Rural Fire Service Association Conference 2010

Canberra

19 June 2010

[CHECK AGAINST DELIVERY]

First, may I acknowledge the traditional owners of the land we meet on – and pay my respects to their elders, both past and present.

It is a pleasure to be here today as this Conference, which highlights the significant work of the Rural Fire Service in the Australian community. Rural Fire Service Association Conference June 2010

In a country where extreme weather conditions and the continuing risk of bushfires are an all too common reality, the service of the Rural Fire Association and other fire fighters, community and industry groups are more challenging than ever.

Last year’s devastating Victorian Bushfires reinforced this message. The tragic loss of life in February 2009 was a reminder of the impact that fire can have on any Australian community.

The Victorian Bushfires clearly demonstrated that stakeholders will increasingly need to pool their collective experience, resources and planning in order to effectively prepare for and respond to emergency events on an unprecedented scale.

Bringing together volunteer fire fighters, fire fighting agencies, industry experts, government and academia to facilitate this cooperation is a vital component in the process.

Today I would like to outline the Rudd Government’s efforts in this regard which have focussed on drawing communities, governments and emergency volunteers closer together.

Bushfire Arson

In the area of bushfire arson, the Commonwealth has developed a comprehensive national strategy to address this heinous crime which is estimated to cost the Australian community approximately $1.6 billion.

Substantial work is already complete to implement a number of the strategy’s objectives.

A Bushfire Arson Prevention Manual has been developed by the Australian Institute of Criminology to help local communities develop strategies to prevent arson.

A National Wildfire Investigation Management Course is being prepared by the ACT Rural Fire Service to assist law enforcement and emergency management agencies with techniques to hold arsonists to account.

And an annual ‘pre-season’ briefing has also been established to enable practitioners from all jurisdictions share knowledge and best practice.

The Commonwealth is also working with the States and Territories to develop a national database of arsonists.

This will provide centralised information on persons of interest and will enable authorities to better target their prevention efforts.

Bushfire Mitigation through the Natural Disaster Resilience Program

In addition to these efforts, the Government has recently implemented the Natural Disaster Resilience Program (NDRP) to better target Commonwealth funding for disaster mitigation works and provide support for emergency management volunteers.

The Australian Government is investing $110 million over four years in the Program, which consolidates the former Bushfire Mitigation Program, the Natural Disaster Mitigation Program and the National Emergency Volunteer Support Fund.

Under the Program, States and Territories are prioritising projects according to their most pressing natural disaster risk priorities.

For jurisdictions where larger projects to mitigate bushfires are a high priority, the program now provides the flexibility for these state-wide initiatives to be pursued.

Significant research is also being pursued into the community’s understanding of the recently revised arrangements for bushfire advice and alerts. This research will contribute to work that is being undertaken by the States and Territories into the operation and communication of the rating scale. This will help both governments and emergency services understand, verify and improve bushfire information to the community.

Emergency Warnings

Perhaps the most significant collaborative project in recent years has been the development of a national telephone-based emergency warning system.

Completed in December 2009, ‘Emergency Alert’ allows States and Territories to send voice warnings to landlines and text warnings to mobile phones based on the customer’s registered address.

Although no one warning method should ever be relied upon as the only source of information, the development of this 24/7 tool means that we are now better prepared to deal with either localised emergencies or catastrophic disasters.

The Rudd Government was pleased to facilitate national agreement in the development of ‘Emergency Alert’, and has provided more than $26 million to help the States and Territories develop it.

As part of this commitment, the Government has also invested over $1.3 million to support research into the feasibility of delivering warnings to mobile phones based on the location of the handset at the time of sending a message.

The rollout of a telephone-based warning capability across Australia is an example of the practical results that can be achieved when all governments work together for the good of Australia. Triple Zero Emergency Call Service

There are, however, still challenges we need to overcome to effectively address emergency and natural disaster risks.

For example, significant reliance is currently placed on the Triple Zero Emergency Call Service which enables Australians to access critical emergency services including fire, police or ambulance when they most need help.

The Rudd Government is focused on helping the States and Territories improve the effectiveness of this service which can be sorely tested during catastrophes such as we saw in Victoria last year. For example, it is estimated that approximately 40 per cent of calls to triple zero could have been directed elsewhere during the disaster in order to free up lines for life threatening or time critical calls for help.

To help reduce the volume of non-urgent calls to the Triple Zero service, the Commonwealth has developed a national protocol for tailored Recorded Voice Announcements during extreme events.

The announcements will alert Triple Zero callers to relevant information sources such as a State Information Hotline if they do not require immediate emergency help.

It is anticipated that this initiative will have a significant impact on call volumes during large-scale disasters and will provide those with a genuine emergency a faster and more effective response.

Another initiative that the Government has undertaken is the provision of a National Emergency Call Centre Surge Capability to augment State and Territory emergency information lines when local capacity is overwhelmed. This capability will allow more people to receive information in a more timely fashion and may also serve to reduce the pressure on the Triple Zero service.

The Commonwealth has also led the development of a report examining the acquisition of common technology and other issues that could benefit from national collaboration.

The report will be considered by the Ministerial Council for Police and Emergency Management out of session later this month.

It looks at ways to enhance:

If all States and Territories can migrate to agreed standard technology, it will greatly assist cooperation between agencies to cope with surges arising from emergencies. It will also assist in common training and facilitating the secondment of staff between services.

In addition, my colleague the Minister for Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy, Stephen Conroy, is working with the States, Territories and telecommunications companies to consider ways to improve the effectiveness of Triple Zero and reduce the number of non-genuine callers.

Harmonised emergency communications

I have also been working with the Minister to meet the communications needs of emergency service organisations.

Emergency operators often utilise different technology and radio channels to their counterparts in other services, or other jurisdictions.

This can create significant communications problems where more than one agency has to respond to the same event.

Given the need for increased interoperability both within and across states, bringing these communications channels together will significantly improve Australia’s capacity to respond to catastrophic disasters in a coordinated way.

The issue has been addressed through a review into the 400MHz spectrum band, being led by the Australian Communications and Media Authority and overseen by Minister Conroy.

Public submissions were sought on ACMA’s proposals for the band and closed on 6 June 2010.

The proposals include setting aside a harmonized band that all emergency service and other key front-line agencies can adopt.

The Government is now examining the public feedback with a view to implementing these important improvements and ensuring that emergency services can move onto harmonised spectrum bands as they upgrade their capabilities.

Volunteers and Community Resilience

Despite all of these worthy initiatives and objectives, it is clear that Governments will never be able to guarantee complete protection during a disaster.

In recognition of this, the Government has moved emergency management policy making to a ‘resilience’ based approach that seeks to manage risks through detailed planning and preparation by individuals and communities.

Consequently, a vital component of this approach is provided by emergency volunteers. Currently, there are around 500,000 emergency volunteers throughout Australia, performing the equivalent of $18 billion worth of paid emergency management work.

Volunteers undertake critical work in protecting the community and enhancing our capacity to prepare for, respond to, and recover from emergencies and disasters.

They represent the backbone of the emergency management sector as they not only provide emergency services but contribute to emergency management education programs, events support and administrative roles.

The Commonwealth is assisting emergency management volunteers by:

My colleague the Assistant Treasurer, Nick Sherry, has announced that the Government will introduce legislation that extends tax deductible donation support to all 6,200 Australian volunteer fire brigades.

The Government’s legislation also extends the access to this support to all volunteer-based, state-recognised emergency service entities. The legislation allows for flexibility, giving these organisations the freedom to decide how best to access this support while providing consistency across all jurisdictions.

For those volunteers and employers of volunteers here today, on behalf of the Rudd Government, I thank you and your peers for your vital contribution.

In closing, it is clear that the threat of natural disasters and emergencies such as bushfires will require continued innovation and cooperation from every sector of the Australian community.

The Government has identified a range of priorities and initiatives that it will continue to address. We also remain focussed on being vigilant to any new areas that require attention or improvements that the Commonwealth can usefully pursue.

I wish you well for your conference, which is playing a key role in building the cooperative effort that is so very important.

Thank you.