Senate Inquiry into Bushfires

Greetings Everyone,

Below is the details and terms of reference for a Senate inquiry into Bushfires in Australia. This should compliment the gaps that will likely be left in the Royal Commission for the chronic state of the environment due to political nest feathering for green preferances. This green lunicy of using the environment as a political football has now killed people and destroyed large tracts of our environment.

I would urge people to put in a submission, as so far the Federal bushfire enquiry after 2003 was the best.

Regards Ralph Barraclough

http://www.aph.gov.au/senate/committee/agric_ctte/bushfires/index.htm

Inquiry into Bushfires in Australia

Terms of Reference

On 12 May 2009, the Senate referred the following matter to the Select Committee on Agricultural and Related Industries for inquiry and report on 26 November 2009:
The incidence and severity of bushfires across Australia, including:

a.   the impact of bushfires on human and animal life, agricultural land, the environment, public and private assets and local communities;

b.   factors contributing to the causes and risks of bushfires across Australia, including natural resource management policies, hazard reduction and agricultural land maintenance;

c.   the extent and effectiveness of bushfire mitigation strategies and practices, including application of resources for agricultural land, national parks, state forests, other Crown land, open space areas adjacent to development and private property and the impact of hazard reduction strategies;

d.   the identification of measures that can be undertaken by government, industry and the community and the effectiveness of these measures in protecting agricultural industries, service industries, small business, tourism and water catchments;

e.   any alternative or developmental bushfire prevention and mitigation approaches which can be implemented;

f.   the appropriateness of planning and building codes with respect to land use in the bushfire prone regions;

g.    the adequacy and funding of fire-fighting resources both paid and voluntary and the usefulness of and impact on on-farm labour;

h.   the role of volunteers;

i.   the impact of climate change;

j.   fire – its causes (accidental, natural and deliberate) and remedies;

k.    the impact of bushfires on biodiversity and measures to protect biodiversity;

l.    and insurance against bushfires.

The committee invites written submissions, which should be lodged by 31 July 2009.
Electronic submissions can be lodged at agriculture.sen@aph.gov.au or sent by mail to:
The Secretary

Senate Select Committee on Agricultural and Related Industries PO Box 6100 Parliament House CANBERRA ACT 2600

Please not that submissions become committee documents and are only made public after a decision by the committee. Persons making submissions must not release them without the committee’s prior approval. Submissions are covered by parliamentary privilege but the unauthorised release of them is not.

Following consideration of submissions, the committee is proposing to hold public hearings. The committee will consider all submissions and may invite individuals and organisations to give evidence at the public hearings.

Inquiries from hearing and speech impaired people should be directed to the Parliament House TTY number  (02) 6277 7799 . Adobe also provides tools for the blind and visually impaired to access PDF documents. These tools are available at: http://access.adobe.com/. If you require any special arrangements in order to enable you to participate in a committee inquiry, please contact the committee secretary.

For further information, contact:

Committee Secretary
Senate Select Committee on Agricultural and Related Industries PO Box 6100 Parliament House Canberra ACT 2600 Australia
Phone:  +61 2 6277 3511  
Fax: +61 2 6277 5811 
Email: agriculture.sen@aph.gov.au