Anna Caldwell: The state government must empower landowners to guard against bushfires
The bushfire inquiry report is set to give the government the chance to empower individual landholders to manage their own land without being treated like a criminal. But will the government have the courage to follow through, asks Anna Caldwell.
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After every horror bushfire season, landholders ask, why can’t I do more to make my property safer? And every time, the government of the day squibs it, kicking the question into the long grass, which, if the greenies have anything to do with it, will be illegal to trim.
But now, finally, there is a chance for change.
I can reveal that there are some stunning recommendations in the bushfire inquiry report, handed to the Berejiklian government two weeks ago, which pave the way to empower the individual landholder to do more to, yes, clear some of their own land.
Broadly, some of the recommendations should give residents in bushfire-prone communities hope. They include:
● Adopting the principle that cultural burning is part of traditional land management,
● Pressuring Transport for NSW to clear roadside vegetation and ensure emergency access and exit from fire-prone communities,
● Considering subsidies for landholders to manage their own land and allowing them to do so without undue cost and complexity,
● Reviewing vegetation clearing processes at an individual level to ensure they are easy to navigate, and
● Supporting councils and “empowering community” at a local level to take charge of hazard reduction, including with prescribed burning, clearing, mowing and land treatments.
The review, by former chief scientist Mary O’Kane and former deputy police commissioner Dave Owens, is expected to go to cabinet for a formal government response and be announced to the public within a fortnight.
I understand the government will be presented with an opportunity to do more to empower the individual landholder to protect themselves and take steps to manage their own land without being treated like a criminal.
But again, will they take it?
After all, we’re not talking about harbourside dwellers firing up the chainsaw to open up their view, we are talking about residents of fire-prone properties clearing trees from their own land beyond the 10m radius that is currently applied. This distinction is easy to comprehend and would be welcomed by sensible voters.
Significantly, Premier Berejiklian has asked Police and Emergency Services Minister David Elliott and Environment Minister Matt Kean to work together on the response, which will ultimately have input from all of cabinet.
Berejiklian wants moderate, green-leaning Kean and centre-right conservative Elliott on a unity ticket — a deliberate bid to stop a war between green and brown forces inside her government and present a practical solution geared towards results for fire communities.
Already this week we have seen a step in the right direction: that crazy koala checks and flora and fauna “assessments” on burnt out land will no longer be enforced on bushfire victims is a victory.
But when it comes to preparing our regional communities for bushfires and supporting them for the next horror season, whenever that may be, it is only the beginning of the battle.
Because what about the concerns of the landholders who haven’t lost their property and are fearing the next fire? And what about all those landholders who want some power to protect their towns and their property going forward?
With so much vegetation burnt out, much of it will grow back at the same pace, coming at communities with a freight train-like ferocity if it’s not managed.
One of the greatest challenges these people living in bushfire-prone communities is the difficulty of clearing hazardous trees off their own land.
And one of their greatest frustrations is overgrowth on state owned land, or crown land, or roadsides which only adds literal fuel to any potential fire.
The O’Kane Owens review gives the government a direct opportunity to tackle this and it must not be squibbed.
Senior government ministers of both green and brown persuasions have told me they are willing to work together to make real change.
Sources believe the review has laid out a platform to make NSW the best prepared state in the country when it comes to bushfires, but the pressure will be taking action fast enough.
Government Ministers are broadly supportive of this.
Now is the time for the government to act on these measures — we cannot afford to wait for the next disaster.
Transport Minister Andrew Constance spoke out last week in an interview with me saying not enough had been done to support fire victims and that many problems remained.
But now one of the key issues raised in the report relates to Mr Constance’s own department, with Transport for NSW singled out as needing to better manage roadside vegetation to reduce roadside tree fall and grass ignitions.
Further, the report raises the need for the state government to map out access routes to these communities, ensuring that there are sufficient roads and bridges to at risk communities.
This will be welcomed by those residents who felt horrifically trapped and locked in by flames for weeks in our black summer.
Access in and out of towns when the blazes surrounded caused a huge burden not only on residents trying to flee, but on fire fighters trying to save lives in the fires.
Next week will mark a full year since Minister Elliott attended his first fire line of last year’s horror season.
Regional and rural communities are the heart and soul of our state, and their issues must not be forgotten in the face of the pandemic.
The pandemic has only made life more difficult for those families fearing the next fire season and those families trying to rebuild from the last.
The steps that need to be taken are not complex and Berejiklian, Elliott and Kean are right to step outside the ideology debate to institute real change.
They have a chance to put in place reforms and take steps now that will save lives in the future. What greater political calling can there possibly be?