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Thursday, 1 November 2012
Page: 8772

Senator BACK (Western Australia—Deputy Opposition Whip in the Senate) (12:30): I, and also on behalf of Senator Humphries, move:

That, in advance of the 10th anniversary of the devastating Canberra bushfires which occurred on 18 January 2003, the Senate:

(a) reflects on the 2003 House of Representatives report A Nation Charred, recommending measures to be implemented by governments, industry and the community to minimise the incidence of bushfires and their impact on life, property and the environment following the January 2003 bushfires, and notes that the report included 59 recommendations, many of which have not been implemented;

(b) recalls:

   (i) the Black Saturday bushfires in Victoria on 6February 2009, said to be 'the worst day in the history of the State', and

   (ii) the subsequent 2009 Victorian Bushfires Royal Commission which made 67 recommendations, 35 of which have been implemented with progress being made by the State Government to address the remaining recommendations;

(c) notes the 2010 Select Committee on Agriculture and Related Industries report, The incidence and severity of bushfires across Australia, which made 15 recommendations, of which only five were supported by government and four accepted in principle, but only one of which has been implemented; and

(d) acknowledges the invaluable work of the Bushfires Cooperative Research Centre in working to minimise the threat of devastating bushfires to both urban and natural environments across Australia.

Question agreed to.