No. 47

$101,000 to review strategic bushfire 
management plan  

The ACT Strategic Bushfire Management Plan (SBMP) will be reviewed two years after its launch in the Territory.

Minister for Police and Emergency Services Simon Corbell today announced $101,000 funding for the review of the document and production of version two of the SBMP.

“The SBMP was created to adopt a strategic approach to bushfire management in the ACT,” Mr Corbell said.

“This involves robust partnerships and shared responsibilities between the community, land managers and the ACT Emergency Services Agency.

“The integrated approach of the SBMP has already provided significantly more effective capacity to mitigate the risk of major fires for the past two bushfire seasons in the ACT.

“Creation of the SBMP was a recommendation of the McLeod Report into the January 2003 bushfires and became a requirement of the legislation governing the operation of emergency services in the Territory.”

Mr Corbell said the SBMP had been a key planning document for ESA since its launch in January 2005.

“The revision of the SBMP will ensure that bushfire management is integrated with existing and future plans for the ACT,” he said.

The implementation of a revised version would shape the strategic direction of bushfire risk mitigation in the ACT in the medium to long term. Version two will include:
•	the framework for an audit and compliance system for hazard reduction works;
•	the guidelines for an improved operational response capability; and
•	the prescriptions for undertaking more frequent and broad scale hazard reduction operations in Namadgi National Park and the Brindabella ranges.

“Review of the SBMP and the creation of version two will be conducted by the ESA in consultation with all stakeholders and the community,” Mr Corbell said.