At the time of writing, catastrophic and unprecedented bushfires in NSW and QLD have claimed three lives, destroyed hundreds of houses, and are burning over one million hectares of bush land and rainforest. And while the fire burns, a debate rages: who is to ‘blame’?
Progressive Australians, including many from the suburbs and towns destroyed by the fires, are *pissed* at the lack of climate emergency action and leadership from the Federal Coalition government and the NSW Liberal Government. For them, these extraordinary fires are the direct proof of the escalating climate crisis.
They’re blaming the fires on the LNP’s failure to create a meaningful plan to tackle the climate emergency.
But conservative Aussies, including some of our most powerful politicians, are not having it. Instead they’ve blamed the Greens for the bushfires? Yep.
Former National Party leader, Barnaby Joyce told The Australian: “The problems we have got have been created by the Greens… We haven’t had the capacity to easily access [hazard] reduction burns because of all of the paperwork that is part of green policy.”
The more dry bush land there is near homes in rural Australia, the more dangerous bushfires become – there is literally more to burn, contributing to more powerful fires that are harder to stop. Hazard reduction burning/controlled burning/back burning is important to protect the people and homes in fire prone areas.
The idea that this is the Greens fault is being spread in the social media comments of many news articles about the bushfires.
There’s a lot going on here – read on to find what’s legit and what’s just not.
Do the Greens oppose controlled burns?
Here’s the thing… it’s really hard to find any proof that the Greens flat out oppose controlled or hazard reduction burns.
The Bushfire Risk Management policies on the NSW Greens website basically lays out the parties point of view as this:
- Controlled burns are not the only option
- We should do it only as often as we absolutely need to for essential protection
- Indigenous Australians should be consulted, as they have been looking after and managing the land for centuries (including using burns as a tool)
While it’s not an anti-burn stance, it’s a more restrictive view than other parties may have.
Are the Greens stopping controlled burns from taking place?
Conservatives are saying that Greens ‘paperwork and policy’ have actually stopped burns from taking place in high risk communities, and because of this the fires are much worse than they otherwise would have been.
But the Greens have never formed Government at a State or Federal level, and probably never will, so their ‘policies’ on a practical matter like back burning have never been implemented.
TL;DR, the claim is bogus.
Bushfires are normal for Australia, so is climate change really to blame?
First things first: Australia is a sunburnt country and summer bushfires are expected for our climate and environment.
But the early start to fire season and the devastating severity of the November bushfires could soon be the worst we have ever had.
The reason? The current drought, which is the worst in Australian colonial history.
Greg Mullins, the chief of NSW Fire & Rescue from 2003 to 2016, explained this in a very straightforward way in a piece for the Sydney Morning Herald:
“The drought we are facing is more intense than the Millennium Drought, with higher levels of evaporation due to higher temperatures. This has dried out the bush and made it easier for fires to start, easier for them to spread quickly, and as we saw on Friday, enabling spot fires to start twice as far ahead of the main fires as we would normally expect.
“Warmer, drier conditions with higher fire danger are preventing agencies from conducting as much hazard reduction burning – it is often either too wet, or too dry and windy to burn safely.”
His view is backed up by climate scientists, who stress that while climate change does not cause bushfires, it is absolutely making them worse in every way.
Is this the Coalition Government’s fault?
Just as climate change has not caused bushfires, nor have the Liberals (or Nationals, for that matter).
Equally, having a strong climate policy would probably not have prevented the bushfires nor minimised them.
However, the intense drought and increasing severity of Australian bushfires are the effects of the climate crisis – there should be no argument about that – and they highlight the lack of planning for what the future of life in this country looks like.
The public are entitled to demand policies that may help slop down the impact of climate change before things get even worse. And it will get worse.
What conservative Governments do need to take responsibility for are cuts to vital services – specifically, the NSW Liberal Government taking $12.9 million from NSW Fire & Rescue, and another $26.7 million from NSW Rural Fires Services (which is a volunteer organization).
As reported by Crikey, that amount of money would have afforded the salaries 488 firefighters; 70 brand new heavy duty fire engines; 115 4WD fire trucks, and more.
What can you do to help?
Donate to the NSW Rural Fire Service here.
Donate to the Salvation Army Appeal here.
Donate to the Port Macquarie Koala Hospital here.