Minister urges Commonwealth to expedite legislation for early warning system
Western Australian Police and Emergency Services Minister Rob Johnson has called on the Commonwealth to expedite legislative changes for an early warning emergency alert system to be used during bushfires or other community crises.
Mr Johnson said he wrote to Federal Attorney-General Robert McClelland yesterday following concerns that communities were not adequately covered by such a system.
The Minister said Western Australia had led the nation in developing the technology for the early warning system and had been pressing the Commonwealth for the necessary legislative changes for several years, which would allow the system necessary access to the Integrated Public Number Database (IPND) or 'electronic phonebook'.
Mr Johnson said the Fire and Emergency Services Authority (FESA) and WA Police had jointly pioneered an innovative telephone warning system - StateAlert - which was ready to use, but required amendments to the Federal Telecommunications Act to operate.
"While the Federal Government recently agreed that it would progress those amendments, I wrote to the Federal Attorney-General yesterday asking him to act immediately to amend this legislation to enable WA and other States and Territories to introduce early warning alert systems, like StateAlert," he said.
The Minister said StateAlert could send voice and/or SMS messages and warnings directly to affected communities to warn people of impending danger.
He said the system would automatically ring all fixed (landline) phones, including silent numbers in a defined geographical area, but also offered the public additional opt-in options to receive text and voice messages via mobile, fax, RSS and email, including up to three separate addresses.
Mr Johnson said for the system to operate, it required Commonwealth legislative approval to access the central database of telephone information (IPND), which linked numbers and geographical addresses.
Without access to the IPND, the system could not be further tested and launched.
"FESA and the WA Police have been urging the Federal Government to provide access to the IPND since StateAlert was developed in 2005," he said.
"In March 2007, StateAlert was tested successfully on a limited basis in a regional town and the State has been seeking access to the IPND since this time
"I understand the WA system is also cheaper than an alternative Telstra system and that other States have expressed an interest in StateAlert.
"StateAlert costs about $400,000 to develop compared to a multi-million dollar price tag for the Telstra system."
Mr Johnson said he did not want to politicise the issue and fully acknowledged that the former Minister for Emergency Services had also raised the matter with the Commonwealth.
"I recognise this is a complex matter that needs to be worked through carefully," he said.
"This is not about political point-scoring. We need a bipartisan political approach and a unified State, Territory and Commonwealth commitment to these very important issues.
"All of us have a common goal to adopting the best systems to help protect our communities as quickly and effectively as possible and I hope the Federal Attorney-General can give our request urgent consideration."
Minister's office: 9222 9211