emergency services were directed at dealing with a situation in which a fire was burning out of control in places. I said that once we had dealt with that, we would look at the issue of any inquiries or reviews. We made that very clear in that same week. The FESA major incident review is underway. We will now have this review into whether some of the preventive measures were successful, and into the experience of the fire and what can be done in a practical sense to, hopefully, avoid another devastating fire in the Perth hills. Yes, there may be implications for other areas, but it will concentrate on the Perth hills situation.
Mr C.J. BARNETT replied: I thank the member for the question, and I thank him for the work he continues to do with people to re-establish their lives in that area of devastation. As everyone knows, that was a serious fire: 71 houses were destroyed and another 39 received substantial damage. The police minister, as Minister for Emergency Services, has made it clear that the Fire and Emergency Services Authority is undertaking its major incident review. I also indicated a few days after the fire that the state would look at holding another inquiry into some of the broader issues. Along with the minister today I was pleased to announce that Mick Keelty—the Australian Federal Police Commissioner for eight years—has agreed to undertake that review. The major terms of reference relate to the adequacy of prescribed burning as a prevention measure; the impact of planning, environmental and building laws; responsibility of landowners for clearing and maintaining their own properties in a safe way; and the adequacy of public information warnings, including the alert system and coordination of emergency services. Mr E.S. Ripper : Is FESA’s performance part of the review? Mr C.J. BARNETT : No; it is not. Ms M.M. Quirk interjected. Mr C.J. BARNETT : All members opposite ever did in government was talk about issues and have reports and reviews. This is a different government. Mick Keelty is ideally suited to undertake a review of what happened in Roleystone and Kelmscott and to draw from it — Ms M.M. Quirk interjected. The SPEAKER : Member for Girrawheen! Mr C.J. BARNETT : —lessons from it that can be applied — Ms M.M. Quirk interjected. The SPEAKER : Member for Girrawheen, I formally call you to order for the first time today. Mr C.J. BARNETT : Mick Keelty will undertake a review of the very recent experience of that fire to see what lessons can be learnt for application in the Perth hills area, which is an area of high risk. It has a growing population and is heavily forested, and in many cases vegetation is growing right up against people’s homes. It is anticipated this inquiry will take around four months. There will be calls for submissions, and public hearings will be held. It will be conducted as an inquiry under section 24H of the Public Sector Management Act. I have given a direction to the Public Sector Commissioner this morning to that effect, which means that anyone who appears as a witness will have the same protection as a witness before the Supreme Court—in other words, protection from defamation actions. I am delighted that Mick Keelty has agreed to take on this inquiry. Not only does he have extensive experience in the police service but also in his career he has been involved in many disaster emergency situations, including the Bali bombings. I think he will bring a very open approach to it. I know the opposition wants an inquiry into firefighting across the state. Multiple inquiries have been held into that issue. I state again what I stated in Parliament last week: when that fire was still on, when people were still fighting the fires, I was dismayed, if not offended, by calls from the opposition for inquiries into FESA, the volunteer fire brigades or the Department of Environment and Conservation. Mr E.S. Ripper : Calls you have now agreed to. What hypocrisy; what self-righteousness; what pomposity. The SPEAKER : Leader of the Opposition! Mr C.J. BARNETT : As I said at the time, the efforts of the government and all the emergency services were directed at dealing with a situation in which a fire was burning out of control in places. I said that once we had dealt with that, we would look at the issue of any inquiries or reviews. We made that very clear in that same week. The FESA major incident review is underway. We will now have this review into whether some of the preventive measures were successful, and into the experience of the fire and what can be done in a practical sense to, hopefully, avoid another devastating fire in the Perth hills. Yes, there may be implications for other areas, but it will concentrate on the Perth hills situation.
I thank the member for the question, and I thank him for the work he continues to do with people to re-establish their lives in that area of devastation. As everyone knows, that was a serious fire: 71 houses were destroyed and another 39 received substantial damage. The police minister, as Minister for Emergency Services, has made it clear that the Fire and Emergency Services Authority is undertaking its major incident review. I also indicated a few days after the fire that the state would look at holding another inquiry into some of the broader issues. Along with the minister today I was pleased to announce that Mick Keelty—the Australian Federal Police Commissioner for eight years—has agreed to undertake that review. The major terms of reference relate to the adequacy of prescribed burning as a prevention measure; the impact of planning, environmental and building laws; responsibility of landowners for clearing and maintaining their own properties in a safe way; and the adequacy of public information warnings, including the alert system and coordination of emergency services. Mr E.S. Ripper : Is FESA’s performance part of the review? Mr C.J. BARNETT : No; it is not. Ms M.M. Quirk interjected. Mr C.J. BARNETT : All members opposite ever did in government was talk about issues and have reports and reviews. This is a different government. Mick Keelty is ideally suited to undertake a review of what happened in Roleystone and Kelmscott and to draw from it — Ms M.M. Quirk interjected. The SPEAKER : Member for Girrawheen! Mr C.J. BARNETT : —lessons from it that can be applied — Ms M.M. Quirk interjected. The SPEAKER : Member for Girrawheen, I formally call you to order for the first time today. Mr C.J. BARNETT : Mick Keelty will undertake a review of the very recent experience of that fire to see what lessons can be learnt for application in the Perth hills area, which is an area of high risk. It has a growing population and is heavily forested, and in many cases vegetation is growing right up against people’s homes. It is anticipated this inquiry will take around four months. There will be calls for submissions, and public hearings will be held. It will be conducted as an inquiry under section 24H of the Public Sector Management Act. I have given a direction to the Public Sector Commissioner this morning to that effect, which means that anyone who appears as a witness will have the same protection as a witness before the Supreme Court—in other words, protection from defamation actions. I am delighted that Mick Keelty has agreed to take on this inquiry. Not only does he have extensive experience in the police service but also in his career he has been involved in many disaster emergency situations, including the Bali bombings. I think he will bring a very open approach to it. I know the opposition wants an inquiry into firefighting across the state. Multiple inquiries have been held into that issue. I state again what I stated in Parliament last week: when that fire was still on, when people were still fighting the fires, I was dismayed, if not offended, by calls from the opposition for inquiries into FESA, the volunteer fire brigades or the Department of Environment and Conservation. Mr E.S. Ripper : Calls you have now agreed to. What hypocrisy; what self-righteousness; what pomposity. The SPEAKER : Leader of the Opposition! Mr C.J. BARNETT : As I said at the time, the efforts of the government and all the emergency services were directed at dealing with a situation in which a fire was burning out of control in places. I said that once we had dealt with that, we would look at the issue of any inquiries or reviews. We made that very clear in that same week. The FESA major incident review is underway. We will now have this review into whether some of the preventive measures were successful, and into the experience of the fire and what can be done in a practical sense to, hopefully, avoid another devastating fire in the Perth hills. Yes, there may be implications for other areas, but it will concentrate on the Perth hills situation.
As everyone knows, that was a serious fire: 71 houses were destroyed and another 39 received substantial damage. The police minister, as Minister for Emergency Services, has made it clear that the Fire and Emergency Services Authority is undertaking its major incident review. I also indicated a few days after the fire that the state would look at holding another inquiry into some of the broader issues. Along with the minister today I was pleased to announce that Mick Keelty—the Australian Federal Police Commissioner for eight years—has agreed to undertake that review. The major terms of reference relate to the adequacy of prescribed burning as a prevention measure; the impact of planning, environmental and building laws; responsibility of landowners for clearing and maintaining their own properties in a safe way; and the adequacy of public information warnings, including the alert system and coordination of emergency services. Mr E.S. Ripper : Is FESA’s performance part of the review? Mr C.J. BARNETT : No; it is not. Ms M.M. Quirk interjected. Mr C.J. BARNETT : All members opposite ever did in government was talk about issues and have reports and reviews. This is a different government. Mick Keelty is ideally suited to undertake a review of what happened in Roleystone and Kelmscott and to draw from it — Ms M.M. Quirk interjected. The SPEAKER : Member for Girrawheen! Mr C.J. BARNETT : —lessons from it that can be applied — Ms M.M. Quirk interjected. The SPEAKER : Member for Girrawheen, I formally call you to order for the first time today. Mr C.J. BARNETT : Mick Keelty will undertake a review of the very recent experience of that fire to see what lessons can be learnt for application in the Perth hills area, which is an area of high risk. It has a growing population and is heavily forested, and in many cases vegetation is growing right up against people’s homes. It is anticipated this inquiry will take around four months. There will be calls for submissions, and public hearings will be held. It will be conducted as an inquiry under section 24H of the Public Sector Management Act. I have given a direction to the Public Sector Commissioner this morning to that effect, which means that anyone who appears as a witness will have the same protection as a witness before the Supreme Court—in other words, protection from defamation actions. I am delighted that Mick Keelty has agreed to take on this inquiry. Not only does he have extensive experience in the police service but also in his career he has been involved in many disaster emergency situations, including the Bali bombings. I think he will bring a very open approach to it. I know the opposition wants an inquiry into firefighting across the state. Multiple inquiries have been held into that issue. I state again what I stated in Parliament last week: when that fire was still on, when people were still fighting the fires, I was dismayed, if not offended, by calls from the opposition for inquiries into FESA, the volunteer fire brigades or the Department of Environment and Conservation. Mr E.S. Ripper : Calls you have now agreed to. What hypocrisy; what self-righteousness; what pomposity. The SPEAKER : Leader of the Opposition! Mr C.J. BARNETT : As I said at the time, the efforts of the government and all the emergency services were directed at dealing with a situation in which a fire was burning out of control in places. I said that once we had dealt with that, we would look at the issue of any inquiries or reviews. We made that very clear in that same week. The FESA major incident review is underway. We will now have this review into whether some of the preventive measures were successful, and into the experience of the fire and what can be done in a practical sense to, hopefully, avoid another devastating fire in the Perth hills. Yes, there may be implications for other areas, but it will concentrate on the Perth hills situation.
Mr E.S. Ripper : Is FESA’s performance part of the review? Mr C.J. BARNETT : No; it is not. Ms M.M. Quirk interjected. Mr C.J. BARNETT : All members opposite ever did in government was talk about issues and have reports and reviews. This is a different government. Mick Keelty is ideally suited to undertake a review of what happened in Roleystone and Kelmscott and to draw from it — Ms M.M. Quirk interjected. The SPEAKER : Member for Girrawheen! Mr C.J. BARNETT : —lessons from it that can be applied — Ms M.M. Quirk interjected. The SPEAKER : Member for Girrawheen, I formally call you to order for the first time today. Mr C.J. BARNETT : Mick Keelty will undertake a review of the very recent experience of that fire to see what lessons can be learnt for application in the Perth hills area, which is an area of high risk. It has a growing population and is heavily forested, and in many cases vegetation is growing right up against people’s homes. It is anticipated this inquiry will take around four months. There will be calls for submissions, and public hearings will be held. It will be conducted as an inquiry under section 24H of the Public Sector Management Act. I have given a direction to the Public Sector Commissioner this morning to that effect, which means that anyone who appears as a witness will have the same protection as a witness before the Supreme Court—in other words, protection from defamation actions. I am delighted that Mick Keelty has agreed to take on this inquiry. Not only does he have extensive experience in the police service but also in his career he has been involved in many disaster emergency situations, including the Bali bombings. I think he will bring a very open approach to it. I know the opposition wants an inquiry into firefighting across the state. Multiple inquiries have been held into that issue. I state again what I stated in Parliament last week: when that fire was still on, when people were still fighting the fires, I was dismayed, if not offended, by calls from the opposition for inquiries into FESA, the volunteer fire brigades or the Department of Environment and Conservation. Mr E.S. Ripper : Calls you have now agreed to. What hypocrisy; what self-righteousness; what pomposity. The SPEAKER : Leader of the Opposition! Mr C.J. BARNETT : As I said at the time, the efforts of the government and all the emergency services were directed at dealing with a situation in which a fire was burning out of control in places. I said that once we had dealt with that, we would look at the issue of any inquiries or reviews. We made that very clear in that same week. The FESA major incident review is underway. We will now have this review into whether some of the preventive measures were successful, and into the experience of the fire and what can be done in a practical sense to, hopefully, avoid another devastating fire in the Perth hills. Yes, there may be implications for other areas, but it will concentrate on the Perth hills situation.
Mr C.J. BARNETT : No; it is not. Ms M.M. Quirk interjected. Mr C.J. BARNETT : All members opposite ever did in government was talk about issues and have reports and reviews. This is a different government. Mick Keelty is ideally suited to undertake a review of what happened in Roleystone and Kelmscott and to draw from it — Ms M.M. Quirk interjected. The SPEAKER : Member for Girrawheen! Mr C.J. BARNETT : —lessons from it that can be applied — Ms M.M. Quirk interjected. The SPEAKER : Member for Girrawheen, I formally call you to order for the first time today. Mr C.J. BARNETT : Mick Keelty will undertake a review of the very recent experience of that fire to see what lessons can be learnt for application in the Perth hills area, which is an area of high risk. It has a growing population and is heavily forested, and in many cases vegetation is growing right up against people’s homes. It is anticipated this inquiry will take around four months. There will be calls for submissions, and public hearings will be held. It will be conducted as an inquiry under section 24H of the Public Sector Management Act. I have given a direction to the Public Sector Commissioner this morning to that effect, which means that anyone who appears as a witness will have the same protection as a witness before the Supreme Court—in other words, protection from defamation actions. I am delighted that Mick Keelty has agreed to take on this inquiry. Not only does he have extensive experience in the police service but also in his career he has been involved in many disaster emergency situations, including the Bali bombings. I think he will bring a very open approach to it. I know the opposition wants an inquiry into firefighting across the state. Multiple inquiries have been held into that issue. I state again what I stated in Parliament last week: when that fire was still on, when people were still fighting the fires, I was dismayed, if not offended, by calls from the opposition for inquiries into FESA, the volunteer fire brigades or the Department of Environment and Conservation. Mr E.S. Ripper : Calls you have now agreed to. What hypocrisy; what self-righteousness; what pomposity. The SPEAKER : Leader of the Opposition! Mr C.J. BARNETT : As I said at the time, the efforts of the government and all the emergency services were directed at dealing with a situation in which a fire was burning out of control in places. I said that once we had dealt with that, we would look at the issue of any inquiries or reviews. We made that very clear in that same week. The FESA major incident review is underway. We will now have this review into whether some of the preventive measures were successful, and into the experience of the fire and what can be done in a practical sense to, hopefully, avoid another devastating fire in the Perth hills. Yes, there may be implications for other areas, but it will concentrate on the Perth hills situation.
Ms M.M. Quirk interjected. Mr C.J. BARNETT : All members opposite ever did in government was talk about issues and have reports and reviews. This is a different government. Mick Keelty is ideally suited to undertake a review of what happened in Roleystone and Kelmscott and to draw from it — Ms M.M. Quirk interjected. The SPEAKER : Member for Girrawheen! Mr C.J. BARNETT : —lessons from it that can be applied — Ms M.M. Quirk interjected. The SPEAKER : Member for Girrawheen, I formally call you to order for the first time today. Mr C.J. BARNETT : Mick Keelty will undertake a review of the very recent experience of that fire to see what lessons can be learnt for application in the Perth hills area, which is an area of high risk. It has a growing population and is heavily forested, and in many cases vegetation is growing right up against people’s homes. It is anticipated this inquiry will take around four months. There will be calls for submissions, and public hearings will be held. It will be conducted as an inquiry under section 24H of the Public Sector Management Act. I have given a direction to the Public Sector Commissioner this morning to that effect, which means that anyone who appears as a witness will have the same protection as a witness before the Supreme Court—in other words, protection from defamation actions. I am delighted that Mick Keelty has agreed to take on this inquiry. Not only does he have extensive experience in the police service but also in his career he has been involved in many disaster emergency situations, including the Bali bombings. I think he will bring a very open approach to it. I know the opposition wants an inquiry into firefighting across the state. Multiple inquiries have been held into that issue. I state again what I stated in Parliament last week: when that fire was still on, when people were still fighting the fires, I was dismayed, if not offended, by calls from the opposition for inquiries into FESA, the volunteer fire brigades or the Department of Environment and Conservation. Mr E.S. Ripper : Calls you have now agreed to. What hypocrisy; what self-righteousness; what pomposity. The SPEAKER : Leader of the Opposition! Mr C.J. BARNETT : As I said at the time, the efforts of the government and all the emergency services were directed at dealing with a situation in which a fire was burning out of control in places. I said that once we had dealt with that, we would look at the issue of any inquiries or reviews. We made that very clear in that same week. The FESA major incident review is underway. We will now have this review into whether some of the preventive measures were successful, and into the experience of the fire and what can be done in a practical sense to, hopefully, avoid another devastating fire in the Perth hills. Yes, there may be implications for other areas, but it will concentrate on the Perth hills situation.
Mr C.J. BARNETT : All members opposite ever did in government was talk about issues and have reports and reviews. This is a different government. Mick Keelty is ideally suited to undertake a review of what happened in Roleystone and Kelmscott and to draw from it — Ms M.M. Quirk interjected. The SPEAKER : Member for Girrawheen! Mr C.J. BARNETT : —lessons from it that can be applied — Ms M.M. Quirk interjected. The SPEAKER : Member for Girrawheen, I formally call you to order for the first time today. Mr C.J. BARNETT : Mick Keelty will undertake a review of the very recent experience of that fire to see what lessons can be learnt for application in the Perth hills area, which is an area of high risk. It has a growing population and is heavily forested, and in many cases vegetation is growing right up against people’s homes. It is anticipated this inquiry will take around four months. There will be calls for submissions, and public hearings will be held. It will be conducted as an inquiry under section 24H of the Public Sector Management Act. I have given a direction to the Public Sector Commissioner this morning to that effect, which means that anyone who appears as a witness will have the same protection as a witness before the Supreme Court—in other words, protection from defamation actions. I am delighted that Mick Keelty has agreed to take on this inquiry. Not only does he have extensive experience in the police service but also in his career he has been involved in many disaster emergency situations, including the Bali bombings. I think he will bring a very open approach to it. I know the opposition wants an inquiry into firefighting across the state. Multiple inquiries have been held into that issue. I state again what I stated in Parliament last week: when that fire was still on, when people were still fighting the fires, I was dismayed, if not offended, by calls from the opposition for inquiries into FESA, the volunteer fire brigades or the Department of Environment and Conservation. Mr E.S. Ripper : Calls you have now agreed to. What hypocrisy; what self-righteousness; what pomposity. The SPEAKER : Leader of the Opposition! Mr C.J. BARNETT : As I said at the time, the efforts of the government and all the emergency services were directed at dealing with a situation in which a fire was burning out of control in places. I said that once we had dealt with that, we would look at the issue of any inquiries or reviews. We made that very clear in that same week. The FESA major incident review is underway. We will now have this review into whether some of the preventive measures were successful, and into the experience of the fire and what can be done in a practical sense to, hopefully, avoid another devastating fire in the Perth hills. Yes, there may be implications for other areas, but it will concentrate on the Perth hills situation.
Ms M.M. Quirk interjected. The SPEAKER : Member for Girrawheen! Mr C.J. BARNETT : —lessons from it that can be applied — Ms M.M. Quirk interjected. The SPEAKER : Member for Girrawheen, I formally call you to order for the first time today. Mr C.J. BARNETT : Mick Keelty will undertake a review of the very recent experience of that fire to see what lessons can be learnt for application in the Perth hills area, which is an area of high risk. It has a growing population and is heavily forested, and in many cases vegetation is growing right up against people’s homes. It is anticipated this inquiry will take around four months. There will be calls for submissions, and public hearings will be held. It will be conducted as an inquiry under section 24H of the Public Sector Management Act. I have given a direction to the Public Sector Commissioner this morning to that effect, which means that anyone who appears as a witness will have the same protection as a witness before the Supreme Court—in other words, protection from defamation actions. I am delighted that Mick Keelty has agreed to take on this inquiry. Not only does he have extensive experience in the police service but also in his career he has been involved in many disaster emergency situations, including the Bali bombings. I think he will bring a very open approach to it. I know the opposition wants an inquiry into firefighting across the state. Multiple inquiries have been held into that issue. I state again what I stated in Parliament last week: when that fire was still on, when people were still fighting the fires, I was dismayed, if not offended, by calls from the opposition for inquiries into FESA, the volunteer fire brigades or the Department of Environment and Conservation. Mr E.S. Ripper : Calls you have now agreed to. What hypocrisy; what self-righteousness; what pomposity. The SPEAKER : Leader of the Opposition! Mr C.J. BARNETT : As I said at the time, the efforts of the government and all the emergency services were directed at dealing with a situation in which a fire was burning out of control in places. I said that once we had dealt with that, we would look at the issue of any inquiries or reviews. We made that very clear in that same week. The FESA major incident review is underway. We will now have this review into whether some of the preventive measures were successful, and into the experience of the fire and what can be done in a practical sense to, hopefully, avoid another devastating fire in the Perth hills. Yes, there may be implications for other areas, but it will concentrate on the Perth hills situation.
The SPEAKER : Member for Girrawheen! Mr C.J. BARNETT : —lessons from it that can be applied — Ms M.M. Quirk interjected. The SPEAKER : Member for Girrawheen, I formally call you to order for the first time today. Mr C.J. BARNETT : Mick Keelty will undertake a review of the very recent experience of that fire to see what lessons can be learnt for application in the Perth hills area, which is an area of high risk. It has a growing population and is heavily forested, and in many cases vegetation is growing right up against people’s homes. It is anticipated this inquiry will take around four months. There will be calls for submissions, and public hearings will be held. It will be conducted as an inquiry under section 24H of the Public Sector Management Act. I have given a direction to the Public Sector Commissioner this morning to that effect, which means that anyone who appears as a witness will have the same protection as a witness before the Supreme Court—in other words, protection from defamation actions. I am delighted that Mick Keelty has agreed to take on this inquiry. Not only does he have extensive experience in the police service but also in his career he has been involved in many disaster emergency situations, including the Bali bombings. I think he will bring a very open approach to it. I know the opposition wants an inquiry into firefighting across the state. Multiple inquiries have been held into that issue. I state again what I stated in Parliament last week: when that fire was still on, when people were still fighting the fires, I was dismayed, if not offended, by calls from the opposition for inquiries into FESA, the volunteer fire brigades or the Department of Environment and Conservation. Mr E.S. Ripper : Calls you have now agreed to. What hypocrisy; what self-righteousness; what pomposity. The SPEAKER : Leader of the Opposition! Mr C.J. BARNETT : As I said at the time, the efforts of the government and all the emergency services were directed at dealing with a situation in which a fire was burning out of control in places. I said that once we had dealt with that, we would look at the issue of any inquiries or reviews. We made that very clear in that same week. The FESA major incident review is underway. We will now have this review into whether some of the preventive measures were successful, and into the experience of the fire and what can be done in a practical sense to, hopefully, avoid another devastating fire in the Perth hills. Yes, there may be implications for other areas, but it will concentrate on the Perth hills situation.
Mr C.J. BARNETT : —lessons from it that can be applied — Ms M.M. Quirk interjected. The SPEAKER : Member for Girrawheen, I formally call you to order for the first time today. Mr C.J. BARNETT : Mick Keelty will undertake a review of the very recent experience of that fire to see what lessons can be learnt for application in the Perth hills area, which is an area of high risk. It has a growing population and is heavily forested, and in many cases vegetation is growing right up against people’s homes. It is anticipated this inquiry will take around four months. There will be calls for submissions, and public hearings will be held. It will be conducted as an inquiry under section 24H of the Public Sector Management Act. I have given a direction to the Public Sector Commissioner this morning to that effect, which means that anyone who appears as a witness will have the same protection as a witness before the Supreme Court—in other words, protection from defamation actions. I am delighted that Mick Keelty has agreed to take on this inquiry. Not only does he have extensive experience in the police service but also in his career he has been involved in many disaster emergency situations, including the Bali bombings. I think he will bring a very open approach to it. I know the opposition wants an inquiry into firefighting across the state. Multiple inquiries have been held into that issue. I state again what I stated in Parliament last week: when that fire was still on, when people were still fighting the fires, I was dismayed, if not offended, by calls from the opposition for inquiries into FESA, the volunteer fire brigades or the Department of Environment and Conservation. Mr E.S. Ripper : Calls you have now agreed to. What hypocrisy; what self-righteousness; what pomposity. The SPEAKER : Leader of the Opposition! Mr C.J. BARNETT : As I said at the time, the efforts of the government and all the emergency services were directed at dealing with a situation in which a fire was burning out of control in places. I said that once we had dealt with that, we would look at the issue of any inquiries or reviews. We made that very clear in that same week. The FESA major incident review is underway. We will now have this review into whether some of the preventive measures were successful, and into the experience of the fire and what can be done in a practical sense to, hopefully, avoid another devastating fire in the Perth hills. Yes, there may be implications for other areas, but it will concentrate on the Perth hills situation.
Ms M.M. Quirk interjected. The SPEAKER : Member for Girrawheen, I formally call you to order for the first time today. Mr C.J. BARNETT : Mick Keelty will undertake a review of the very recent experience of that fire to see what lessons can be learnt for application in the Perth hills area, which is an area of high risk. It has a growing population and is heavily forested, and in many cases vegetation is growing right up against people’s homes. It is anticipated this inquiry will take around four months. There will be calls for submissions, and public hearings will be held. It will be conducted as an inquiry under section 24H of the Public Sector Management Act. I have given a direction to the Public Sector Commissioner this morning to that effect, which means that anyone who appears as a witness will have the same protection as a witness before the Supreme Court—in other words, protection from defamation actions. I am delighted that Mick Keelty has agreed to take on this inquiry. Not only does he have extensive experience in the police service but also in his career he has been involved in many disaster emergency situations, including the Bali bombings. I think he will bring a very open approach to it. I know the opposition wants an inquiry into firefighting across the state. Multiple inquiries have been held into that issue. I state again what I stated in Parliament last week: when that fire was still on, when people were still fighting the fires, I was dismayed, if not offended, by calls from the opposition for inquiries into FESA, the volunteer fire brigades or the Department of Environment and Conservation. Mr E.S. Ripper : Calls you have now agreed to. What hypocrisy; what self-righteousness; what pomposity. The SPEAKER : Leader of the Opposition! Mr C.J. BARNETT : As I said at the time, the efforts of the government and all the emergency services were directed at dealing with a situation in which a fire was burning out of control in places. I said that once we had dealt with that, we would look at the issue of any inquiries or reviews. We made that very clear in that same week. The FESA major incident review is underway. We will now have this review into whether some of the preventive measures were successful, and into the experience of the fire and what can be done in a practical sense to, hopefully, avoid another devastating fire in the Perth hills. Yes, there may be implications for other areas, but it will concentrate on the Perth hills situation.
The SPEAKER : Member for Girrawheen, I formally call you to order for the first time today. Mr C.J. BARNETT : Mick Keelty will undertake a review of the very recent experience of that fire to see what lessons can be learnt for application in the Perth hills area, which is an area of high risk. It has a growing population and is heavily forested, and in many cases vegetation is growing right up against people’s homes. It is anticipated this inquiry will take around four months. There will be calls for submissions, and public hearings will be held. It will be conducted as an inquiry under section 24H of the Public Sector Management Act. I have given a direction to the Public Sector Commissioner this morning to that effect, which means that anyone who appears as a witness will have the same protection as a witness before the Supreme Court—in other words, protection from defamation actions. I am delighted that Mick Keelty has agreed to take on this inquiry. Not only does he have extensive experience in the police service but also in his career he has been involved in many disaster emergency situations, including the Bali bombings. I think he will bring a very open approach to it. I know the opposition wants an inquiry into firefighting across the state. Multiple inquiries have been held into that issue. I state again what I stated in Parliament last week: when that fire was still on, when people were still fighting the fires, I was dismayed, if not offended, by calls from the opposition for inquiries into FESA, the volunteer fire brigades or the Department of Environment and Conservation. Mr E.S. Ripper : Calls you have now agreed to. What hypocrisy; what self-righteousness; what pomposity. The SPEAKER : Leader of the Opposition! Mr C.J. BARNETT : As I said at the time, the efforts of the government and all the emergency services were directed at dealing with a situation in which a fire was burning out of control in places. I said that once we had dealt with that, we would look at the issue of any inquiries or reviews. We made that very clear in that same week. The FESA major incident review is underway. We will now have this review into whether some of the preventive measures were successful, and into the experience of the fire and what can be done in a practical sense to, hopefully, avoid another devastating fire in the Perth hills. Yes, there may be implications for other areas, but it will concentrate on the Perth hills situation.
Mr C.J. BARNETT : Mick Keelty will undertake a review of the very recent experience of that fire to see what lessons can be learnt for application in the Perth hills area, which is an area of high risk. It has a growing population and is heavily forested, and in many cases vegetation is growing right up against people’s homes. It is anticipated this inquiry will take around four months. There will be calls for submissions, and public hearings will be held. It will be conducted as an inquiry under section 24H of the Public Sector Management Act. I have given a direction to the Public Sector Commissioner this morning to that effect, which means that anyone who appears as a witness will have the same protection as a witness before the Supreme Court—in other words, protection from defamation actions. I am delighted that Mick Keelty has agreed to take on this inquiry. Not only does he have extensive experience in the police service but also in his career he has been involved in many disaster emergency situations, including the Bali bombings. I think he will bring a very open approach to it. I know the opposition wants an inquiry into firefighting across the state. Multiple inquiries have been held into that issue. I state again what I stated in Parliament last week: when that fire was still on, when people were still fighting the fires, I was dismayed, if not offended, by calls from the opposition for inquiries into FESA, the volunteer fire brigades or the Department of Environment and Conservation. Mr E.S. Ripper : Calls you have now agreed to. What hypocrisy; what self-righteousness; what pomposity. The SPEAKER : Leader of the Opposition! Mr C.J. BARNETT : As I said at the time, the efforts of the government and all the emergency services were directed at dealing with a situation in which a fire was burning out of control in places. I said that once we had dealt with that, we would look at the issue of any inquiries or reviews. We made that very clear in that same week. The FESA major incident review is underway. We will now have this review into whether some of the preventive measures were successful, and into the experience of the fire and what can be done in a practical sense to, hopefully, avoid another devastating fire in the Perth hills. Yes, there may be implications for other areas, but it will concentrate on the Perth hills situation.
I am delighted that Mick Keelty has agreed to take on this inquiry. Not only does he have extensive experience in the police service but also in his career he has been involved in many disaster emergency situations, including the Bali bombings. I think he will bring a very open approach to it. I know the opposition wants an inquiry into firefighting across the state. Multiple inquiries have been held into that issue. I state again what I stated in Parliament last week: when that fire was still on, when people were still fighting the fires, I was dismayed, if not offended, by calls from the opposition for inquiries into FESA, the volunteer fire brigades or the Department of Environment and Conservation. Mr E.S. Ripper : Calls you have now agreed to. What hypocrisy; what self-righteousness; what pomposity. The SPEAKER : Leader of the Opposition! Mr C.J. BARNETT : As I said at the time, the efforts of the government and all the emergency services were directed at dealing with a situation in which a fire was burning out of control in places. I said that once we had dealt with that, we would look at the issue of any inquiries or reviews. We made that very clear in that same week. The FESA major incident review is underway. We will now have this review into whether some of the preventive measures were successful, and into the experience of the fire and what can be done in a practical sense to, hopefully, avoid another devastating fire in the Perth hills. Yes, there may be implications for other areas, but it will concentrate on the Perth hills situation.
I know the opposition wants an inquiry into firefighting across the state. Multiple inquiries have been held into that issue. I state again what I stated in Parliament last week: when that fire was still on, when people were still fighting the fires, I was dismayed, if not offended, by calls from the opposition for inquiries into FESA, the volunteer fire brigades or the Department of Environment and Conservation. Mr E.S. Ripper : Calls you have now agreed to. What hypocrisy; what self-righteousness; what pomposity. The SPEAKER : Leader of the Opposition! Mr C.J. BARNETT : As I said at the time, the efforts of the government and all the emergency services were directed at dealing with a situation in which a fire was burning out of control in places. I said that once we had dealt with that, we would look at the issue of any inquiries or reviews. We made that very clear in that same week. The FESA major incident review is underway. We will now have this review into whether some of the preventive measures were successful, and into the experience of the fire and what can be done in a practical sense to, hopefully, avoid another devastating fire in the Perth hills. Yes, there may be implications for other areas, but it will concentrate on the Perth hills situation.
Mr E.S. Ripper : Calls you have now agreed to. What hypocrisy; what self-righteousness; what pomposity. The SPEAKER : Leader of the Opposition! Mr C.J. BARNETT : As I said at the time, the efforts of the government and all the emergency services were directed at dealing with a situation in which a fire was burning out of control in places. I said that once we had dealt with that, we would look at the issue of any inquiries or reviews. We made that very clear in that same week. The FESA major incident review is underway. We will now have this review into whether some of the preventive measures were successful, and into the experience of the fire and what can be done in a practical sense to, hopefully, avoid another devastating fire in the Perth hills. Yes, there may be implications for other areas, but it will concentrate on the Perth hills situation.
The SPEAKER : Leader of the Opposition! Mr C.J. BARNETT : As I said at the time, the efforts of the government and all the emergency services were directed at dealing with a situation in which a fire was burning out of control in places. I said that once we had dealt with that, we would look at the issue of any inquiries or reviews. We made that very clear in that same week. The FESA major incident review is underway. We will now have this review into whether some of the preventive measures were successful, and into the experience of the fire and what can be done in a practical sense to, hopefully, avoid another devastating fire in the Perth hills. Yes, there may be implications for other areas, but it will concentrate on the Perth hills situation.
Mr C.J. BARNETT : As I said at the time, the efforts of the government and all the emergency services were directed at dealing with a situation in which a fire was burning out of control in places. I said that once we had dealt with that, we would look at the issue of any inquiries or reviews. We made that very clear in that same week. The FESA major incident review is underway. We will now have this review into whether some of the preventive measures were successful, and into the experience of the fire and what can be done in a practical sense to, hopefully, avoid another devastating fire in the Perth hills. Yes, there may be implications for other areas, but it will concentrate on the Perth hills situation.
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