Thai cave diver: I’m in awe of our fireys’ courage

Cave rescuer and 2019 Australian of the Year Craig Challen says our bushfire crisis has turned ordinary Australians into true heroes as their risk their lives to defend their communities.

Over the last weeks and months, we have witnessed the dismal spectacle of widespread, destructive bushfires across much of eastern Australia.

Although there is nothing new about fires in the Australian bush, these events have been unprecedented in the scale of destruction they have wrought, in the deaths of people, livestock and wildlife and the devastation of tracts of land.

I have lived in Australia all my life and seen similar events plenty of times before, but the size of this, and its persistence over an extended period of time has been mind-numbing.

However, out of every bad thing comes something good. From these events I have drawn inspiration and hope.

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The inspiration comes from the actions of the firefighters and thousands of other Australians, both volunteer and professional, who have risked their lives in extraordinary efforts to defend their communities, often in the face of personal tragedy.

Craig Challen (r) with fellow Thai cave rescue diver and 2019 Australian of the Year Richard ‘Harry’ Harris. Picture: Supplied

The word hero is easy to invoke and quite overused. I have some experience of this as a result of the 2018 Tham Luang cave rescue in Thailand and the title does not sit very comfortably with me. But there is no doubt in my mind that the efforts of those that have been fighting these fires or in support of the firefighters easily qualify them as heroes. They exemplify everything good about ordinary people that rise to the occasion when it is demanded. They make me proud to be an Australian.

The hope that I gain from these terrible events is that they will finally precipitate a change in Australia’s terrible record on addressing the threat of climate change.

For too long, we have ignored or evaded our contribution to this problem, as though being responsible for 1.3 per cent of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions is some sort of excuse for being, on a per capita basis and by some measures, the world’s worst emitter.

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The reasons that individuals rely on for failing to admit the need to take action vary. At the milder end it is apathy, progressing to unwillingness to tolerate some inconvenience as change occurs. In my observation that accounts for the position of most people that oppose action in some way. From there we progress to those who exhibit wilful ignorance or a mysterious contrarian reaction to the evidence, for reasons that evade me. At the most egregious end of the scale is the blatant pandering to vested interests, which is usually couched in misleading language about the damage that will be caused to our economy if action is to be taken.

Twelve youth soccer players wait to be rescued from a flooded cave in 2018. Picture: Thai Navy Seal via AP

I sense over the last few weeks a groundswell of changing views. Many of those at the milder end of my scale above are becoming persuaded that we are in fact witnessing change, and of the need to do something about it in the face of the appalling destruction of the fires. Those at the other end are starting to move their positions, mostly it would seem to secure their public image initially, but I am convinced that they must know that the ground is shifting and that they will eventually be forced to move their positions, so they might as well start preparing for it now.

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There have been wars that have caused less destruction than the recent events. Consider the reaction if anyone suggested sitting by in the face of an attack rather than responding with force. But climate change is something that is far more within our grasp to address than the actions of an enemy, both for the direct effect that a reduction in our emissions could have and possibly even more so for the leadership that we should be exhibiting on the world stage.

We need to move on from denying the compelling weight of evidence that drastic change is happening here and now. We can be global leaders in this, rather than turning ourselves into pariahs that will certainly be judged harshly in the future. Let’s get on with it.

Dr Craig Challen, SC, OAM, was joint winner of the 2019 Australian of the Year for helping to rescue 12 children and an adult from a flooded Thai cave.

Originally published as Thai cave diver: I’m in awe of our fireys’ courage