❓ Mrs Clarke asks about the government's investment in bushfire preparedness. The Minister details significant funding for mitigation, local government support, technology upgrades, community engagement, and advertising campaigns, emphasizing individual responsibility for safety.
AnsweredQoN 1037Legislative Assembly
QuestionView source ↗
BUSHFIRE MITIGATION
1037. Mrs R.M.J. CLARKE to the Minister for Emergency Services:
Before I ask my question, I want to
thank all volunteers and community members fighting the catastrophic fires in
New South Wales and Queensland, and also send my best wishes to the Waroona
volunteers who are getting ready for deployment from my electorate of Murray–Wellington.
I
refer to the McGowan Labor government's commitment to doing everything
it possibly can to make bushfire-prone communities safer ahead of what
is expected to be a warmer and drier bushfire season. Can the minister update
the house on the significant investment this government has made in preparing
for this bushfire season?
1037. Mrs R.M.J. CLARKE to the Minister for Emergency Services:
Before I ask my question, I want to
thank all volunteers and community members fighting the catastrophic fires in
New South Wales and Queensland, and also send my best wishes to the Waroona
volunteers who are getting ready for deployment from my electorate of Murray–Wellington.
I
refer to the McGowan Labor government's commitment to doing everything
it possibly can to make bushfire-prone communities safer ahead of what
is expected to be a warmer and drier bushfire season. Can the minister update
the house on the significant investment this government has made in preparing
for this bushfire season?
AnswerView source ↗
I
thank the member for Murray–Wellington for that question. She is
someone who knows all too well about the dangers of bushfires, given her
electorate. I also acknowledge the unwavering support the member has for
volunteers in her electorate.
In preparing for this year's
bushfire season, of course, one of the critical things, in fact, one of the
most critical things, is mitigation—preparing well before the bushfire
season. As members well know—I have spoken of this in this house before—the
McGowan government has committed $35 million to perform mitigation on
unallocated crown land and $15 million for a mitigation activity fund to
support local governments. That is unheard of across Australia. That is the
largest investment made in mitigation anywhere in Australia. I can inform the
house that 26 local governments have got their bushfire risk mitigation plans
up and running, and they will receive $6.81 million for 856 treatment
activities over the next few weeks. They include mechanical, chemical, fire
tracks and a whole series of other mitigation activities. I inform the house
that all of the funding that has been made available to both the Department of
Fire and Emergency Services and local governments has led to more than 1 000
mitigation activities and treatments being undertaken already.
I just inform the house about the
volunteer briefings, and support as well, in preparation for the bushfire
season. On Saturday, I attended the preseason bushfire briefing at Optus
Stadium for all the volunteer captains and brigade unit managers. That included
the season outlook from the Bureau of Meteorology, an update on the air fleet
and also the resources available. It gave us an opportunity to thank them
before the bushfire season and wish them all the very best.
I
turn to technology. This year, the aerial fleet will have 38 aircraft across
the two government agencies. Just recently , I was down at Jandakot to
look at the technology we have available. That includes a new line scanner on a
new King Air aircraft. We have infrared on
helicopters, so we have forward-looking infrared technology. We have line- scanning
technology. That line-scanning technology feeds straight into a geospatial
information system, mapping systems, that is virtually instantly available to
firefighters on the ground. We have absolutely up-to-date technology available.
I
turn to community engagement and advertising. We will be spending $1 million on
preseason advertising and then right the way through the bushfire season on
advertising about keeping people safe. That will be the ''I Am Fire''
campaign, which we ran last year. I have already the spoken to the house about
how successful it has been. We are going to tweak it a little bit so we keep
the theme the same as last year but try to get the message home to people about
taking responsibility for their own safety. Of course, that is what it is all
about. At the end of the day, we can do the mitigation, we can have the
technology, we can have the equipment, we can have the volunteers and the
firefighters on the ground, but, ultimately, at the end of the day, we have to
have people who live in bushfire-prone areas taking responsibility for their
own safety. We have seen that in New South Wales and Queensland very, very
clearly over the last few days. We have to get people to understand the
message. People should have a fire chat with their family and their friends.
They should download the bushfire plan from the Department of Fire and
Emergency Services website. People living in a high bushfire–prone area
should continue to monitor the danger. They should go to the Emergency WA website,
go to the Facebook site of the Department of Fire and Emergency Services and
listen to the radio if there is a fire in their area. Those are the things that
we are pleading for people to do to keep themselves and their family safe this
bushfire season.
thank the member for Murray–Wellington for that question. She is
someone who knows all too well about the dangers of bushfires, given her
electorate. I also acknowledge the unwavering support the member has for
volunteers in her electorate.
In preparing for this year's
bushfire season, of course, one of the critical things, in fact, one of the
most critical things, is mitigation—preparing well before the bushfire
season. As members well know—I have spoken of this in this house before—the
McGowan government has committed $35 million to perform mitigation on
unallocated crown land and $15 million for a mitigation activity fund to
support local governments. That is unheard of across Australia. That is the
largest investment made in mitigation anywhere in Australia. I can inform the
house that 26 local governments have got their bushfire risk mitigation plans
up and running, and they will receive $6.81 million for 856 treatment
activities over the next few weeks. They include mechanical, chemical, fire
tracks and a whole series of other mitigation activities. I inform the house
that all of the funding that has been made available to both the Department of
Fire and Emergency Services and local governments has led to more than 1 000
mitigation activities and treatments being undertaken already.
I just inform the house about the
volunteer briefings, and support as well, in preparation for the bushfire
season. On Saturday, I attended the preseason bushfire briefing at Optus
Stadium for all the volunteer captains and brigade unit managers. That included
the season outlook from the Bureau of Meteorology, an update on the air fleet
and also the resources available. It gave us an opportunity to thank them
before the bushfire season and wish them all the very best.
I
turn to technology. This year, the aerial fleet will have 38 aircraft across
the two government agencies. Just recently , I was down at Jandakot to
look at the technology we have available. That includes a new line scanner on a
new King Air aircraft. We have infrared on
helicopters, so we have forward-looking infrared technology. We have line- scanning
technology. That line-scanning technology feeds straight into a geospatial
information system, mapping systems, that is virtually instantly available to
firefighters on the ground. We have absolutely up-to-date technology available.
I
turn to community engagement and advertising. We will be spending $1 million on
preseason advertising and then right the way through the bushfire season on
advertising about keeping people safe. That will be the ''I Am Fire''
campaign, which we ran last year. I have already the spoken to the house about
how successful it has been. We are going to tweak it a little bit so we keep
the theme the same as last year but try to get the message home to people about
taking responsibility for their own safety. Of course, that is what it is all
about. At the end of the day, we can do the mitigation, we can have the
technology, we can have the equipment, we can have the volunteers and the
firefighters on the ground, but, ultimately, at the end of the day, we have to
have people who live in bushfire-prone areas taking responsibility for their
own safety. We have seen that in New South Wales and Queensland very, very
clearly over the last few days. We have to get people to understand the
message. People should have a fire chat with their family and their friends.
They should download the bushfire plan from the Department of Fire and
Emergency Services website. People living in a high bushfire–prone area
should continue to monitor the danger. They should go to the Emergency WA website,
go to the Facebook site of the Department of Fire and Emergency Services and
listen to the radio if there is a fire in their area. Those are the things that
we are pleading for people to do to keep themselves and their family safe this
bushfire season.
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