Fears Black Summer 2.0 is set to ignite across the country

A former Liberal MP who slammed his own party over the handling of the Black Summer bushfires has warned the government must urgently conduct hazard reduction burns – with fears bushland is “drying off” and becoming a tinderbox.

A former MP who slammed his own party over the handling of the Black Summer bushfires has warned the government must urgently conduct hazard reduction burns before the summer months – with fears bushland is “drying off” and becoming a tinderbox.

Former Liberal Bega MP Andrew Constance sensationally slammed former Prime Minister Scott Morrison after his electorate and the surrounding NSW south coast were devastated by bushfires in 2019.

Amid new warnings of drought and bushfire conditions heading to Australia — Mr Constance has revealed many in his region are still building back what they lost and are in desperate need of assistance before tragedy strikes again.

“Nobody realises that nothing has particularly changed. The thing that is really shocking is the speed with which it is drying off, it is drying off really quick,” he said.

Andrew Constance pictured in Nowra. Picture: Jonathan Ng

“If we head back into a nasty fire season it’s going to be very very tough for many people in the nation.”

It comes as Federal Emergency Services Minister Murray Watt announced the government had commissioned a review of disaster preparedness around the country.

“All Ministers responsible for disaster response understand that we do better through strong co-operation and by planning ahead, not waiting for disasters to strike,” Mr Watt said.

“If we are as prepared as possible at a government level, we can ensure communities get help fast.”

Mr Constance said a review was not good enough.

Embers blowing from a tree after the NSW Rural Fire Service carried out backburning. Picture: Dan Himbrechts

“It‘s all well for the government to have a review … but spend the money now. Make sure communities and villages have the right buffer zones,” he said.

“I appreciate the rainfall we have had makes it tricky but we need to work overtime. This should be done in a bipartisan way and done really quickly.

“A lot of council reserves and crown land that aren’t national parks responsibilities — those areas need to be properly managed. We need immediate action, we have to see some tough calls made.”

He has also called for more mental health support to be injected into fire-prone areas.

“We still have the human toll weighing very heavily on people,” he said.

Backburning operations along Bedford Creek Fire Trail. Picture: Woodford Rural Fire Brigade Facebook

“The cuts to Medicare funded psychology sessions — that has been cruel.”

NSW Rural Fire Service spokesman Inspector Ben Shepherd said NSW was “nowhere near where we would ideally like to be” on hazard reduction burns because of a spate of wet weather.

“60 per cent of burning is normally done during the autumn period … we have had some very problematic rain,” he said.

“The thing we need to monitor now is as we move closer to fire season, we could slip very very quickly from being too wet to too dry and too windy and too dangerous (to do burns).”

The Commonwealth has announced $70m worth of projects in NSW under its Disaster Ready Fund including support for mental health.

Emergency services bracing for a firestorm

Australia is “much better prepared” for the next drought to hit, but as the nation heads toward a dry summer the looming threat of bushfires will put new emergency response systems to the test.

Emergency Management Minister Murray Watt said recent high rainfall seasons had lead to significant growth, which heightened the likelihood of dangerous grass fires if Australia moves to a “drier cycle” as is being predicted.

“There is a real risk, especially on the back of floods, that a lot of rural communities might face bushfires,” he said.

“We’ve already started work with states and territories around preparing for this disaster season,” he said.

The Bureau of Meteorology forecasting this year there is about a 70 per cent chance of El Nino, which is a climate phenomenon that typically leads to reduced rainfall and increased temperatures in Australia, resulting in drought conditions and heightened risk of bushfires.

Minister for Emergency Management Murray Watt said a dryer cycle could spell danger. Picture: Lyndon Mechielsen/Courier Mail

Emergency management ministers from around Australia will meet in Brisbane in August as the nation’s fire chiefs also gather to discuss plans for the upcoming summer.

“We’ve deliberately coincided the two meetings so that we can be working together and really start pushing through on a bushfire preparation plan,” Mr Watt said.

“That means we’re able to do much more joint planning than has happened before.”

The upcoming season will be a major test for the new Australian Fire Danger Rating System developed last year, which is currently being further refined.

Under the changes Australia now has a nationally consistent system for rating the level of fire danger simplified down to four different levels and “off”.

The new system uses 22 different subtypes of fuel, like grass or forest, to determine how a fire will burn in a particular community to ensure communities are better warned of the different risks.

Even without fires, farmers are being warned to brace for drier than average conditions, but Mr Watt said significant investment since the 2019 drought meant many meant many landowners were much better equipped to survive another one.

There’s fears El Nino could spark another summer of fires.

“Traditionally the way governments have dealt with drought is massive handouts to keep them going, but it’s actually better for farmers — and certainly better for taxpayers — if we can be doing that investment upfront so that people are better prepared and are able to stand on their own two feet a bit more than what they've been able to do in the past,” he said.

Mr Watt said in recent years there had been a “bipartisan approach” to drought funding, with Labor maintaining the Future Drought Fund established under the previous Coalition government to invest $100 million a year in drought preparedness projects.

Other initiatives like research into drought resistant grasses to provide food for livestock, planting more resilient crops and developing infrastructure to conserve water are among the other initiatives also funded by government.

Originally published as Fears Black Summer 2.0 is set to ignite across the country