Bushfire crisis: Inquiry head wanted tax on blaze-prone homes

One of three people heading up the bushfire royal commission has pushed for levies on homes in blaze-prone areas to raise funds for emergency services. PLUS see the beautiful pictures of flora growing back on the fire-ravaged south coast.

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The new bushfire Royal Commission’s “specialist in climate risk and impact management” has advocated putting an extra tax on at-risk properties.

ANU Professor Andrew Macintosh, who was yesterday appointed to the inquiry as one of three commissioners, co-authored an article that argued levies could “provide market signals about the full costs of living in certain locations, as well as raising the revenue required to support emergency services to these areas”.

ANU Professor Andrew Macintosh.

In the 2013 article for theconversation.com, Prof Macintosh also said governments needed to “harness the power” of insurance to help shift development to other areas.

And he canvassed branding hazardous regions as “future acquisition”, which would give local or state governments the power to buy properties that came on the market, rather than allowing them to be sold to new ­occupants.

Land-use planning, zoning and development approvals are specifically mentioned in the royal com­mission’s terms of reference, which were ­released yesterday.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison said the inquiry was aimed at improving co-ordination of natural disaster management across all levels of government, as well as examining the legal framework for Canberra’s involvement in responding to emergencies, along with enhancing resilience and adaptation to a changing climate.

“This royal commission ­accepts, it acknowledges, it ­understands the impact of climate change more broadly on the climatic conditions Australia is living in,” the PM said.

“What this royal commission is looking at is the ­practical things that must be done to keep Australians safer and safe in longer, hotter, drier summers.”

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He denied an accusation that the inquiry was an ­attempt to show the states — particularly NSW — were not up to the job.

An ANU spokeswoman said Prof Macintosh was not available for comment.

He will join former Federal Court judge Annabelle Bennett SC in assisting ex-Defence chief Mark Binskin, who will lead the inquiry.

ALL SYSTEMS GROW IN BUSH

These amazing photos show the Australian bush’s unique response to fire, a regrowth reaction which has evolved on the land over millions of years.

New growth in the East Boyd State Forest near Kiah after the recent Border Fire. Picture: Jonathan Ng

Just weeks after blazes destroyed large swathes of NSW bushland, leafy branches have sprouted out of blackened eucalyptus trunks and little ferns have sprung up in ground ash.

Telegraph photographer Jonathan Ng this week snapped the fire-adaptive regrowth just outside of Eden and in the hills near Moruya on the south coast.

A fern pokes its way out of the earth. Picture: Jonathan Ng

UNSW Professor David Keith, an expert in vegetation dynamics and fire, said Australian plants had evolved to withstand fire over millions of years. “On the south coast there are lots of species of orchids that are actually stimulated to flower by a fire,” he said.

“Certainly the black desolation is not good for people and affects us emotionally … but actually it’s just a cyclical aspect of the ecology for many species of
the bushland.”

Life finds a way. Picture: Jonathan Ng