He made the comments at Monday’s Community Development Committee meeting, after DFES gave the City of Rockingham a fortnight to say if it would like to retain control of local volunteer firefighting brigades or transfer the responsibility to the State Government.
On May 27, the City was asked to comment before June 10 but on request, this was extended until the end of July.
Cr Smith, who covers Baldivis Ward, said the 110 members of Baldivis Volunteer Bushfire Brigade and Singleton Volunteer Fire Service deserved to be consulted. ‘I’m on record that FESA, DFES, whatever you want to call them, in the past has been unreliable, it’s not been a good partner and it has let us down,’ he said.
Get in front of tomorrow's news for FREE
Journalism for the curious Australian across politics, business, culture and opinion.
READ NOW‘The last thing you want in a bushfire’