That the first questions Emergency Services Agency boss Georgeina Whelan faced at last week's ACT budget estimates hearings related to an incident which occurred more than 12 months ago - and one which she has been quizzed on repeatedly in the period since - was as telling as it was predictable.
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There are still, still, unanswered questions about the Orroral Valley fire, in particular what lessons local authorities and the Australian Defence Force have learnt to ensure the circumstances which sparked last summer's ecological catastrophe are not repeated.
Commissioner Whelan this week attempted to provide some assurances, saying the "checks and balances" the agency had put in place since Black Summer meant it was unlikely the event would not be repeated.
She said the agency and Defence were working together and its personnel would be invited to participate in training programs.
The commissioner's message did, however, come with two asterisks attached. The first was that she, as the head of the ACT's Emergency Services Agency, could not speak on behalf of Defence.
The second was that while she could be confident the events of January 27 would not happen again, she could never say never.
Both points are self-evident. Ms Whelan is not Defence chief Angus Campbell.
She cannot definitively say something won't happen in the future.
But that phrase - never say never - will cause unease for Canberrans who saw 80 per cent their beloved Namadgi scorched last summer.
While the commissioner has attempted to provide what comfort she can, the lack of transparency - primarily, but not entirely, on the part of Defence - throughout the post-mortem of the Orroral Valley blaze will make those shared anxieties hard to quell.
There has not been, nor does it appear there ever will be, an independent public inquiry into the helicopter flight which ignited the catastrophe.
But for freedom of information requests and dogged public interest journalism, Canberrans wouldn't know of the 45-minute delay in the Defence helicopter crew's alerting ACT authorities to the exact location of the fire which the aircraft had accidentally sparked.
Defence has confirmed it has changed protocols on the use of aircraft lights in certain situations, but aside from that there has been little public information on what other lessons - if any - have been learnt.
Making public this type of information is how government agencies foster - or help rebuild - public confidence.
Defence representatives will front their own estimates hearings next month.
They need to show up with some answers.
