Minister denies brigades to close

THE state government has scrambled to deny it plans to shut down volunteer fire brigades after the minister responsible failed to rule it out.

Labor has questioned the competence of Police, Fire and Emergency Management Minister Mark Shelton after a confusing performance in state parliament.

Labor MP Jen Butler asked Mr Shelton during Question Time to comment on rum ours the government was considering shutting down some brigades.

A review of the Fire Service Act is currently being carried out by former Tasmanian Auditor-General Michael Blake, who is due to report back to the state government nextmonth.

In his answer, Mr Shelton appeared to be open to the possibility of closing stations.

“I will always take advice on the most appropriate positions to take on different things and I will listen to that, but only recently there was a small brigade out off the side of Oatlands that only had three members and decided that their unit would close ,” he said.

“It is really simple. I will take advice when Mike Blake comesback.

“I am not going to tell Mike Blake what he should be telling me so I will listen to his advice .”

Labor seized on Mr Shelton’ s comments. Ms Butler said rumours had been circulating among volunteer firefighters for months and the minister had not dispelled them.

“Today we asked him the same question in state parliament and he was unable to rule it out,” she said.

Ninety minutes after Mr Shelton’s statement to parliament, a media release issued under his name accused Labor of “scare mongering ”.

“There will be no forced closures of rural fire brigades in Tasmania now or into the future,” it said.

“In fact, the Tasmanian government is looking to make this even stronger. Labor should be ashamed of themselves for repeating baseless rumours.”

Ms Butler said she was worried about the mixed messages from Mr Shelton.

“We have very grave concerns about the consistency and whether or not the minister is capable and able to undertake his role successfully,” she said.

Premier Peter Gut we in said that even if the Blake review recommended closures, the government wouldn’t accept that.

“Mark Shelton was completely factual in terms of the fact that the Blake review is underway,” he said.

“But I want to be clear that there will be no forced closures of rural fire brigades.”