President of the Association of Volunteer Bushfire Brigades WA Dave Gossage said the group was pleased with the attention the new state government had placed on rural bushfire prevention, but said a lot more needed to be done to reach previous levels of control.
“We are very pleased that one of the first media statements published by our new government recognises the importance of prescribed burning,” Mr Gossage said, referring to environment minister Stephen Dawson’s release on burn-off results.
“The AVBFB has argued for a number of years that the current bureaucracy in control of more than a third of a billion dollars’ worth of tax-payers’ money has given too high a priority to the ‘response’ aspect of emergency management and not enough on the ‘prevention’ and ‘preparation’ phases.
“Minister Dawson’s announcement that this is the best result in 29 years is very positive but it also confirms just how far behind we have fallen as a consequence of under-investment in bushfire preparedness.”
Mr Gossage reiterated the AVBFB’s view bush firefighting agencies require more support from the state government, namely though the Emergency Services Levy.
“It is critical that a higher portion of the $333 million Emergency Services Levy (ESL) collected annually by Local Governments gets back to help prevent bushfires in areas of particularly high fuel load,” he said.
“Quite simply, we need better resourcing of those with specialist knowledge of bushfires – local bush fire brigades and the Department of Parks and Wildlife – to ensure appropriate local response.
“Although we don’t want to detract from the minister’s key message of ‘prevention is vital’, it is important to recognise that the lack of investment in preparedness is the result of not having a dedicated, independent rural fire service like most other states in the country.
“While we have a city-centric bureaucracy in charge of the funding, it is unlikely that the needs of local communities and conditions on the ground will ever be properly understood, let alone adequately funded,” Mr Gossage said.