Rex Patrick (SA, Centre Alliance) Share this | Hansard source

I rise in sombre circumstances to support the motion, to pay tribute to the victims of the bushfires of recent months and to acknowledge the tireless work of the many thousands of firefighters, emergency service personnel, ADF personnel and volunteers who have gone above and beyond the call of duty to protect and support our communities through this terrible fire season.

It has unquestionably been a terrible summer. It's been a fire season that started long before summer began, and it hasn't finished yet, as demonstrated by the fires still burning, by the smoke that shrouded Canberra last night and by the haze that lingers today. Thirty-four people have died—three in my home state of South Australia. Among the dead are nine firefighters: three New South Wales Rural Fire Service volunteers, three aerial tanker crew from the United States, two Forest Fire Management Victoria employees and one employee of the Victorian Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning. All lost their lives in efforts to fight the fires and to protect lives and property. They made the ultimate sacrifice for a community purpose and should be honoured, as foreshadowed by Senator Cormann this afternoon.

Across the country we've seen some 11 million hectares burnt, and nearly 10,000 buildings have been destroyed, including more than 3,000 houses. In my home state of South Australia, the fires began in mid-November with a large bushfire near Port Lincoln on the Eyre Peninsula. That was followed by a large fire on the Yorke Peninsula that threatened Yorketown and Edithburgh. Then we had fires break out near Cudlee Creek in the Mount Lofty Ranges. One person died and more than 70 houses were destroyed, as well as over 400 outbuildings and 200 cars. Then, in early January, fire broke out in the Flinders Chase National Park on Kangaroo Island. By the time that enormous fire was brought under control, nearly half the island was burnt and another two lives were lost.

I might just point out the role of local MPs in responding to the tragedies that have taken place. They have given tirelessly. I know that in Mayo, which was affected by the fires on Kangaroo Island and in the Adelaide Hills, Rebekha Sharkie worked long hours, connecting people to resources and assisting people in difficulties. And I know that other MPs around the country gave their time, to good effect. Overall in South Australia some 300,000 hectares have been scorched and over a thousand buildings destroyed, including 185 homes. The damage to unique ecosystems, to world-class tourism facilities, to critical infrastructure, to homes and to agricultural property has been tremendous.

The economic cost of these fires is yet to be calculated, in terms of destruction, damage and disruption of industries, especially agriculture and tourism. It will most certainly far, far exceed the $4.4 billion cost of the 2009 Black Saturday fires. It cannot be said, however, that there were no warnings about this. Well over a decade ago, in 2008, TheGarnaut climate change review noted that, over the previous quarter of a century, there had already been a general increase in the Forest Fire Danger Index across the east and south-east of the country. Drawing on climate change research produced in 2007, the Garnaut report observed that:

Recent projections of fire weather suggest that fire seasons will start earlier, end slightly later, and generally be more intense. This effect increases over time but should be directly observable by 2020.

This trend is indeed directly observable now, and it was clear to many observers through the course of the last year.

As is well known, in April last year a group of 23 former Australian fire service chiefs warned that Australia was not fully prepared for the upcoming fire season. They called on the federal government and opposition to recognise the need for national firefighting assets, including large aircraft, to deal with the scale of the fires. They called on the Prime Minister to meet with former emergency services leaders, who proposed to outline how climate change risks are rapidly escalating. Unfortunately, the Prime Minister declined to meet with the former fire chiefs. The government had no desire to engage on the issue of climate change and the bushfire threat.

Indeed, last year the government, including coalition senators in this chamber, went out of their way to lambaste anyone who linked the bushfire threat—already then a reality—with climate change. Unfortunately politics, not community safety, was at the forefront of the government's thinking. Although the Australian Defence Force began to provide modest assistance to state and territory authorities as early as September last year, the federal government displayed no sense of urgency about the emerging fire threat. It was in that context that the Prime Minister departed on his overseas holiday. He felt no sense of emergency. Indeed, the government's position on climate change could not admit the possibility of any emergency. This summer was to be business—or rather, holidays—as usual.

Well, it wasn't 'holidays as usual' for many thousands of Australians. In the end, as much of the south coast of New South Wales and eastern Victoria exploded into flames, the Prime Minister was obliged to cut short his holidays and fly home. For that failure of judgement and for his initial performance upon return to Australia, the Prime Minister has already paid a political price. No matter how unfair he thinks it, many Australians have looked at him and found him wanting. Many have judged him to be not up to his job, and that judgement will be hard to shake. And fair enough, because the Prime Minister did fall well short of the national leadership that people were looking for at a time when homes were burning and communities were besieged by flames and smoke.

Since that political leadership debacle, the government has done a lot of good work. The Australian Defence Force was deployed on a large scale, providing much-needed logistical and engineering support for firefighters and isolated communities. The government has kicked in substantial funds for relief and recovery efforts. Major effort has been made by federal agencies to help communities and individuals facing great hardship.

But in the midst of the good work there has also been much politicking as the Prime Minister has laboured hard and rather all too obviously to re-establish the image of leadership and distract from the policy failures that occurred at the start. The Prime Minister was very quick in raising the idea of a federal royal commission. Victoria, New South Wales and South Australia have already initiated their own inquiries with a view to rapidly reviewing data to learn lessons and implement changes before the next fire season. The Prime Minister has now announced that he has written to the states seeking their support for a royal commission to be led by former Chief of the Defence Force Mark Binskin. The federal royal commission may be worthwhile but will also be expensive and time-consuming. There are a number of inquiries that have been conducted into bushfires in Australia—into the tens—where recommendations were largely ignored. What will be important here will be the terms of reference of any royal commission and the need to have recommendations, interim if necessary, released and acted upon prior to the next fire season.

The Prime Minister has also made much of the idea of bringing in legislation to allow the deployment of the ADF in response to national disasters without a request from a state or territory. This may be necessary, but in reality state and territory emergency services will always be the first responders, and any ADF support must be coordinated very closely with them. The fact that the New South Wales Rural Fire Service was not properly informed when the ADF employment announcement was made last month suggests the government needs to work on its internal processes first. The government's proposed amendments to the Defence Act will need to be examined on the merits, but one does have a sense that this is mainly driven by the Prime Minister playing catch-up politics.

In any case, royal commissions and other inquiries aside, we already know many things that need to be done. In the midst of the current relief and recovery efforts, the fact that many people are being offered the equivalent of the Newstart allowance woefully underestimates the needs of people attempting to rebuild their lives and businesses from scratch. At the very least, the government should be making relief payments equivalent to the national minimum wage—a level of support that would provide much greater assistance to individuals and families and would help support local businesses. I urge the government to consider this.

With regard to the next fire season, there has already been much work and analysis done in relation to the utility of large aerial firefighting assets. There is a very strong argument for the federal government to join with the states and territories in organising national aerial firefighting assets, including large aircraft, being acquired or leased with long-term contracts. Given the clear trend towards longer, drier and hotter fire seasons, this is no longer an ad hoc, seasonal need but a long-term permanent capability requirement.

I also note that the government has had quite a bit to say about hazard reduction burns and the idea that the federal government should somehow play a central role in setting up and presumably enforcing national minimum standards. Fuel build-up and hazard reduction are obvious parts of any discussions about future bushfire management, but that's just one issue. Fire chiefs in New South Wales and Victoria have rightly pointed out that the bigger problem is the extremely dry tinderbox conditions produced by climate change. Just what sort of national standard would be involved is unclear, given the great variability of the Australian landscape, climate and ecosystems. Moreover, much of the fire and land management expertise is to be found in the state and territory governments, not the Commonwealth.

In any case, one can't but feel that this sudden focus is being run as something of a distraction to cover up the government's continuing reluctance to acknowledge the role of climate change in producing the circumstances of this fire season and future seasons. In this regard, the government would do well to quietly back off on its rigid, ideological position on climate change—something that is now being maintained in defiance of overwhelming evidence.

This week, more than 270 of our best scientists—experts on climate, fire and meteorology—have signed an open letter calling on us, the members of this parliament, to abandon partisan politics and take action on climate change. As University of New South Wales climate scientist Professor Katrin Meissner put it:

The thick, choking smoke haze of this summer is nothing compared to the policy smokescreen that continues in Australia.

She went on to say:

We need a clear, non-partisan path to reduce Australia's total greenhouse gas emissions in line with what the scientific evidence demands, and the commitment from our leaders to push for meaningful global action to combat climate change.

Our scientists have been warning for decades that climate change would worsen Australia's fire risks. These warnings can no longer be ignored. The cost to our communities and our fragile continent and its rare and wonderful wildlife is already too apparent. We are yet to understand the cost of these fires to our economy and our people. We should see these recent terrible fires as a final warning and take action accordingly. Time is up.