Greens pour fuel on fire to score political points

Greens MP Adam Bandt has no need to battle bushfires in his downtown Melbourne electorate, but that is not the reason he should shut up until the crisis is over. He should do so out of basic human decency. People grieving loved ones, the families devastated after the loss of their homes, pets and farm animals, do not need callous Mr Bandt’s cruel brand of politicking. Nor do survivors and volunteers exhausted from battling 10m walls of flames and winds that almost “rip your head off” for hours on end, as one volunteer described. Among low ebbs, it is hard to recall an instance in which Australian politics has been dragged as low as Mr Bandt blaming Scott Morrison and his ministers for the tragedy engulfing NSW and Queensland and touching other states. “They’ve done everything in their power to make these catastrophic fires more likely,” Mr Bandt said. “When you cuddle coal in Canberra, the rest of the country burns.” Greens leader Richard Di Natale came a close second, likening the situation to the US mourning after a mass shooting and conservative politicians saying it is “too soon” to discuss gun control.

As 100 blazes continue and lives remain at risk despite the resources and heroic efforts of fire authorities and volunteers, this is not the day for a climate change debate. Flames need to be doused, reinforcements brought in, shelters set up, neighbours assisted, emergency aid given out, appeals supported and all manner of practical, compassionate help provided.

Nor should the Greens’ claims about climate change causing the catastrophe be accepted at face value. Appalling as it is, the crisis is not unprecedented. Several of Australia’s deadliest bushfires occurred in years of below-average temperatures — in Victoria in 1926, when 60 people died, and in 1939 when 71 died and 650 homes were lost; and in Tasmania in 1967 when 62 died and almost 1300 homes were lost. The Federation drought saw a third of the continent stricken from 1891 to 1903. What is different now is that climate change is being blamed.

When the flames are out, important environmental issues will demand attention. High on that list will be backburning, an uncomfortable subject for green activists and many councils for whom land clearing is anathema. Noosa residents on Queensland’s Sunshine Coast say the lack of controlled burning in their area has contributed to the fires by creating a tinderbox of fuel that had dried out during the drought.

On Tuesday Graham Lloyd wrote about the build-up of fuel loads across a decade in northern NSW where Nimbin environmentalist Michael Balderstone told him “greenies” had much to answer for about the incendiary state of the bush: “They have been obsessed with no fires and no burning. The Aboriginals say it is country gone wild.” Extended dry conditions have created a tinderbox of lantana and weeds in an area that has not seen a significant fire for a half-century.

A national park can be the worst neighbour for property owners because of lack of hazard reduction burning. Some local governments, such as the Blue Mountains City Council, are so protective of vegetation, even on private land, that they demand permits from landowners to remove or even prune a tree that is 4m or more in height or has a 4m ground spread.

In 2002, a federal parliamentary issues paper written by Bill McCormick of the Science, Technology, Environment and Resources Group advised that forest fuel determined the amount of heat that could be released during a bushfire. “Research has found that doubling the fuel in the forest will double the rate of spread and quadruple the fire intensity,” the paper said. “While low-intensity fires will tend to burn dead fuels below 6mm in diameter, medium to high-intensity fires will burn young trees, thick twigs and branches, bark and deep litter. Fuel reduction burning can reduce the hazard of spotting from eucalypt bark, in some cases for up to seven to 10 years.” The royal commission into Australia’s worst bushfires, on Black Saturday in Victoria in 2009, found communities and local flora and fauna were safer by reducing combustible fuel and the risks associated with fire. It also warned that vegetation along roads needed to be managed to allow egress and entry during bushfires and to maintain the roads as firebreaks.

Climate change warnings about longer bushfire seasons and more intense fires have been on the table for a long time. The nation is investing in wind and solar power three times faster per capita than Germany and four to five times faster than China, the EU, Japan and the US. That said, Australia could close down for business and our propensity to bushfires would be unchanged. They are a torrid aspect of life on our continent and those on the frontlines deserve a generous, effective response. False, shameless sniping by the Greens makes a mockery of the responsibilities of elected office.