Practical focus for Scott Morrison’s bushfire inquiry

Scott Morrison’s royal commission into the unprecedented bushfire season will aim to improve natural disaster management.

Scott Morrison announces a royal commission into the bushfire emergency in Sydney on Thursday. Picture: AAP

Scott Morrison’s royal commission into the unprecedented “Black Summer” bushfire season will aim to improve natural disaster management and make Australia more resilient to a changing climate, but will not examine emissions-reduction policies.

The six-month inquiry is expected­ to cost taxpayers about $25m and will be led by former ­defence force chief Mark Binskin, focusing on practical actions that can be taken to mitigate the ­impact of floods and bushfires.

The Prime Minister said it would be up to Mr Binskin and his fellow royal commissioners Anna­­belle Bennett, a former Federal­ Court judge, and Andrew Macintosh, an environmental law and climate change expert, to decide who to call to give evidence­.

Mr Morrison also said there was no suggestion the Australian Defence Force would be trained to fight fires, after Chief of Army Rick Burr warned on Wednesday that Defence was not funded or trained to do so.

 

Labor, the Greens and former fire and emergency service leaders blasted the government on Thursday for its decision not to include emissions-reduction pol­icies­ in the royal commission’s remit, while the Labor governments in Victoria and Queensland did not immediately embrace the initiative.   

The Victorian government had received the letters patent establishin­g the commission and said it would “review it ­carefully” before making a final decision on whether to participate.

“We will have more to say in due course,” a government spokes­woman said.

Queensland Premier Anna­stacia Palaszczuk’s spokeswoman said it was too early for the ­government to comment on the terms of reference because it had only just received them and was still considering the details.

A refusal by the states to co-operate­ would threaten the integrity of the commission.

University of Sydney constitu­tional law expert Anne Two­mey warned that, if a state object­ed to taking part, it was possible the commissioners would be ­unable to compel that state’s offic­ials to appear.

“A royal commission — unlike a court — is an executive body and there has always been reluctance within a federation to compel the officials of a government from one jurisdiction to appear before those of another,” Professor Twomey said.

The NSW government said it would co-operate with the royal commission as it conducted its own independent, six-month expert­ inquiry into the bushfires.

National targets for hazard reduction­, consistent recovery assistanc­e payments and bolstered powers for the commonwealth to declare a national state of emergency and compulsorily call out defence reservists will also be central­ considerations for the royal commission.

“It is important to ensure that when we’re talking about issues like hazard management, hazard reduction; when we’re talking about vegetation, native vege­tation management; when we’re talking about building standards and controls and planning land-use laws, that we have a greater ­national consistency in our understanding of what the best practice is and what the standards are and what the plans are,” Mr Morrison said, adding that they should remai­n the responsibilities of the states and territories.

While he said the commission accepted, acknow­ledged and understood the impact of climate change on Australia, it would not deal specifically with climate change policies.

“What this royal commission is looking at are the practical things that must be done to keep Aust­ralians safer and safe in longer, hotter, dry summers in the conditions in which Australians will live into the future,” the Prime Minister said.

Mr Binskin, who said he looked forwar­d to co-operation from the states, also said the royal commission sought to “fully understand what occurred so we may learn and apply the lessons to ensure we are better prepared … to respond to future bushfires and other natural disasters”.

Opposition disaster and emergency management spokesman Murray Watt said that a royal commission focusing on natural disasters without considering how to reduce them by taking action on climate change was a “huge missed opportunity”.

“It’s a bit like a doctor wanting to talk about the symptoms of a disease rather than actually talking about how we cure the disease itself,” Senator Watt said.

Former NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service director-­general Brian Gilligan, a member of the Emergency Leaders for Climat­e Action group, said it was fair enough for Mr Morrison’s royal commission to “acknow­ledge that climate change was the driving force” behind the unprecedented bushfires but this did not let the government off the hook on tackling climate change.

The royal commission is due to report by August 31, in a bid to give the federal government time to ­introduce urgent reforms before the next fire season.

Additional reporting: David Ross, Sarah Elks, Yoni Bashan