❓ The Minister for Emergency Services updates the house on the government's bushfire preparedness campaign, highlighting increased community awareness and website traffic due to targeted advertising funded by the emergency services levy. The Minister also criticises the previous government's lack of secure funding for emergency services advertising.
AnsweredQoN 995Legislative Assembly
QuestionView source ↗
FIRE AND EMERGENCY
SERVICES — BUSHFIRE SEASON
995. Mr S.A. MILLMAN to the Minister for Emergency Services:
I refer to the McGowan government's
emergency services reform and commitment to community safety. Can the minister update the house on how this government's
bushfire preparedness campaign is progressing, and the benefit it is
delivering to the community?
SERVICES — BUSHFIRE SEASON
995. Mr S.A. MILLMAN to the Minister for Emergency Services:
I refer to the McGowan government's
emergency services reform and commitment to community safety. Can the minister update the house on how this government's
bushfire preparedness campaign is progressing, and the benefit it is
delivering to the community?
AnswerView source ↗
I thank the member for his personal
support for Fire and Emergency Services and community safety. With the
forthcoming southern bushfire season rapidly bearing down on us, it is
critically important to remind people to take personal responsibility for
bushfire awareness for not only their safety, but also the safety of their
family and the community. More than 90 per cent
of our state is a bushfire-prone area. Of course, our climate is changing. We will continue to see more disasters in the future, such as the Esperance fires
that occurred in 2016 and earlier this year.
We will also see more episodes of cyclonic activity such as we saw with cyclone
Veronica, a category 5 c yclone that created a near miss in Port Hedland.
It is critically important that we
advertise and inform the community about the need to take personal
responsibility for safety. Unfortunately, the previous Liberal–National
government left us with no secure funding for advertising or marketing to keep
our community safe—no secure funding whatsoever. Last year, we ensured
that as part of raising the emergency services levy, we allocated money to the
purposes of education and advertising for the community of Western Australia.
More than $1 million has been allocated for that purpose and a further $1 million
will be allocated this year for the same purpose. I will talk about that next
time we are in Parliament.
We did an evaluation of how we went
in our advertising campaign last year and how it impacted on the general
population of Western Australia. Prior to the new campaign, 89 per cent of
people in Perth metro and 67 per cent of
people in regional areas were not taking any action to prepare themselves
against bushfires. In December last year, we launched a new bushfire preparedness
campaign to get people to take action with the bushfire action plan. In the
first year, the campaign has delivered great results, with a 16 per cent
increase in the number of people recognising their personal risk. That is a great
step forward. The evaluation also showed that 31 per cent of people remembered
the campaign without being prompted and 39 per cent of people remembered the
campaign when they were prompted. We saw a significant boost in traffic to the
fire chat website with a 268 per cent increase over the course of the campaign.
It was a remarkable turnaround in our campaign spend, people's reaction
and getting them to the website so that they have the information and can have
that fire chat and keep themselves safe.
The campaign's digital and online advertising drew
more than 12.6 million impressions and a further 12.2 million impressions were
reached through organic social media content through the DFES channels.
Overall, our expenditure was equal to the previous expenditure that had been
made by the Liberal–National government but had a far greater reach and
a far greater impact. We will continue to refine the advertising campaign this
year to ensure that we bring the message home to people that it is absolutely
critical that with the forthcoming southern bushfire season, people must take
responsibility by taking the time to go to the website, have a fire chat with
their family and, when the fire ultimately comes, make the decision about
whether they will stay or go.
support for Fire and Emergency Services and community safety. With the
forthcoming southern bushfire season rapidly bearing down on us, it is
critically important to remind people to take personal responsibility for
bushfire awareness for not only their safety, but also the safety of their
family and the community. More than 90 per cent
of our state is a bushfire-prone area. Of course, our climate is changing. We will continue to see more disasters in the future, such as the Esperance fires
that occurred in 2016 and earlier this year.
We will also see more episodes of cyclonic activity such as we saw with cyclone
Veronica, a category 5 c yclone that created a near miss in Port Hedland.
It is critically important that we
advertise and inform the community about the need to take personal
responsibility for safety. Unfortunately, the previous Liberal–National
government left us with no secure funding for advertising or marketing to keep
our community safe—no secure funding whatsoever. Last year, we ensured
that as part of raising the emergency services levy, we allocated money to the
purposes of education and advertising for the community of Western Australia.
More than $1 million has been allocated for that purpose and a further $1 million
will be allocated this year for the same purpose. I will talk about that next
time we are in Parliament.
We did an evaluation of how we went
in our advertising campaign last year and how it impacted on the general
population of Western Australia. Prior to the new campaign, 89 per cent of
people in Perth metro and 67 per cent of
people in regional areas were not taking any action to prepare themselves
against bushfires. In December last year, we launched a new bushfire preparedness
campaign to get people to take action with the bushfire action plan. In the
first year, the campaign has delivered great results, with a 16 per cent
increase in the number of people recognising their personal risk. That is a great
step forward. The evaluation also showed that 31 per cent of people remembered
the campaign without being prompted and 39 per cent of people remembered the
campaign when they were prompted. We saw a significant boost in traffic to the
fire chat website with a 268 per cent increase over the course of the campaign.
It was a remarkable turnaround in our campaign spend, people's reaction
and getting them to the website so that they have the information and can have
that fire chat and keep themselves safe.
The campaign's digital and online advertising drew
more than 12.6 million impressions and a further 12.2 million impressions were
reached through organic social media content through the DFES channels.
Overall, our expenditure was equal to the previous expenditure that had been
made by the Liberal–National government but had a far greater reach and
a far greater impact. We will continue to refine the advertising campaign this
year to ensure that we bring the message home to people that it is absolutely
critical that with the forthcoming southern bushfire season, people must take
responsibility by taking the time to go to the website, have a fire chat with
their family and, when the fire ultimately comes, make the decision about
whether they will stay or go.
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