7/27/2019 28/10/2013 ETU QLD calls for Fire Reporting Framework
for State Owned power companies.
1/1
29 Octo
Att: All General and Political report
MEDIA RELEASE
ETU calls for public power network fire reporting ahead of
bushfire season
The Electrical Trades Union today called on the LNP Government
to establish an open and transparent public
reporting framework for any fire started on the poles and wires
of the Queensland electricity network.ETU State Secretary Peter
Simpson said that such a framework could be implemented quickly and
easily in time for the
upcoming bushfire season given it already existed in Victoria
where it was established following recommendations from th
Royal Commission into the 2010 Black Saturday Bushfires.
We need to learn from what has happened in other states and be
proactive about minimising the firerisk of Queensland
electricity network as much as possible and a fire reporting
framework where the time, date, location and cause of any firein
the electricity distribution system are required to be publically
reported to the federal regulator is essential.
Data from the Victorian F-Factor Scheme, which is published by
the Australian Energy Regulator, reveals that 638 fires wer
started on the state electricity network in 2012.
In my view it is no co-incidence that following privatisation of
the energy industry in Victoria, a lack of proper network
maintenance and inspection was found to be a major issue for
concern and ended up being the subject of strong
recommendations of the Royal Commission which has led to the
current Victorian fire reporting framework.
Frankly if the Government was serious about maximising the
safety of our networks for both workers and the public they
would have already moved on this. Instead, as we found out last
week, they have been busy pushing ahead with secret plato privatise
by commissioning reports from investment bankers.
The accusation comes as it was revealed in the press that
Government-owned Powerlink, the high voltage network
transmission company worth around $10 Billion, was set for sale.
These revelations come hot on the heels of mass
redundancies across Queenslands government owned electricity
companies and ETU warnings about cutbacks in vegetati
management and maintenance measures that are crucial to ensuring
safety before, during and after storms and fires.
We calculated that around 80% of power outages in SEQ last year
(2012) were vegetation related, and recent major outag
in FNQ have been vegetation related as well. Things like
branches across power lines, trees too close to lines etc. many
of
these incidents could have been avoided had it not been for the
axing of hundreds of frontline vegetation management jo
across Queensland and the $10s of millions slashed from
vegetation management budgets since Sept 2012.
Since taking office the LNP has sacked 1500 workers across the
state owned energy industry, these are the workers t hat
maintain the network and keep our lights on after natural
disasters. Privatisation and job cuts put profits before people
an
that is exactly what the government has shown through its
reckless actions.
For Further comment or information contact: Stuart Traill (State
Organiser) 0488 225 625 or Andrew Irvine (ETU Media
Officer) 0448 633 858
