A wise decision.

Ex-Premier of New South Wales Morris Iemma has been tarred with the brush of incompetence - but at least he made one wise decision when he started to dismantle the troika of rescue services that have long wasted state funds.

There is simply no justification for having independent rescue services controlled by the police, the fire brigades - and the ambulance services.

Each rescue service has a pool of trained personnel and maintains a fleet of special emergency vehicles and a huge array of rescue equipment. This duplication wastes precious funds and means that in any emergency two thirds of the rescue teams sit idle while one third performs the necessary duty.

It is now claimed that each group provides specialist skills not matched by the other groups - hence in an emergency the first response team must evaluate the need - and draw in those who can meet it - with a consequent loss of time which is so vital in an emergency.

The ambulance rescue has been stood down and it's duties allocated to the fire brigade. Common sense dictates that the same fate should visit the police rescue organization.

In most countries the fire service is the provider of rescue facilities - and the only reason we have three competing services here is sheer ego. Rescue is a glamour occupation. The TV cameras roll - and the chiefs of the three services revel in the publicity received - and fight tooth and nail to preserve their little kingdoms.

The finances of this state are parlous and bad times are ahead. Now is the time to cut waste - and reducing to a single, well maintained and well funded rescue organization would be a sound move !