‘We hold you both culpable’: Bushfire victims’ letter to Aussie leaders

A family who lost their home in recent bushfires have taken aim at former Aussie leaders in a scathing open letter.

A family who lost their home in devastating bushfires last month have written a scathing open letter to two former Prime Ministers, saying they hold them partly responsible for the loss of their home.

The Mackay family say a failure to implement a consistent climate policy by former leaders John Howard and Tony Abbott created destructive conditions where they lived in Nymboida, NSW. The family lost their home after the destructive Liberation Trail fire affected a large area in the Clarence Valley in NSW in November.

After the home was razed by fires, Stu Mackay spray painted the charred remains of his home with political messages.

The family told news.com.au they are working on rebuilding their home, and just trying to “keep on keeping on”.

“We are writing this open letter to you, to let you know that we hold you both culpable, in part, for the destruction of our home,” the family wrote.

“We know what it is to live in the bush. We know, more so than most, that bushfire is an undeniable risk of living in the bush.”

The Mackay family said they had “accepted the risk that bushfire could take everything” from them, but said decisions made by previous governments had impacted their safety.

“The risk we took on when we moved into Nymboida 20 years ago was much lower than what it is today.

“Climate change does not cause individual weather events, but it has dramatically increased the risk of catastrophic events – like the one that took our home.”

The family spray painted messages on the remains of their home after the property was destroyed by fires.

The family have spoken out against former Aussie leaders.

The family said they considered Abbott and Howard, both former prime ministers, the “foremost” Australians guilty of “having the power to take action to reduce the impacts of climate change but not exercising that power”.

“The Australian government is a laggard on climate change action. This is a statement of fact, not political opinion.

“Action by the Australian government on climate change cannot, by itself, eliminate the impacts of climate change. However, there are three points which make the climate change policy positions adopted by the Australian government critical.”

Victims of the bushfire in Nymboida have written to former Aussie PMs, lashing them for inaction on climate change.

The letter said before even considering the country’s contribution to carbon emissions, governments should have been working to protect communities from bushfire risks and other elements of natural catastrophe, worsened by climate change.

“Australian government should have taken, over the last 20 years at least, significant action to plan and mitigate against climate change impacts (including increasing bushfire risk). It has not.”

The letter also said Australia was a “significant contributor” to global carbon emissions, with emissions at a high level for our relatively small population.

The Mackay family said Australia’s role within a larger “geopolitical context” had significantly influenced the inaction of other governments around the world.

“From the advent of scientific certainty about climate change in the 1990s, the inaction of Australia in relation to curbing carbon emissions has acted as a handbrake on international climate change action.

“Australian governments over this period therefore must take a share of responsibility for the failure of the international community to adequately respond to and prevent the climate change impacts that have occurred to date.

“We know that Prime Ministers like to have a legacy. For us, the sight of our home completely razed to the ground will be your legacy; a tortured monument to your failing.”

The letter was signed by Stu, Heather, Ross and Dylan Mackay. The family had lived in the same home in Nymboida for two decades before recent bushfires took their home.

The NSW Rural Fire Service confirmed on Wednesday that a total 724 homes, 49 facilities and 1582 outbuildings had been destroyed so far this fire season.

Firefighters have continued to battle numerous blazes that have burned 2.7 million hectares of land.

Originally published as ‘We hold you both culpable’: Bushfire victims’ letter to Aussie leaders