Senator O'SULLIVAN (Western Australia) (15:15): I've been in this place for coming up to 18 months and it's been a great honour to serve the great people of Western Australia. But I think I can count on the fingers of one hand how many times I've heard serious and legitimate questions from those opposite. Their questions are covered in smear and innuendo; very few of their questions go to a point of significance for the Australian people. Instead, time and again we see those opposite putting spin on particular topics and subjects to score a political point. I think there is nothing more shameful than coming into this place and trying to score a political point on something that is very serious for the people of this nation, particularly those who live in bushfire-prone areas. This line of attack is typical of Labor. They think that blindly committing to spend money can solve a problem, with flashy promises and attack lines that really have very little substance. Labor's record on firefighting and land management is actually not very good. Senator Brockman spoke about the importance of understanding what's involved in dealing with bushfires and making sure that we are prepared for bushfires, but Labor members and their friends in the Greens continually hamstring attempts to perform adequate back-burning. We're seeing this in states controlled by Labor and where there's a real Greens influence. In 2015 and 2016, we saw disgraceful attempts by unions to unionise the volunteers of the CFA. That demonstrates that Labor sees bushfire fighters as just another political opportunity to boost union membership. Labor's record on politicising disaster relief is longer and stronger than their history of disaster management. Senator Murray Watt, the shadow minister for emergency management, only last week accepted an invitation to have a briefing by emergency management experts on our seasonal preparation. I understand that meeting will happen later today, but today Senator Watt moved an MPI on this very subject. He asked questions and then took note of those answers without giving himself the opportunity to have the briefing. The DEPUTY PRESIDENT: Senator Watt, on a point of order? Senator Watt: Senator O'Sullivan is misleading the chamber. The briefing that I'm receiving this afternoon is actually about new legislation that the government intends to introduce. The DEPUTY PRESIDENT: Thank you, Senator Watt. Please continue, Senator O'Sullivan. Senator O'SULLIVAN: In any case, what we're seeing is the politicisation of a very, very serious issue being faced by this nation. It's as serious an issue as we've faced at any time in our history, really, when you compare previous fire seasons with the one that we had last year. In the remaining time that I have, I want to give some reassurance to the Australian people of what this government is actually doing. We accept that the primary role in dealing with bushfires and bushfire management on the ground is played by state governments, and the Commonwealth government doesn't want to interfere with that at all but, rather, provide the necessary support and resources to assist. That can be done in many ways. One way is through the Defence Force. This year we're going to ensure that the ADF is poised to respond as quickly and efficiently as possible. The government has streamlined and simplified its processes for states and territories to receive that support. We've set up joint task forces for each state and territory. We've exercised and validated Reserve call-out processes, and we've conducted response planning exercises with the states and territories and with Australian government agencies, including the EMA and Services Australia. We've streamlined these processes so that we can act quickly when called upon by the states to ensure that that support is there. There are many other things this government is doing. I haven't got time, in the 14 seconds I have left, to cover them, but I will say that Services Australia stands ready. We're ready to deal with any outbreak and of course to deal with people who require assistance from the Commonwealth government through services and funding, and that's there— (Time expired)