The Commonwealth Government will contribute up to an additional $2.1 million to the urgent leasing and transportation to Australia of an additional two Erickson Aircranes (similar to the 'Elvis' helitanker) to strengthen the national firefighting capability.
The funding will provide for half the leasing and airfreight costs of locating two additional helitankers in Australia for a period of 45 days. Half the leasing and airfreight expenses will be met by the Victorian and New South Wales Governments. All of the operational costs will be met by the states.
While firefighting is a state and territory responsibility, due to the extremely serious fires that are continuing to burn in a number of states, and to the extraordinarily dry conditions as a result of the drought, the Commonwealth is prepared to provide this assistance on a one-off basis.
The helitankers will be available to be deployed on a national basis.
The leasing of two additional aircranes will bring to five the total number of helitankers involved in the national firefighting effort this summer. It follows the earlier decision of the Commonwealth to provide up to $5.5 million for the leasing and locating costs of three helitankers; and two of these have been assisting in firefighting efforts since last October, and the third arrived in December.
All those currently involved in firefighting and emergency services throughout Australia are, as always, doing a magnificent job in protecting their communities from the bushfire threat. This initiative will make a further contribution to assisting them in combating ongoing threats for the remainder of the fire season.