Bridget McKenzie (Victoria, National Party, Minister for Agriculture) Share this | Hansard source

Thank you very much, Senator. We have 147 aircraft that are leased at the moment, and these figures change throughout the bushfire season, depending upon assessed risk and the contracted time frames. I'm happy to go through those, but in the interests of time, going to your direct question, there is an apparent trend of longer fire seasons in both southern and northern hemispheres. Although some firefighting aircraft are shared with the Northern Hemisphere, the National Aerial Firefighting Centre will contract 141 specialised aircraft across the country, and over three-quarters of these remain resident in Australia year-round. The National Aerial Firefighting Centre acknowledges the potential challenge of longer fire seasons and the need to continue to closely manage international movement of resources.