Wednesday, 1 November 2023

Bushfire preparedness

Joe McCRACKEN (Western Victoria) (12:20): (332) My question is to the Minister for Emergency Services. Minister, in relation to the critically important aerial firefighting fleet in Victoria, what is the total volume of water that it can carry at capacity in this fire season, and how does that compare to last year?

Jaclyn SYMES (Northern Victoria – Attorney-General, Minister for Emergency Services) (12:21): Thank you, Mr McCracken. Aerial firefighting fleet questions just keep coming, and I –

Georgie Crozier: For good reason.

Jaclyn SYMES: But there is not a good reason, because we have procured 51 firefighting aircraft to be positioned across the state. That is one more than last year. We have surge capacity of an additional 100 aircraft that can supplement this. It comes on progressively. It responds to risks. The experts determine where they are going to go, not me. I do not direct where they sit.

A member interjected.

Jaclyn SYMES: There are plenty of experts that obviously are trying to talk to you, but I rely on the experts that I have come to know and respect. I do not know where your experts are coming from, because they are at odds with my experts, but that seems to be the feature of this topic.

Mr McCracken, I will talk to you about something that made me appreciate the fact that the aerial fleet is only one element. It is a great support for our on-the-ground firefighters, but at the recent fires in Briagolong, where we had fires and then we had a lot of rain and then we had flood warnings, the amount of water from the sky that dropped on that fire was equivalent to thousands and thousands of return trips of a helicopter and still did not put the fire out. So what is the reliance or the expectation –

Nicholas McGowan: On a point of order, President, on a question of relevance, the volume of water that was pouring from the sky was not the subject of the member’s question. It was with respect to the volume of water that the fire fleet would have this summer period.

The PRESIDENT: I have had a conversation with people who advise me, experts who advise me, around questions like this that drill into details to the litre, as to whether that poses a problem to the practices that we have and the standing orders. I will call the minister back to the question –

Georgie Crozier: On a point of order, President –

Tom McIntosh: How many gallons?

Georgie Crozier: That is a good question, Mr McIntosh. I think the point here, President, is that the minister has said there are 51 aerial –

Harriet Shing interjected.

Georgie Crozier: No, no. It goes to the point in relation to the question. It is about the capacity, so if the minister is saying there is X amount of aircraft, what is the capacity? If she does not know it, she can clearly take it on notice and come back and inform the house.

The PRESIDENT: The point that I was probably trying to get to is whether we want to get to a point where, with what would usually be asked in a question on notice, we are now in a realm where in questions without notice there is an expectation for a minister to know the actual litre capacity. The minister has answered that there are 51 aircraft, and I think that is as much as a reasonable person would expect the minister to actually know.

Jaclyn SYMES: Mr McGowan, my point in spelling out the fact that 150 millimetres of rain fell in one spot and still did not put the fire out is that it is an example of how a quantity of water is not the only thing that is a matter here. You can have the biggest plane that carries an MCG-sized container of water, but if it cannot get to where it needs to go then there is not much point. The point is having an agile fleet and having operability of the fleet. For example, we have got two large air tankers that have returned to Victoria. They carry a lot of water, but they are fast; it is good. You have got the air cranes; they are the Elvises, the orange ones. They are really cool. They have got what is called a snorkel – it is a backwards snorkel, but they call it a snorkel; it is really a straw – and it can go and suck water also from the ocean. The fact is if it could carry water but had to return to a dam then that is much more restrictive than being able to go to a fire that is on the coast. When we are talking about the ability of the fleet to respond to risk, it is about more than just how many litres. It is about where it is and what it can do. And I can assure you that you can ask all of these questions, down to the litre, at 1 pm today, because the experts will be in the building and you can ask them directly. You are all invited to a briefing at 1 pm. I am sure you have been sent the invite. It is the attestation briefing. They will talk to you about all the preparations and all of the assets they have got for this coming season.

Joe McCRACKEN (Western Victoria) (12:26): I guess the fact of the matter is that a lot of fires do not happen where it is convenient to be located; they happen in remote areas where quite often there is remote access and aeroplanes are the best way to get there. My question is: how many aircraft that operated in Victoria last year had their water capacity reduced in the fire season, and if so, why?

Jaclyn SYMES (Northern Victoria – Attorney-General, Minister for Emergency Services) (12:27): Mr McCracken, my advice is that there is no reduction in capacity in relation to last year this year.