Northern Territory Second Reading Speeches

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BUSHFIRES MANAGEMENT BILL 2016

BUSHFIRES MANAGEMENT BILL
(Serial 167)

Bill presented and read a first time.


Mr HIGGINS (Land Resource Management):
Madam Speaker, I move that the bill be now read a second time.

The purpose of this bill is to repeal and replace the
Bushfires Act. The Bushfires Act commenced in 1980 and provides the legislative framework for fire management outside the major urban centres of the Northern Territory. The act applies to all land apart from emergency response areas, ERAs, as described under the Fire and Emergency Services Act.

ERAs are small areas covering urban and urban-fringe developments in and around the major population centres. Land subject to the provisions of the act account for over 99% of the Northern Territory and comprise pastoral land, parks and reserves, vacant crown land, land held by Aboriginal Land Trust, land used for other agricultural purposes and significant areas of industrial and rural residential development on the outskirts of the major centres.


The act establishes the Bushfires Council and a series of regional committees to advise the minister on measures to be taken to prevent and control bushfires. It is underpinned by the principle that fire management is the responsibility of the land owner. The role for government in bush fire response only exists when a land owner is unable to control a fire that poses a threat to that property or neighbouring properties.


The Territory is threated by many hundreds of wild fires every year. It is by far the most fire prone environment in Australia. The continuing spread of high fire danger fuels such as gamba grass, especially when it comes in areas of intensive rural residential development, is creating much greater bushfire risk to life and property. Managing this heightened risk in recent years has highlighted the existence of gaps and short comings in the existing legislation. A series of devastating fires in central Australia in 2011 drew attention to limitations in the legislative framework for effectively managing periods of unusually high fire danger.


In January 2014 the Department of Land Resource Management commenced a review of the
Bushfires Act which continued over the following 24 months. The review was built on a foundation of extensive consultation with stakeholders, particularly targeting those Territorians living and working in rural and remote areas, including 28 meetings and public forums. Additionally, discussion and recommendation papers were published online, and hard copies of both documents were sent directly to over 250 stakeholders. Thirty-one written submissions were received from this process and provided extensive, informative and astute input into development of the bill.

Since becoming Minister for Land Resource Management I have also taken the opportunity to further this consultation. As the member for Daly, I have a particular interest in bushfire management and proudly support the 13 volunteer bushfire brigades that operate within my electorate. In my capacity as local member I met with senior representatives from these brigades to hear their views about local fire management priorities and the development of this bill.


Following this meeting I released the draft Bushfires Management Bill for a three week public comment period. As part of this process I also arranged for an independent fire management expert to attend a further 10 public meetings on the bill and provide me with an assessment of the consultation comments received. The comments from these meetings led to several minor amendments to the bill, and were the final stage of a very thorough two-year community engagement process.


Broadly, the feedback from the consultation called for some key principles in the legislation to be retained and for some areas to be modified and strengthened, particularly with regard to the roles of Bushfires NT and other stakeholders. There were also strong calls for additional matters to be addressed, particularly around planning and mitigation. Every effort has been made to accommodate the views of rural and remote communities in this bill.


Key parts of the current act have stood the test of time and served the Territory well. There is no proposal to change the advisory structure or the key principles of a land owner being responsible for fire on their land.
This bill modernises and builds on the strengths of the existing legislation. It also draws on contemporary trends and approaches to fire management in other jurisdictions, and combines these with the successful bushfire management arrangements that have evolved in the Territory in recent years. It provides a custom framework designed to address the unique challenges of bushfire management in the Territory, while also addressing the gaps that have been identified in the existing act.


Fire is an ever present component of the Territory landscape. Most landscapes are well adapted to fire. Indeed, many require regular fire events for renewal and rejuvenation of native vegetation and to prevent the accumulation of dangerous fuel loads. Historically fire has been considered by most Territorians to be normal and unremarkable, and has rarely been seen as a threat to community safety or commerce.


The new legislation recognises the importance of fire in the environment, and it use both traditional and current approaches to land management. A point of difference between this legislation and bushfire-related legislation in many other jurisdictions is it focuses on planning and fire management rather than just fire exclusion.


The period since the act was introduced has seen significant changes in fire management challenges in some areas. Expansion rural living and other development in peri-urban areas, along with the spread of high-risk fuels such as gamba grass, have greatly increased the risk posed by bushfires in these areas. This has, in line with community expectations, required the development of a sophisticated wildfire response capacity.


Larger and more complex responses and suppression operations, a growing emphasis on centralised command structure, increased use of water-bombing aircraft and more extensive incident and fire ground management have become the norm in high-risk areas. The new legislation continue to provide the powers necessary for government employees and others to participate in response, and for government employees to determine the appropriate nature and scale of responses to significant fires. The increasing threat posed by bushfires has led to greater emphasis on planning and mitigation, and the benefits of coordinated actions and regional planning have come into greater focus.


In recent years government has implemented a range of programs designed to improved preparedness and mitigation, but most of these have been one-off initiatives that are not encompassed by the existing legislative framework.
The new legislation establishes a planning and mitigation framework across all of the Territory. It focuses on engagement with landowners and is designed to unlock the potential benefits of coordinated and strategic regional planning, and introduces a formal role for regional committees in regional planning and requires that all of the Territory will be supported by a series of regional bushfire management plans. These regional plans are guiding rather than prescriptive, and so do not create burdensome responsibilities for landowners.


There is capacity, in circumstances where a significant risk of life or property has been identified, to prescribe mitigation actions in an area or on an individual property. This will only be possible following a detailed risk assessment process involving consultation with affected landowners and other stakeholders. In circumstances where a landowner, through failure to comply with a prescribed plan, continues to present a significant risk to others, it will ultimately be possible to enforce compliance with a prescribed property fire management plan.


The current act provides for the establishment of volunteer bushfire brigades, and the 22 existing brigades provide the bulk of the mitigation and firefighting workforce, especially in the high-risk areas of rural residential development. There are currently over 1000 registered volunteers including over 250 qualified and highly-skilled active volunteer firefighters.


The new legislation allows volunteers to be appointed as authorised bushfire volunteers. This will create a formal role for volunteer firefighters in the incident management structure and allow volunteers, by participation in the chain of command, to exercise the powers necessary to take part in a bushfire response.


I am particularly proud that the creation of authorised bushfire volunteers will also confirm the specific protection from civil and criminal liabilities while undertaking firefighting duties. This is an important step in improving support for our volunteers and ensuring they are adequately protected and not exposed to unacceptable level of personal liability risk while contributing to this important community service.


The new legislation also provides authorised bushfire volunteers protection against dismissal or loss of employment benefits as a result of absence from work when requested by the Executive Director of Bushfires NT to attend large-scale high-risk wildfires. This is another important addition to the legislation that will ensure our volunteers do not suffer professional or employment loss as a result of their volunteering contribution during critical events.
As part of the rollout of the
Bushfires Management Act, I will continue to further support our volunteers through the creation of a volunteer consultative committee. I have asked for this committee to have a ministerial advisory role to ensure volunteers have a direct link to the government and that I, as minister, can provide them with appropriate support. The committee will provide advice to Bushfires NT on a variety of volunteer issues including training, recruitment and retention, volunteer health and safety, vehicle and equipment design and allocation, and appropriate standing order procedures and policy.

In summary, the
Bushfires Management Act will continue the best aspect of is preceding legislation, strengthening support for volunteers and other stakeholders, and provide a comprehensive planning and mitigation framework uniquely suited to the land and bushfire management requirements of the Northern Territory.

Madam Speaker, I commend this bill to honourable members and table the explanatory statement to accompany this bill.


 


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