Buildings wrapped in petrol
1.1
I broadly support the recommendations of the Committee.
1.2
The cladding issue is a most serious public safety issue that requires
urgent action. The issue was brought to the public's attention in November 2015
when the Lacrosse building in Docklands Melbourne caught fire. Since that time
Government's, both Federal and State, have failed to adequately respond. This
is embarrassing and pathetic.
1.3
Tragedy was avoided in the Lacrosse fire through luck alone[1].
Mr Adam Dalrymple, then Director of Fire Safety, Metropolitan Fire and
Emergency Services Board (MFB), described this incident as one that alone could
have 'claimed hundreds of lives if things had turned out a little differently'.
Unfortunately the June 2017 Grenfell Tower fire in London proved him correct.
1.4
I note that Australian Fire Safety Engineer, Mr Tony Enright stated in a
recent ABC Four Corners program examining polyethylene cladding that:
A kilogram of polyethylene will release the same amount of
energy as a kilogram of petrol, and it gets worse than that because
polyethylene is denser than petrol too, so that's about, a kilogram of
polyethylene is like about one and a bit, one and a half litres of petrol. If
you look at a one metre by one metre square section [of PE core ACP cladding]
that will have about three kilograms, the equivalent of about five litres of
petrol[2].
1.5
Governments cannot dawdle along in relation to this issue. Lives are at
risk. The recommendations in this report must not only be agreed to by
Government, but a time frame for implementation of them must also be laid out.
In the absence of the Council of Australian Government (COAG) process dealing
with this issue within 90 days, the Commonwealth must consider unilateral
action using powers constitutionally available to it.
Recommendation 1
1.6
That the Government response to this report includes implementation time
frames.
Senator Nick
Xenophon
Nick Xenophon
Team, South Australia
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