Inquiry into Bushfires in Australia
Information about the Inquiry
On 12 May 2009 the Senate referred the following matters to the Senate Select Committee on Agricultural and Related Industries for inquiry and report.
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; and
(l) insurance against bushfires.
Submissions should be received by 31 July 2009. The reporting date is 26 November 2009. On 26 November 2009,the Senate granted an extension of time for reporting until 30 June 2010.
On 22 June 2010, the Senate granted a further extension of time for
reporting until 13 August 2010.
The Committee is seeking written submissions from interested individuals and organisations preferably in electronic form submitted online or sent by email to agriculture.sen@aph.gov.au as an attached Adobe PDF or MS Word format document. The email must include full postal address and contact details.
Alternatively, written submissions may be sent to:
Committee Secretary
Senate Select Committee on Agricultural and Related Industries
PO Box 6100
Parliament House
Canberra ACT 2600
Australia
Notes to help you prepare your submission are available from the website at https://www.aph.gov.au/senate/committee/wit_sub/index.htm. Alternatively, the Committee Secretariat will be able to help you with your inquiries and can be contacted on telephone +61 2 6277 3511 or facsimile +61 2 6277 5811 or by email to agriculture.sen@aph.gov.au.
Inquiries from hearing and speech impaired people should be directed to Parliament House TTY number 02 6277 7799. Adobe also provides tools at http://access.adobe.com/ for the blind and visually impaired to access PDF documents. If you require any special arrangements to enable you to participate in the Committee's inquiry, please contact the Committee Secretariat.
Once the Committee accepts your submission, it becomes a confidential Committee document and is protected by Parliamentary Privilege. You must not release your submission without the Committee's permission. If you do, it will not be protected by Parliamentary Privilege. At some stage during the inquiry, the Committee normally makes submissions public and places them on its website. Please indicate if you want your submission to be kept confidential.
For further information, contact: Committee Secretary
Senate Select Committee on Agricultural and Related Industries
PO Box 6100
Parliament House
Canberra ACT 2600
Australia