Question Without Notice No. 389 asked in the Legislative Council on 16 May 2018 by Hon Dr Steve Thomas
Parliament: 40 Session: 1
FIRE AND EMERGENCY SERVICES — RURAL FIRE DIVISION
389. Hon Dr STEVE THOMAS to the minister representing the Minister for Emergency Services:
I refer to the minister's announcement on 13 April of a rural fire division within the Department of Fire and Emergency Services and to his answers to my questions without notice 307 and 331 asked last week.
(1) How many full-time equivalent staff will be employed in the rural fire division of DFES in 2018–19 and 2019–20?
(2) Is there currently a direct reporting line between the Minister for Emergency Services and the position of executive director of the rural fire division?
(3) Given that the minister said in response to question without notice 331, and I quote, ''The arrangements for managing the operational and emergency response to bushfires are established by state legislation and incident management policies'', will he identify the specific parts of the relevant legislation and identify and table the relevant policies; and, if not, why not?
(4) What alterations have been made to those policies to take into account the newly created rural fire division and when were those alterations made?
Hon STEPHEN DAWSON replied:
I thank the honourable member for some notice of the question. The Minister for Emergency Services has provided the following answer.
The Department of Fire and Emergency Services advises the following.
(1) In 2018–19, there will be 32 full-time equivalent staff. In 2019–20, there will be 32 FTE plus additional FTE, who are yet to be approved as part of the Bushfire Centre of Excellence. The business case for the BFCOE will be completed in 2018–19, with FTE pending final government approval.
(2) The executive director of the rural fire division reports to the Fire and Emergency Services Commissioner, as the hazard management agency for fire, on bushfire matters. The executive director of the rural fire division will chair the state bushfire advisory council, which, once established, will provide advice and recommendations to the Minister for Emergency Services and the FES commissioner on issues of strategic importance in the bushfire management sector. In addition, the executive director will provide advice and report to the minister as required.
(3) Arrangements for managing operational emergency responses to bushfires are established by existing legislation, including the Bush Fires Act 1954, the Fire Brigades Act 1942, the Fire and Emergency Services Act 1998 and the Emergency Management Act 2005. The State Hazard Plan for Fire provides specific detail on individual responsibilities relating to bushfire prevention, preparedness, response and recovery.
(4) The arrangements for managing the operational and emergency response to bushfires are established by state legislation and incident management policies and are compatible with recommendation 15.