Colin Boyce (Flynn, Liberal National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I'd like to start this speech by thanking our firefighters and the SES and everybody who's been working hard to keep Australian property and people safe in the Flynn electorate and across Australia. Over the last couple of weeks, we've seen fires burning through all different parts of our region, including the Central Highlands and the Gladstone, Bundaberg, Banana, Rockhampton and Burnett regions. As a nation, we need to be more proactive, rather than just reactive. All too often we've seen clean-up after clean-up after fires have burned through communities, yet the governments of the day have not implemented tangible solutions.

The first issue is our substandard telecommunications system. I was recently contacted by local firefighters, explaining the challenges of the inadequate telecommunications systems that our emergency services are forced to struggle with on a daily base in these situations. They said that at the time they were facing huge fire seasons and fires already raging throughout much of Queensland. They'd been listening to fire com conversations, as there were other crews working on firegrounds. All too often, operators could not hear the transmissions due to poor phone services. We've also seen many volunteer firefighters banned from battling blazes due to blue card requirements imposed by the Queensland government.

Previous and recent bushfires have highlighted the fact that the management of our state owned national parks and lands and forests have been severely lacking. I echoed these comments previously as the state member for Flynn and I will continue to do so as the federal member for Flynn. For many years there's been little or no maintenance of firebreaks and access roads to and from these places. There's not been enough managed maintenance burning to reduce fire loads in our Crown lands and parks, which has added to the ferocity and devastation that these fires cause.

We have much to learn from these events, and this is why we need to be proactive. It is a prime example of local residents understanding their local communities and the bureaucrats in Brisbane and Canberra having little or no idea. There are too many bureaucrats in offices with no practical knowledge of firefighting. There are too many bureaucrats in offices mismanaging our state owned lands. This is a case of the farmer getting it right and the bureaucrats getting it wrong.

The vegetation management laws legislated in Queensland are unworkable and do not help or protect the environment. Look what has happened with these fires recently. They have destroyed vegetation, wildlife, property, infrastructure, grazing land and the environment. It is the farmers who are the real environmentalists. They are the frontline firefighters, and the bureaucrats would do better to try and understand this.