Press Conference - NSW RFS Headquarters
29 December 2019
PRIME MINISTER: ...Commissioner Fitzsimmons. Can I thank both of you for the extraordinary job that you've been doing in what has been a very difficult fire season here in New South Wales, starting early and very prolonged. Can I also thank all of those who continue to be out there today, who have been out there over the Christmas period, in particular. Can I also say that that is occuring, of course, here in New South Wales but in more recent times we've also seen this threat extend into South Australia, where I was earlier this week and we're seeing a real difficult situation emerging in Victoria. We know of the weather conditions are particularly challenging over the next few days, which will see not only those very severe conditions here in New South Wales, but also in South Australia and Victoria and in Tasmania. Being a New South Welshman, I’m obviously very focused on the terrible events that have been occurring here. But I want to assure those Australians outside of New South Wales that the challenges that they're facing and their states, as was the case up in Queensland earlier in the season, that our attention is equally there and ensuring that the coordinated effort across states and territories is being put in place.
So I want to thank all of those and as the messages and I’m sure the Commissioner and the Premier, when they speak, will go into what we can expect over the next few days. Stay safe, check the information. The information provision that is being provided at a state level through the incredible communications efforts they're making. But also, I've got to say, when I visited the incident response centres, the local messaging that is taking place in each of the communities, whether it's out in Mudgee or down in south western Sydney or the south coast or earlier in the year up in Taree and Wauchope and places has just been extraordinary, the efforts that have been undertaken to ensure people are informed of what's going on. The Premier advised me that, last night was it Gladys, that meeting down south coast and I want to thank all those community members for just the very good natured, patient way that they're engaging in receiving that information and making decisions.
Today, having received a request from the New South Wales government and working closely with the Commissioner here and the Premier and, of course, the Minister for Emergency Services here in New South Wales. Earlier in the week, the Minister raised the Commissioner's request that we consider looking at the issue of income loss here in New South Wales, and we have been working on this for some time. The Commonwealth has been working up various options and, importantly, taking our lead from those who are directly responsible for fighting these fires and that is Shane. That's the Commissioner. And taking advice on the priorities from our states as to where this effort should go and how it should be targeted has been very important as this is a very prolonged fire season. This is putting additional demands on our firefighters, in particular, and it means that the turn outs and call outs have been far more extensive than in previous years, going well and beyond and above what is normally expected of those who are engaged in volunteer service. I've got to say, particularly when I've been out outside the cities and seen the impact, particularly in rural communities, on farmers who are dealing with drought during the day and dealing with fires at night and through the afternoon. This is obviously having a very big impact. So we have carefully worked through how best to deal with the issue of income loss that has been suffered as a result of people stepping up to defend their communities and work shoulder to shoulder with those who are seeking to put an end to these fires as quickly as they possibly can.
We have drawn on previous experience that have been put in place by the Commonwealth on early one-off occasions. And we have developed, I would argue, a more targeted and even more extensive response. What the Commonwealth will be doing together with the states who will administer the payments, is to be providing payments for income lost by firefighters, rural fire service volunteers here in New South Wales, that will be paid with a maximum of up to $6,000 per individual. It will be paid at a maximum rate of $300 per day, depending on what the income loss is for those individuals. It will be a non-taxable payment. So obviously, the the the gross level, if you are looking at your earnings, is much higher than $300. It’s about $420 or thereabouts of what they would otherwise have been earning on a gross basis during that time. It is retrospective for this financial year. So for all of those who are already called out, particularly up in those mid coast and north coast fires that we saw earlier in the season, they will be also able to make a claim through the New South Wales state government to access that payment.
What this basically equates to is around 20 days of emergency services paid leave for self-employed people and for people working for small and medium size employers. That represents about 60 per cent nationally of people who work in this country and have employers and this will be supported through those direct payments on application. I should stress this isn't about paying volunteers for turning out the fires. That's not what this is about. The volunteer arrangements that exist, not just here in New South Wales but all across the country, are incredibly important. What this is doing is recognising that in extreme cases like we've seen here in New South Wales and on advice from the Commissioner, it is necessary to ensure that we can provide this safety net for income loss to ensure that he is in a position to continue to call out this volunteer force and for them to be able to be there on an ongoing basis without suffering ongoing financial loss. This is about helping fight the fires. We will still always have volunteers who will go out and selflessly volunteer, and that is crucial to our firefighting effort, whether it be here in New South Wales or in any other state or territory where these calls are being made. This is about addressing the issue of income lost to enable those, and I would say particularly in rural and regional areas, to farmers, to tradies, to contractors and to others who have been called out day after day after day because the fire has been literally lapping at their back door on many occasions and they've gone out to serve their community.
So I particularly want to thank the Premier. I want to thank Minister Elliott as well for having raised that on behalf of the Commissioner earlier. And I want to thank the state government for working really closely with us to make sure we get this right. I don't do things in any knee-jerk way. I carefully consider what the issue is, what needs to be addressed, how you can best target the measure to get the best response and to work consultatively with those who are working on the ground to make sure that it works. Now, I should also stress that this same payment will be available to other states and territories of premiers and ministers who wish to initiate that with the Commonwealth. Obviously, the situation in New South Wales is more extreme than it has been in the other states and territories. But I've spoken to the other premiers and spoke to the Queensland Premier in particular last night, and I expect that we'll have a conversation soon about these matters. I'm pleased that the situation in Queensland has significantly improved. But that doesn't mean that those who suffered income loss also earlier in the year in Queensland shouldn't be entitled to the same level of support and recognition of that service. And I’m sure we’ll work through quickly on that. But in this case, we are working specifically with New South Wales at the direct request of the Commissioner. I want to thank him again for raising these issues and as issues continue to be raised, we'll continue to make decisions. We'll continue to make responses. Earlier this week, as you know, I announced the four weeks emergency service leave for all Commonwealth Public Service employees. We also now have new arrangements with our Defence Force to lean in more directly, particularly at the local level, to ensure that Defence Force support has been provided at the local level. And now we’ve taken this decision. They’ve been taken calmly. They've been getting the policy details right and working consultatively. I’ll hand over to the Premier.
THE HON. GLADYS BEREJIKLIAN MP, PREMIER OF NSW: Thank you, Prime Minister. Can I start by thanking you and your government for the support you provided you New South Wales during what has been a very difficult and exceptional fire season. And I want to stress as well, echoing the Prime Minister's comments, this is not paying volunteers. It is covering their financial loss, it's making sure that people don't go backwards, it’s making sure there's food on the table. And it's also making sure, given what is likely to be an ongoing, prolonged fire season, that people volunteer with a confidence insurance that will be covered if they have to take more time off work or if I have to stop their business running. So this is to give all of our amazing volunteers the confidence, the surety, to keep doing what they do on behalf of all of us and we can't thank them enough. And it's not to pay them, but it's to compensate them. It’s to make sure they don’t go backwards, they’re not suffering a financial loss on themselves or their families enduring additional hardship on top of what is a very stressful. So I want to again thank the Prime Minister and the Commonwealth for supporting New South Wales in this measure. We want to ensure that nobody goes backwards and suffers unnecessary hardship because they’re putting their life and property on hold to support others and to keep people alive and to keep properties. And we are assuming that this season will be prolonged this year. The weather conditions aren’t easing and we appreciate that for many firefighters who have been there since July, we're asking them to keep going. We're asking them to keep going further on to what will be, as I said, a prolonged fire season. But it's also a timely opportunity for us to thank every single person who has put themselves in harms way to protect others. Again, today, New South Wales, as the Commissioner will update, there are over 80 fires still burning. 40 of them uncontained. A couple thousand volunteers out there in the field today as we speak. And to each and every one of those, we say to you please do not worry about what’s happening at home and in your business. We are here to support you and cover you and I thank Commonwealth Government for their efforts in supporting New South Wales. New South Wales will continue to put an unprecedented amount of resources into this fire season and include our emergency services personnel, both paid and volunteers, to make sure they have the best equipment available, the best resources available, to keep all of us safe. And for that we are grateful.
SHANE FITZSIMMONS, RFS COMMISSIONER: Can I just start by thanking the Premier and the Prime Minister for today's announcement. There is no doubt that this will this will provide comfort. This will provide a security net to ensure that volunteers are not disadvantaged or going through loss of income as a result of their extraordinary and ongoing commitment. I would also acknowledge that speaking with the President of the Rural Fire Service Association, the representative body for volunteers across New South Wales. He too and his organisation welcomes today's announcement. It's a sensible, it's a considered and most importantly, particularly for the extraordinary commitment that's been going on now for many months up in northern New South Wales and extending much further afield, it's retrospective. So it ensures that we capture the interests and the conditions of volunteers that have been committed now for a long period of time throughout this entire season. So thank you very much for your support and for making today's announcement. It will go a long way to ensuring the ethos of volunteers, volunteering for the want of nothing more in return than to making a difference. They don't want to be paid. That's the message I'm getting loud and clear. But to ensure that there is no hardship or adversity as a result of that volunteering commitment, today's announcement will certainly provide that surety and that confidence and that safety net for volunteers, particularly those that are self-employed or in small or medium business.
As the Premier indicated, things continue to be extremely busy across New South Wales. But we've still got 80 fires and and just under 40 of those are still not contained. We've got some deteriorating weather conditions over the coming days, particularly Monday and worsening through to Tuesday. Tomorrow, we can start expecting to see some fairly widespread severe conditions, particularly down through the southern half of New South Wales, the south eastern quadrant of the state. And those conditions will then intensify as we head into Tuesday with not just widespread severe that will extend from the south east corner of the state, right up through our central west and through the Hunter and places like that. We can also expect a broad geographic area of extreme fire danger ratings, which will extend through places like the Southern Ranges, the Illawarra South Coast and probably down through to the Monaro area, down through through the high country.
We continue to have fires of considerable focus across those 80 fire grounds, the large complex of fire north west of Sydney, the Gospers Mountain fire, the Grose River fire, and those fire complexes spreading from effectively Blue Mountains all the way up through the through the Hunter Valley there towards Singleton and Muswellbrook and right out to the west to places like Rylstone, Capertee, Ilford and communities along the the Castlereagh Highway. We've also got the fire south west of Sydney in the Green Wattle Creek fire, which effectively extends now from Mittagong down the Picton area all the way through out towards Jenolan Caves along the Wombeyan Caves Road and then back up back into the back end of the Blue Mountains around the Megalong Valley and Katoomba area. And of course, we've got the large fire on the south coast, which effectively now stretches from the Batemans Bay region right up to the Nowra area and out west to places like Nerriga. And over the last couple of days, instability in the afternoon, dry lightning storms, thunderstorm activity, has resulted in a number of new ignitions, some of which were escalated in their warning alert levels yesterday, including a fire that got to the emergency warning alert level yesterday afternoon just to the west of Tumut and Adelong down there south of the Hume Highway. So unfortunately, we are expecting more thunderstorm activity this afternoon, more dry lightning activity. So there is every prospect of new fires as we head into the deteriorating weather conditions over the coming days. The work of the crews in the field, the incident management teams, the personnel on the ground, whether it be firefighters, machinery operators or aircraft in the air, their work on establishing and consolidating containment lines ahead of the deteriorating weather conditions over the next two days have been quite remarkable in this last week, and particularly through the Christmas period. Christmas Day, Boxing Day, there were still thousands of firefighters and personnel out each day pathing up those lines and shoring up as much protection as they can to the communities along the Bells Line of Road to the end around Kurrajong Heights and Bowen Mountain. And of course, the townships of the Blue Mountains, stretching from Mount Victoria, Blackheath, Katoomba and villages further to the east.
So an extraordinary amount of work and that's being replicated right across all those fire grounds and we know we need everybody to ensure that they've got their plans. And a plan isn't just about being at home. A plan is about when you're travelling, whether you're out visiting loved ones or whether you're out taking a break somewhere, spending time with family. Have their bushfire survival plan relevant to where you are and what you're doing. Know the risk in your area, monitor the risk in your area and most importantly, be ready to act in accordance with that plan. It could make all the difference to the survivability of you, your loved ones, and, of course, your home and property.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, why has it taken so long? Many of these volunteers have spent Christmas believing that they wouldn't be compensated.
PRIME MINISTER: Well, that hasn't been the case based on today's announcement. The firefighters have the community's backing and what this announcement today demonstrator is we have their back when it comes to protecting them against income loss. It's also important to note that you don't rush in to these sorts of decisions. You carefully consider all of the implications, which is what the Government has been doing. The Commonwealth Government has been doing it around these options for some weeks now and we have been engaging closely with the state government. Now, this has been an evolving situation. When the matter was raised with the Commonwealth by the Commissioner and by the Minister, then the Commonwealth was in a position, given the work already done, to be able to proceed to put these arrangements in place. But it is very important in any disaster situation that you don’t run the Government by Twitter, you don't set up programmes by Facebook. What you do is carefully consider what you need to achieve and that's what we've done on this occasion. This is a very targeted payment. This is basically a payment that puts it at about 1.3 times average weekly ordinary time earnings in terms of how we've calculated the arrangement. And that will cover substantively and especially in rural and regional areas around the country. We've taken the time to get the balance right, to get the measure right, work closely with the state government who'll be administering the payments. We will be making the cost of the payments and I think we have arrived at the right solution.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, you said yourself that there are fires across the country. You've had conversations here in New South Wales and Queensland. Why not a national approach, given that Victoria's facing this, Western Australia, South Australia. Why not a national approach?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, this is a nationally applicable approach, but I respect the premiers. I respect the fire commissioners in each and every state and territory and I respect their judgment. And should they wish to enter in this arrangement, if they believe it's appropriate for their state and territory, then we will do so. But I'm not... I don't presume on those states and territories. They run their own shows. They know what their challenges are and their own circumstances. And I've been having these conversations with premiers now for some time and so I respect their judgment. We're there to help the states and territories as they address these crises. The states are the ones, as Premier knows all too well, who are directly responsible for the funding of their fire services and all the other things that are done. We're there to help the states and territories and where they seek our help on these types of issues where we can provide that assistance, then once again, we've demonstrated that we are very happy to do so.
JOURNALIST: With New South Wales, how many applications are you expecting? How much have you budgeted?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, we've ended into this on the expectation that other states will also enter into arrangements. And it's very difficult to cost these matters because, A, you won't know how many will apply. And at this stage, I mean, the Commissioner has rightly been focused on on each and every day in the activities rather than running spreadsheets about how many people have been out there for more than 10 days. But we've entered in this with an expectation it could cost up to $50 million in this year. It could end up costing less than that. It could end up costing more than that. But we've entered into it with that type of an understanding and I had those discussions with the Treasurer and Finance Minister and the Deputy Prime Minister and the Government is very committed to following this through. It's uncapped. So there's no budget ceiling on this. It's uncapped, it kicks in after 10 days of volunteer service. I should also stress that if people still have outstanding recreational leave, that will not be taken into account in terms of the assessment. They should have their recreational. If they have emergency services leave, well, obviously, that is leave that they can they can access and as a result wouldn't be suffering any income loss where people are taking leave without pay. And this is particularly more prominent in rural and regional areas and particularly, I’ve got to say, the self-employed. And I've spoken to quite a few who weren’t asking, but they just relayed what they've been getting about, particularly in those rural communities. And I've got to say, particularly a lot of those working on farm properties that have just selflessly been keep going. And I hope this will give them some some encouragement today and allow them to go back up and do what they've been doing now for so long.
JOURNALIST: When people apply, how long will it take for the cash to come through?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, we’ll be making a $10 million payment immediately…next month, I should say, next month, which is not too far away from here, to the New South Wales government and the state government will then be the processing those payments. But the Premier might want to add.
THE HON. GLADYS BEREJIKLIAN MP, PREMIER OF NSW: We hope to have this up and running in a matter of weeks and days. So now that the Federal Government and the Prime Minister has made this announcement we’ll ensure that from our end administrative is processed as soon as possible, and of course, we’ll also rely on the verification advice from the RFS in relation to who is eligible.
JOURNALIST: Some volunteers have now been volunteering for 100 days. I know it's not a per day payment, but it's a fifth of what some of them have already been working for. If the fire season continues into, say, February or March, will we get perhaps extending this, freezing the cap…?
THE HON. GLADYS BEREJIKLIAN MP, PREMIER OF NSW: It's important to remember, and the RFS Commissioner is i the best position to answer this, but we ensure that people are on shifts, that they’re rotated, that there's, you know, an organisation of tens of thousands of volunteers. They're backing each other up. What we particularly worry about is people who are local command chiefs or district commanders who understand their properties, understand their community and really haven't taken a backward step because they’ve wanted to be there to make sure that that local expertise is there. So I want to give everybody an assurance that the depth for the volunteers, that the size of the organisation means that there are constant shifts, people are rotated, they're given that opportunity to rest. We encourage that. But of course, this is especially for those people in the local communities who don't want to give up their post because, you know, it's a very personal thing when you're there saving your neighbor's property or people you know in your community. And we want to make sure nobody is suffering unnecessary hardship because they’re there to save their property and saving the lives of their community.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, I think the question there was if we see firefighters continuing on with these fire grounds and we're seeing some of them clear over 100, 150 days out there, could we see a further payment above this?
PRIME MINISTER: I'll ask the Commissioner to talk about how long he believes people have been out there. They’re some pretty extreme examples that you're referring to. It's not my advice that that is the common situation, that most of our RFS volunteers find themselves in. Let's remember there are some 70,000, isn't it, Commissioner, registered Rural Fire Service volunteers here in New South Wales. There's 210,000 across the country, remembering that states have been... other states have been sending their volunteers to New South Wales. I should stress that in other states where those states take up this arrangement, that their time serving in New South Wales or in any other state will be counted in terms of that those 10 days. And so they, some of them, may well find themselves in other states immediately eligible under those arrangements. But as has been the case with all of these issues relating to these fires, we will continue to assess the situation based on what's happening on the ground. The reason we're making this decision now is because it was beginning to impact on the RFS’s efforts to fight fires. This isn't, as the Premier said, about paying volunteers. That's a different issue. What this is about is resourcing a firefighting effort to ensure that the Commissioner is in the best place possible to be able to do those call outs. And when I was here last Sunday, I was advised by the Commissioner, as I think I said it might have been during the course of the week, 1,000 extra firefighters turned up on top of the 2,000 that has been out the previous day in response to a call. So there are many registered volunteer firefighters across the state, in many other states and territories. And one of the reasons that we announced that we would give four weeks emergency service leave to all Commonwealth employees was to ensure that that might free up more volunteers coming out of the cities that might be able to then be deployed out into rural and regional areas to provide some relief to those crews. So this is all about fighting fires and people who fight the fires and backing those in who were fighting those fires. Commissioner?
SHANE FITZSIMMONS, RFS COMMISSIONER: So I'm not aware - and I'd be really disappointed - if there was a volunteer that's been constantly at this for 150 days. Yes, the firefighting effort has been going on for hundreds, 150 days, whatever the figure actually is, but it’s a considerable time. But as the Prime Minister indicated, crews rotate and they spend time and they take shifts and it is not an unusual conversation when I'm out in the field and even spending time with the Premier with volunteers on Christmas Day for breakfast. Many of them were were juggling this “I want to commit this time, I've got to get back and look after some family things, I've got to get back and earn a quid”. They've got good arrangements in place with their employers, many of them. This is a safety net to ensure that if volunteers, particularly the self-employed or small, self-employed or the small business owners, know that there's a surety to cover costs associated with that going above and beyond that deployment that they can effectively manage. That's what this is about. We in New South Wales have put into place now for many months volunteer protection orders to ensure that volunteers can't lose their jobs as a result of volunteering. But each individual, each volunteer, has their own individual circumstances, their own employment arrangements, their own status of life. Some people aren't employed. Some people are students. Some people are unemployed. Some people are retired. You've got a cohort of people that are self-employed, sole trader, those sorts of things. So this is actually just about ensuring that what would be the case for, say, public servants and large businesses or even medium-sized businesses where they are granted two weeks or four weeks or more leave per annum to be able to manage their ongoing support for major fire operations. This is about a safety net to provide surety and security to allowing them to better manage and reflect what their engaged might be going on. We've seen an enormous commitment so far, but there's still a lot to be required going forward.
JOURNALIST: Out of interest, when did you ask the state government to ask the Prime Minister?
SHANE FITZSIMMONS, RFS COMMISSIONER: Well, we've been working on these sorts of arrangements for quite a couple of weeks now in New South Wales. I sat down to have a good conversation with the Prime Minister only last Sunday when he came in for a briefing. One of the first questions I got from the Prime Minister was how are the volunteers going, how are they managing to sustain this effort, is there anything we can do for them to provide surety or support? And we talked about a number of the things that we were contemplating, precedents that had been set previously and how they might work and we were trying to get access to the details, to be truthful. And then in the ensuing days and weeks, working with the Commonwealth and working with the states, we worked up a viable option, formalised that request to have it implemented.
JOURNALIST: So it’s been in the past week?
SHANE FITZSIMMONS, RFS COMMISSIONER: Sorry, what was the question?
JOURNALIST: If you're saying you were talking the other Sunday with the Prime Minister, it’s really been…
SHANE FITZSIMMONS, RFS COMMISSIONER: I formally met with the Prime Minister last Sunday but we've been talking with the New South Wales government and Commonwealth authorities for a few weeks around what were some of the precedents and the arrangements that would provide the sorts of safeguards we're talking about. And we firmed up those details and formalised the request this week.
PRIME MINISTER: So on Tuesday afternoon, after I left South Australia, I was speaking to the Minister for Emergency Services, and that's when that was put to me quite specifically and that was followed up with a letter from the Commissioner, I think they day after Christmas it was or thereabouts, and that then followed through. The arrangements we put in place leading up to today. The Commonwealth been doing contingency planning around these things, which meant that when the request came through, we could actually move quite quickly. I mean, lots of other ideas that have been sort of tossed about in the public, about tax credits and things like this. But if you’re familiar with how these things work, you know that they're ineffective and they’re not a really good place to deal with these issues at all. This is a much more targeted, tailored way. It has to be done in partnership with the state because the state obviously knows who's out there and where they're fighting the fires. And there was also all of the existing disaster recovery payments that are administered through the states, as has been provided throughout these disasters as indeed they are in other types of disasters like floods. So it's been worked up over the course of this week.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, obviously there are nuances to a broad brush plan, one of which would be the fact that it’s Christmas time and many sole traders would be on holidays intentionally. Does there have to be proof of loss of income or just by virtue of their status as a sole trader they can take a cash grab?
PRIME MINISTER: There will substantiation of income as you’d expect in any of these measures. It’s one of the difficult things about designing a measure like this. I mean, you need to make sure that it has integrity and there will be substantiation. But people know what they earn, and you have remember a lot of these places…. I mean, you think about the south coast at the moment. This is the busiest time of the year. This is when they make most of their money. So it actually works both ways. There will be parts of New South Wales whose earnings during this time of the year as a sole trader will be much higher than they were during the ordinary course of the year. So, look, we'll be erring on the side of ensuring that we're providing what is genuine income loss compensation.
JOURNALIST: How do you do that?
PRIME MINISTER: People know what their assessments are on an annual basis.
JOURNALIST: Well, they don’t and the Government doesn’t.
PRIME MINISTER: Well, the Government does actually because it's done for a whole range of different payments, whether it's child care rebates or any other forms of related payments then the Commonwealth will be able to assist state verification. But, I mean, people who run small businesses know what they earn and they know what their busy times of the year and they know what they’re able to out forward and accountants and others and themselves, they know what that is. Now, for those who are employees, it's a much more straightforward matter. But we’re not looking to tie this up in red tape, and I’m sure the Premier won’t be doing that either. But it’s a fair dinkum process for compensating people for income loss. And that's the rule.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, the firefighters unions were surprised by this move. They said that their members are more than happy to do the work without any recognition. Have you spoken to volunteer firefighters that have called for this?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, the Commissioner, as he said before, has spoken to the Association. Over some weeks now, whether it was, you know, back up in September when the Premier and I were up in Taree and Wauchope or where I've been more recently over the course of this last week, no they don’t ask for it. But I do know, particularly in those rural and regional areas, that particularly for self-employed people, this is really starting to bite and really starting to have an impact. I haven't had volunteer firefighters saying they want to get paid. That's not what this is. What they're acknowledging is that there are those, particularly in their communities, for whom this has meant a bigger sacrifice than for others. I mean, if you work for the Commonwealth Public Service, then you have access to the leave. If you work for the state government public service, you have access to the leave. But for small and medium-sized businesses, and I said, we're taking this up to $50 million in turnover. So that that encompasses around 60 per cent of employees in this country who would be captured under this definition. That is far more extensive and, on average, around 20 days… many people will have access to more than 20 days under this arrangement based on what they earn. This is far more extensive than any other response we've seen for income loss to any previous natural disaster relief. That's how extensive and comprehensive this response is. But equally, it's extremely targeted. And how do you do that? You just don't knee-jerk react. You think about it. You talk to people who know what they're doing and you get the processes right and you put it in place.
JOURNALIST: Premier, may I ask you in relation to New South Wales fireworks, given that we have extreme and severe conditions coming across the state, particularly the southern areas, and there is a southerly that I understand they’re very concerned about on New Year's Eve. Should we be cancelling those?
THE HON. GLADYS BEREJIKLIAN MP, PREMIER OF NSW: Look, as in every year and especially this year, we get advice from the RFS experts. But I want to send a clear message to the community - and the Prime Minister will have something to say as well - is that New South Wales has to stay strong. We are a hopeful, optimistic state. We're a resilient state and we appreciate that there's a lot of suffering in the community at the moment. But notwithstanding that, when New South Wales stands strong, we’re able to keep supporting our communities that need our support. If the RFS, if the experts say it's safe to have the fireworks continue, well, we should do that. It sends a strong message to our communities. Of course, we need to assess case by case. There may be regional communities who are close to the fire fronts who might have different circumstances. But my feeling, and I appreciate that there may be others in the community that don't share this view, but New South Wales has always been a state that's hopeful about the future, that’s resilient. that's optimistic. And we need to stay strong so we can keep supporting our communities that are doing it tough. Sydney is one of the first cities in the world that welcomes in the new year, and if it's safe to do so, we should continue to do it as we've done every other year.
JOURNALIST: Is there a financial consideration as well, given the fact that the BBC, CNN broadcast to the world on New Years Eve, as you say, among the first cities to celebrate. Is there a financial consideration in terms of the tourism dollar that brings, that attracts people to Sydney as to whether the fireworks will go ahead?
THE HON. GLADYS BEREJIKLIAN MP, PREMIER OF NSW: This is all about keeping keeping our state strong. And ultimately it's a decision for the Sydney City Council, but I would support their efforts in keeping the fireworks going and I appreciate there's a lot of anxiety in the community. There's a lot of fear depending on where you live about what's happening in the community at the moment. But the best thing we can do is to stay strong and resilient, to keep supporting the communities that need our support and also to appreciate that we're doing well as a state overall, and I don't want to take away from individuals, families and communities who are left with not much. But for us to keep supporting those communities into the future. We need to stay strong. We need to be hopeful and optimistic about the future, which I genuinely amd. We'll get through these times, as difficult as they are, and I think it's important to send a message to the world, so long as it's safe to do so, we will take the advice of RFSas we do every year. So long as it's safe to do so, we should keep doing what we're doing normally.
JOURNALIST: Well, Commissioner, will it be safe?
PRIME MINISTER: I just want to echo the words of the Premier on this matter. Wherever I go in the world and I talk to others and leaders and what they know about Australians is that we're incredibly optimistic people. That whatever gets thrown at us, we overcome. We are positive and we look to the future. And, you know, on New Year's Eve, the world looks at Sydney every single year, and they look at our vibrancy, they look at our passion, they look at our success. And they all think to themselves - what an amazing place. And they're right. And so in the midst of the challenges that we face, subject to the safety considerations, I can think of no better time to express to the world just how optimistic and positive we are a country. Sure, we're going through tough times. You know, it's not the first time Australia and, in particular this city, has gone through difficult times before. But we always rise above them. We don't allow them to get us down. I acknowledge the anxiety around this question, but I'll tell you what I really want to acknowledge, and that's how wonderful a country Australia is. And on New Year's Eve, that's what we tell the world with an amazing display of optimism and vibrancy. Commissioner?
JOURNALIST: With your understanding of what the conditions will be like, especially around the Sydney CBD area at the moment, do you believe it will be safe for the fireworks to go ahead?
SHANE FITZSIMMONS, RFS COMMISSIONER: Obviously, we'll be working with the Bureau of Meteorology closer to Tuesday and ahead of New Year’s Eve. But at this stage, we are expecting the southerly change to start moving through the coast. It will start impacting into the Sydney basin somewhere around 7 o'clock in the evening and moving through over a couple of hours, which means the conditions will certainly ameliorate in terms of hot temperatures and dry, windy conditions. But we're obviously very mindful of the volatility of the southerly. So I don't remember a time when we've had total fire bans in place in the Greater Sydney region where we haven't been able to accommodate the risk elements. But conducting the New Year's Eve fireworks in the Sydney Harbour area, particularly, obviously, we work very closely with the local fire brigades, our fire and rescue and RFS brigades where relevant. And if there are areas subject to the prevailing winds and those sorts of things, the materials might drop. We just heightened our level of coverage to ensure a safe and effective New Year's Eve function. Having said that, as the Premier indicated, we do need to give due consideration to the variety of other festivities that are undertaken across the broader geographic area of New South Wales, where the risk could be greater. What we're not generally into is giving exemptions for the backyard permits where there's fireworks and those sorts of things operating in people's homes or the local park. We work very closely with a range of local councils and other authorities around New South Wales and each area, each condition is assessed on its merits based on the local conditions, based on the level of risk and based on the level of protection that might be able to afford it. So we do that every year when when it coincides with New Year's Eve, and we'll do that again this year. But at this stage, I can't foresee the Sydney New Year's Eve efforts being compromised by a total fire ban.
JOURNALIST: Commissioner, surely that would be a very costly process to be called off at the very last minute. Is there a cut-off when that decision will have to be made?
SHANE FITZSIMMONS, RFS COMMISSIONER: If I determine it to be too risky, that doesn't concern me. If we determine a risk, I'll work with the government and say this is too risky. But we will firm up our weather forecast as we head into tomorrow night, Monday night, and that will strengthen up the again throughout the day on Tuesday. Look, these pyrotechnics organisations and the local authorities, they're very used to dealing with us and working with us around exemptions throughout the summer period. All of our activities, whether it's Christmas movie or some other event, they know the arrangements, they know the procedures and we'll work through to make sure that risk is appropriately addressed. And when necessary, we won't allow them to go ahead.
JOURNALIST: Premier, is there a dollar tag on that? Is there a projected tourism figure on what the fireworks provide?
THE HON. GLADYS BEREJIKLIAN MP, PREMIER OF NSW: That’s not of issue or concern to me al all. It’s about the message we’re sending, and it's about ensuring that as we've said already, this is about our resilience, it's about our optimism, and it's also about putting safety first. And of course, we take the advice of the experts. But we also need to make sure, as much as possible, we keep doing what we do best. We keep looking forward. We keep being optimistic about the future. And hopefully we'll get through these difficult times. We always do. And I say these and make these comments without taking away a second. And in my job and the PM’s job and the Commissioner’s job, you see people every day doing it tough. You speak to them personally and appreciate that hardship they’re going through. And the best thing I feel that I can do and I'm sure that the PM and the Commissioner feel the same, is to maintain our strength as a state, to keep doing what we're doing, to be able to continue to support those who need our help. But also send a strong message to the world about our resilience and effort and our support And I want to stress this point. I appreciate there's been some sentiment expressed about some of those dollars elsewhere, which is spent on the fireworks. But in New South Wales, when you talk about drought or water infrastructure, we’re investing in excess of $3 billion into the future. When you talk about our rural fire services and emergency services personnel, we're putting billions every year to support our communities. So let's put everything into perspective. I appreciate sentiments are high. I appreciate people are experiencing anxiety and in some circumstances fear. I think, more than anything, those of us who aren't on the fire front are asking each other what can we do to help? And people are looking to do that. And I say the best thing we can do to support our volunteers and our fire services personnel is to take their advice, to ensure that we have resources to support their efforts. But also to stay strong and resilient and hopeful about the future, because that's what makes New South Wales what it is. That makes us the state we are and our people are our best asset and that continues.
JOURNALIST: Premier, I know you fear it's a trap that I going to say that you're putting financial dollars ahead of safety. I’m not. It's just a factual question. What is the projection?
THE HON. GLADYS BEREJIKLIAN MP, PREMIER OF NSW: I'll have to get those figures on what we project in terms of tourism. But we can't pretend that the City puts on a wonderful experience for people not just present, people travel long distances to be here. And it's a strong message of the world and all of us, whenever you bring in the New Year, no matter what the circumstances, all of us feel a sense of hope about the future, especially as we enter into a new decade. We experience a hope about what the future might bring us that's building positivity and optimism. I don't see why we shouldn't continue to do that. In fact, under these circumstances, I think it sends a strong message to our citizens and the world that we're resilient, we’re strong. Yes, we’ve going through difficult times, but we’re always positive about our future.
PRIME MINISTER: Well said.
JOURNALIST: Premier, what would Sydney look like on the world stage if we weren’t to have those fireworks?
THE HON. GLADYS BEREJIKLIAN MP, PREMIER OF NSW: Well, look, I don’t apologise for safety first. And we'll take the advice from the RFS, from the Commissioner. It's safety first is always the case. And we're elected on behalf of the community to protect our citizens, to protect public safety. But if there's no safety reason why those fireworks shouldn’t go ahead, they’ll be there.
