Matt Kean shy on climate action to combat fires

NSW environment minister Matt Kean has failed to identify any new initiatives to tackle the effects climate change has on bushfires.

NSW Environment minister Matt Kean.

NSW Environment Minister Matt Kean has been unable to identify a single new initiative his department has introduced to combat the deleterious effect that climate change has had on bushfire management — despite blaming it for the devastating blazes ravaging the state this summer.

While the state government has dedicated $900m to tackling climate change over five years, Mr Kean’s office told The Australian less than 10 per cent of this was dedicated to reducing the impact it had on the bushfire season.

This came in the form of $79m earmarked for an “enhanced bushfire management program” between 2017 and 2022.

“Our primary focus will be to roll out technologies that grow the economy while reducing emissions,” the spokesman said.

“For example, we know that energy-efficiency technologies and renewables can get electricity prices down while reducing emissions. That is why families across the country are putting solar systems on their rooftops, to help their household budget.

“We are also providing $25m to help communities affected by the current bushfires to rebuild.

“Supporting our firefighters and people affected by the bushfires remains our highest priority.”

The revelation comes after Mr Kean attracted criticism for politicising the devastating fires — which have seen six people killed and more than 720 homes destroyed so far this season — by claiming the nation needed to prioritise the urgent reduction of carbon emissions to prevent catastrophic bushfire seasons becoming the new norm.

Detractors claimed the Environment Minister was using the “bogeyman” of climate change to distract attention from his department’s failure to properly prepare for the crisis.

Director of the Australian Nat­ional University’s Energy Climate Institute, Ken Baldwin, said the catastrophic bushfires burning across the state were unrelated to the targets, but said it served as a taste of “what could happen” as the planet warms.

“It’s separate to having climate change targets and forward planning,” Mr Baldwin said on Thursday. “But bush­fires are a reminder of what could happen with increasing extreme weather events in dry and hot environments brought about by climate change.”

The Public Service Association, which represents the ­National Parks and Wildlife Service, said Mr Kean’s department had actually increased the threat posed by bushfire by making a number of cuts to the NPWS.

Mr Kean has previously conceded to The Australian that the state had cut the number of ­rangers involved in hazard-­reduction burns from 264 to 220, but denied the government was not doing enough.

He said in the past year the NPWS had met its 135,000ha ­hazard-reduction target.

It comes as thousands gathered in Sydney on Wednesday to demand climate change action in the wake of smoke pollution blanketing much of NSW.