Question Without Notice No. 299 asked in the Legislative Council on 27 June 2017 by Hon Colin De Grussa
Parliament: 40 Session: 1
BUSHFIRE MITIGATION SUMMIT
299. Hon COLIN de GRUSSA to the minister representing the Minister for Emergency Services:
I refer to the bushfire mitigation summit held on 23 June 2017, which I attended.
(1) Of the 66 people who attended who the minister said had ''skin in the game'', how many were Esperance residents involved in fighting the 2015 bushfires?
(2) Given there have been two reports into the 2015 Esperance bushfires, both of which exposed serious issues with mitigation and first response to the fires, does the minister consider the people involved with these bushfires to have ''skin in the game''?
(3) Will the minister commit to holding further summits around regional Western Australia to allow those not invited to express their opinions?
Hon STEPHEN DAWSON replied:
I thank the honourable member for some notice of the question. The Minister for Emergency Services advises the following.
(1) A wide variety of representatives were invited, including representatives of agencies, volunteers, farmers and local members of Parliament with responsibilities that include the Esperance region.
(2) Yes; everyone involved in bushfires has ''skin in the game''. Key stakeholders representing diverse constituencies were invited to the summit, and public advertising encouraging public submissions on bushfire mitigation was published in The Esperance Express.
(3) There are no plans for further summits; however, the minister will be consulting further with regional communities. The state government is currently accepting public submissions on bushfire mitigation and all interested organisations and individuals are encouraged to participate in this process.