Fires show our politics are broken

NSW Rural Fire Service Commissioner Shane Fitzsimmons was a steady hand as politicians squabbled over the cause of bushfires. Picture: Getty Images/AAP

The best decision NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian made was to declare a statewide emergency yesterday.

In Queensland, Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk did likewise, not quite statewide but in 42 local government areas.

READ MORE: Live coverage: NSW, Queensland bushfires | ‘Greens playing politics with fire’ | Kelly: After the fires, we’ll have combustive issues to resolve

This meant a range of executive powers were handed over to rural and metropolitan fire services. In NSW, Rural Fire Services Commissioner Shane Fitzsimmons was given power to enter or take possession of property, evacuate people from fire zones, cut off roads and transport infrastructure, declare at risk places no-go zones and cut off utilities as he deemed necessary.

The powers are sweeping but temporary and have concluded for now.

Fitzsimmons is in his 12th year as NSW’s RFS Commissioner. People have become used to his appearances in the media. He has a no nonsense way of communicating to the public. Get ready, plan, prepare for when the time comes. If in any doubt, get out.

At another level, the emergency declarations made even more sense as it dawned on the nation that the political class is a disaster of its own making, wholly incapable of communicating effectively to the public. Worse, our politicians spent the day clouding emergency services’ messages as they squabbled over the cause of fires.

It was evidence, if indeed any more was needed, of a failing political environment amid intractable ideological fixations.

NSW Fire and Rescue Firefighters evacuating an out of control fire where houses were lost near Khappinghat National Park south Taree. Picture: Jane Dempster

I watched on Saturday as Fitzsimmons replied to a question from a reporter as to why he regarded the fire situation as ‘unprecedented’. Fitzsimmons replied that there were then 17 bushfires burning out of control in the state and that was unprecedented. Not for November but at anytime.

When the context is understood, it became clear it was a fairly uncontroversial statement.

Fitzsimmons made no other assumptions concerning cause or correlation. If a man of his experience makes that claim, I am by instinct inclined to believe him.

The people of Greater Sydney had their first taste of living in the highest fire danger rating yesterday. It was just the second in the Illawarra. The first came on a day in October five years ago. It was wretchedly hot, humidity was running around 10 per cent with gusting westerly winds up to 60kmh. Almost ideal conditions for a firestorm.

NSW Fire and Rescue Firefighter Peter Ince at with a colleague after battling a blaze on the Pacific Highway. Picture: Jane Dempster

In the morning I looked at the thick bushland at the rear of my property and thought not for the first time, how I’d react if I saw a fireball appear over the crest of the hill.

Later I sat in front of my laptop and watched a series of nasty scenarios unfold close to me.

The fires stayed away from my neck of the woods that day but later bushfires consumed the areas around Campbelltown and up to Bargo cutting off the Hume and road and rail into and out of Sydney to the south. The local footy ground rocked to the sound of choppers and RFS trucks heading to and fro fire zones. The locals made sandwiches and cups of coffee.

Both then and yesterday, I had my children prepare their grab bags — a change of clothes, a few irreplaceable belongings, documents, passports, birth certificates, pet boxes assembled and ready to house any panicky beasts. If push came to shove, we could be packed and ready to roll in minutes.

What I saw in an area thankfully untouched by fire yesterday was a community ready to respond to expert and informed opinion with those in the political sphere seemingly unaware of the gravity of the situation, unable to holster their verbal weapons even for 24 hours.

Put the discussion about the fires being a symptom of climate change aside for a moment. What we saw yesterday was a symptom of a political class unwilling to shelve its ugly divisions even for a moment.

Greens leader Richard Di Natale and McCormack exchanged verbal blows as the undercard earlier in the week before Barnaby Joyce introduced the bizarre correlation of death by fire and voting intention.

“I acknowledge that the two people who died were most likely people who voted for the Green party, so I am not going to start attacking them,” he told Sky News.

If one thought the rhetoric couldn’t get any worse, WA Greens Senator Jordon Steele-John came off the long run in the Senate, pointing a finger at both major political party representatives.

“You are no better than a bunch of arsonists – borderline arsonists – and you should be ashamed.”

The quantum of shame is moot when it’s doled out by the shameless.

Imagine letting this lot plan and prepare disaster management plans and communicate rapidly changing circumstances to the public.

It is not just beyond their meagre skills and experience. It is beyond their intellect, beyond their obsessions with dismal caterwauling and beneath us to dwell too much on them.

A day we dreaded confirmed that the nation’s instrumentalities are up for the fight, our disaster and emergency management specialists can deal with extreme challenges and our communities can face down and act on disasters in sensible fashion.

It is just that our politics are broken.