Question Without Notice No. 612 asked in the Legislative Council on 13 September 2017 by Hon Colin De Grussa
Parliament: 40 Session: 1
RURAL FIRE SERVICE — ESTABLISHMENT
612. Hon COLIN de GRUSSA to the minister representing the Minister for Emergency Services:
I refer to the minister's comments in an article on ABC online, and I quote —
''As the budget on Thursday showed we are not in a fiscal position to be able to afford an independent rural fire Service therefore I do not support one.
(1) Has the minister developed a structure for a rural fire service to operate inside the Department of Fire and Emergency Services?
(2) Can the minister detail what this rural fire service will look like?
(3) In undertaking consultation on the rural fire service, who has the minister met with and on what dates?
Hon STEPHEN DAWSON replied:
I thank the honourable member for some notice of the question.
(1)–(2) Any decision relating to the implementation or proposed structure of a rural fire service would be subject to a cabinet decision and announced in due course.
(3) The minister has consulted widely with key stakeholders on improving fire management, including rural fire management. The state government is currently considering all the proposals that have been put forward and we owe it to all Western Australians to be thorough in our approach.