National Parks And Wildlife Service Bushfire Protection Measures

About this Item
Speakers - Nori Ms Sandra; Allan Ms Pam
Business - Questions Without Notice

NATIONAL PARKS AND WILDLIFE SERVICE BUSHFIRE PROTECTION MEASURES

Ms NORI: My question without notice is addressed to the Minister for the Environment. What steps has the National Parks and Wildlife Service taken to protect life and property in national parks during the bushfire season?

Ms ALLAN: The National Parks and Wildlife Service is at its highest level of preparedness for the coming bushfire season than ever before in its 30-year history. With the January 1994 bushfires serving as a reminder of how government neglect can lead to a major catastrophe, I have refused to allow the build-up of ground fuels on national parks estates. If the Government creates new national parks, it has a responsibility to manage them properly. Since becoming Minister for the Environment I have asked the Director of National Parks and Wildlife to make bushfire management a top priority.

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Since 1 July the service has completed over 7,000 hectares of hazard reduction burning throughout the State at a cost of approximately $100,000. A total of 137 separate hazard reduction operations have been carried out in the past year. The service's fire trail maintenance is of equal importance. In all, nearly 1,000 kilometres of fire trails have been upgraded at a cost of over $0.25 million. This represents maintenance work on approximately 10 per cent of a total of 10,000 kilometres of the fire trail system in national parks in just over two months. In the Blue Mountains district, which includes Blue Mountains, Wollemi and Kanangra Boyd national parks, over 300 kilometres of trails have been upgraded in preparation for the bushfire season. During the recent winter months the service took advantage of dry conditions to undertake hazard reduction in strategic areas throughout the State.

In the Central Coast district, including Yengo, Brisbane Waters and Bouddi national parks - areas subject to some of the most devastating damage in the 1994 bushfires - hazard reduction work has been completed well ahead of schedule. This effort has been repeated across the State. Even in urban areas such as the Royal, Ku-ring-gai Chase and Sydney Harbour national parks strategic burning, aimed at protecting life and property, has already been completed. In many rural areas, including Dorrigo, Armidale, Lismore, Coonabarabran and Jindabyne, the service has been working with the local bushfire authorities to ensure that hazard reduction work is completed before the season begins.

It should be noted that, while hazard reduction work is strategically important, the environment impact of each burn is taken into account. The service has moved quickly to prepare fire management plans for each of its reserves throughout New South Wales. I should add that that effort was completely ignored by the former Government. In the southern part of the State the service has worked with other authorities, including the Department of Bush Fire Services, to develop new risk assessment techniques for protecting people and property from bushfires. There has also been a massive upgrade of equipment and training for service personnel. Four new firefighting tankers have been purchased, two for use in Kosciusko National Park and two for use in Wollemi National Park and Myall Lakes National Park.

To improve our rapid response capacity, 22 standardised slip-on firefighting units have been purchased for use by four-wheel drive vehicles at a cost of $9,000 each. The service has a fleet of 160 four-wheel drive vehicles, and it is proposed to install these slip-on units on every vehicle on a priority basis. All service fire suppression equipment is in a state of readiness, and additional equipment, including pumps and hoses, has been purchased. I ask honourable members to compare this effort with the efforts of the former Minister for the Environment, the honourable member for Gosford - Thomas the Tank Engine - who, I notice, is not showing a great deal of interest in this answer. The honourable member told the Sydney Morning Herald on 30 December last year that he had asked the National Parks and Wildlife Service to buy 400 mobile phones to fight bushfires. Imagine firefighters throwing mobile phones at the blazes!

In the event that bushfires break out, I am pleased to announce that a service State operations centre has been established at our head office to coordinate service fire management responses throughout the State. The New South Wales National Parks and Wildlife Service has trained its staff in incident control systems management of bushfires, whale rescue, search and rescue, storms, floods and chemical spills. Approval has recently been given for 14 of our staff to be given high level specialist training in the use of fixed-wing aircraft and helicopters for bushfire suppression activities. I issue a warning to reckless and careless individuals who cause wilful damage by fire. To prosecute arsonists the Government will not hesitate to use the Crimes Act, which provides for penalties of up to $10,000 or 10 years' imprisonment for such an offence. Recently, I increased the fines for people who failed to observe fire bans or who carelessly left camp fires unattended from $100 to $300.

[Interruption]

I am not sure why the Leader of the Opposition should be concerned about protecting these people. But it is important that we increase fines. The former Government should have pursued that effort during its term in office. In conclusion, I thank the men and women of the National Parks and Wildlife Service for their efforts in protecting life and property during the January 1994 bushfires. The preparations made by the New South Wales Government and the National Parks and Wildlife Service will ensure that we in New South Wales have the best chance ever of stopping a recurrence of the January 1994 fires.

Last modified 05/12/2007 16:26:12 : Update this page