[no bill text published] NSW Ownership Requirements for Fire Fighting Equipment Bought with Rural Fire Fighting Fund Money

Rural Fires Amendment (Red Fleet) Bill 2023

Opposition Bill

12 Oct 2023: This bill has lapsed and is no longer under discussion.

Legislative Assembly

Legislative Council

Assent

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Topics

emergency services equipment ownership fire fighting equipment rural fire service

Introduced by: Adam Marshall (NAT)

Links to official parliament websites

Official page: progress through parliament

Official page: bill text and explanatory notes

Effects of this bill

If this bill passes, it means that:

The Commissioner now owns fire fighting equipment bought wholly or partly with Rural Fire Fighting Fund money
Local councils no longer own this equipment
The Commissioner no longer needs a council's agreement to use this equipment
The law removes rules about how councils maintain or dispose of this equipment

The Debate

What different members said when this bill was debated:

Ron Hoenig ALP

“Earlier in debate on the Rural Fires Amendment (Red Fleet) Bill 2023 I was dealing with the structure of the Rural Fire Service. I effectively summarised by saying that the Rural Fire Service is made up of local independent associations of people historically defending their own communities with their own assets, not occurring with some vast bureaucracy in headquarters in Sydney.”

Official source →

Gurmesh Singh NAT

“With the greatest respect to the member for Heffron, those guys who make apps to help people fall asleep will have to work hard to top that contribution. The Minister highlighted quite a few issues and I took some notes during his reply. One of those issues was that at least 26 years ago when the Act came into force, local government wanted the changes and that is why they are in the Act.”

Official source →

Jihad Dib ALP

“I contribute to debate on the Rural Fires Amendment (Red Fleet) Bill 2023. At the outset, I thank the Minister for Local Government, who led for the Government in debate on the bill. We have joint responsibility for the matters covered in the bill. The bill relates to my responsibilities as Minister for Emergency Services.”

Official source →

News articles and press releases

Rural Fires Amendment (Red Fleet) Bill 2023

Mr ADAM MARSHALL, Member for Northern Tablelands — 2023-09-14

It is very small; it occupies less than a quarter of an A4 page. The bill simply amends section 119 of the Rural Fires Act 1997 to achieve one purpose: to transfer the ownership of all assets—firefighting apparatus, buildings, water storage and lookout towers as defined in the Act—to the Rural Fire Service. The bill makes the following three amendments: