Subject/s: National aerial firefighting fleet
FEDERAL MEMBER FOR MACQUARIE SUSAN TEMPLEMAN: Good morning, everybody, I’m Susan Templeman, the Federal Member for Macquarie and we are here in the Macquarie electorate at the amazing Richmond RAAF base. I’m really pleased to have the Minister for Emergency Management here to make an announcement about support for people in the disaster season, the extreme weather season that we have coming. Hopefully not a disaster season. We’re also joined by the NSW RFS as well as NEMA. I just want to paint a picture of what we are looking at here, particularly locally. Not far from us are the beautiful Blue Mountains. But of course, they are one of the most fire prone places on the planet. And we know that every season is a season to be prepared for and be concerned about. There is a veneer of greenness across some of the region around Sydney, but it doesn’t take long for that to change. And so the message for people as always as we get to November is please get your home ready in case there is a fire. But of course we are here at the RAAF base because an extraordinary fleet of fire fighting planes and helicopters, huge aircraft fleet, has been established here over time. This is the 16th year, I understand, that the RAAF base has hosted aviation for the season. And it gets bigger every year thanks to the investment by the Federal Government and the NSW Government and other states. So it is very pleasing to be here today to talk about how we are preparing for what might be the season ahead. I’ll hand over to the Minister.
MINISTER FOR EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT KRISTY MCBAIN: Thank you Susan. It’s a real pleasure and an honour to be here again at RAAF Base Richmond. Each year we engage a range of aerial firefighting craft, through the states and territories, but also nationally. The National Aerial Firefighting Centre contracts close to 170 aircraft, which are prepositioned across the country. We have supplemented that with the aerial firefighting fleet that the federal government pays for. We want to announce today that through our Federal Budget we have initiated $150 million over the next three years to ensure that Australians always have this capability available to them when they need it. As we enter Higher Risk Weather Season, we know that Australians need to be prepared and we know our emergency services agencies need to have the best capability available to them. So the five nationally contracted aircraft, of which some are behind me at the moment, as well as the near 170 that are contracted nationally, make sure that Australians, no matter what event they are facing, have aerial capability. The important part about our aerial capability now is not only does it deal with fires, but also with evacuations, resupply when isolated communities are cut off, animal welfare like emergency fodder drops. We’ve made sire this fleet is fit for every event that may impact Australians’ lives over this next higher risk weather season. Can I acknowledge too that the emergency services workers who will be out during this season do just such an incredible job. Many of them going into danger when other Australians are trying to evacuate from it. We know now is the time to be prepared, to understand your evacuation plan, and to get ready for the season ahead. And that includes getting your property ready. So I want to thank Australians for the work they’re going to undertake over the next couple of weeks to make sure they are prepared for the next high risk weather season. Thanks again to the emergency services workers who will be out this higher risk weather season, making sure Australians are looked after in their time of need. And again to reiterate the government support - for emergency services agencies, for state and territories, for those who are impacted, we will be there to support you, not only in response, but in the long tail of recovery.
NEMA INTERIM COORDINATOR GENERAL PATRICK HETHERINGTON: Over the last few months NEMA has been working with our colleagues in the states and territories in preparation for the higher risk weather season. In early September we brought together over 300 people from the emergency services sector, community sector, industry and local government, to get our plans in order for the season ahead. Through a series of scenario-based exercises we tested our plans and capabilities against the hazards we are most likely to see in the upcoming season. Subsequently NEMA has met with all of our jurisdictional counterparts across every state and territory. We’ve spoken with emergency services across all locations, to understand their level of preparedness and to talk about the level of support that can be offered by the federal government in the event of an emergency. The government has also invested heavily in capabilities like the National Emergency Management Stockpile and AusAlert, our new national messaging system. And finally, with the government’s investment of $150 million in national aerial firefighting capability, we are confident that we have the aircraft we need for this season and the seasons ahead. That includes the five national aircraft, one of which is this C130 behind me. Taking all of that together, we are confident that we are ready for this season ahead and we are ready to support the community when emergencies arise.
NSW RFS COMMISSIONER TRENT CURTIN: We are own here today at RAAF Base Richmond, which is an amazing relationship that fire services in Australia, the NSW Rural Fire Service, has had for the last 16 years. Together here with our partners in aviation Australia we have established a key strategic east coast large air tanker base here at RAAF Base Richmond. This gives us the capability to deploy large air tankers across NSW and right across the eastern seaboard of Australia. We’re expecting to se some dangerous conditions this summer. We’ve seen dry and hot conditions in various parts of the country and communities can be under threat. We’re expecting homes to once again be under threat and lives to be at risk. What we’ll have is large air tankers, supported by this new investment from the Australian Government, to support states and territories with existing aviation firefighting fleets, to protect communities in their time of need. This C130 behind me has 15000 litres of retardant on board. When a fire gets up and running fast through the bush towards homes and our communities, these large air tankers do an amazing job to bring fire power, to drop retardant on fires, to protect communities and to look after our firefighters.
