BUSHFIRES – AUSTRALIA

Fire inquiry accepts climate link: Morrison

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Original article by Phillip Coorey
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 4 : 6-Feb-20

Prime Minister Scott Morrison has advised that former defence force chief Mark Binskin will head the federal government’s bushfires royal commission. Morrison says the inquiry will proceed on the basis that climate change is real and contributed to the scale and severity of the bushfires. National Party leader Michael McCormack says that while human activity has contributed to climate change, it is the role of scientists to determine the extent of this. Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton in turn has pointed to arson as one of the causes of the bushfires.

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AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF THE PRIME MINISTER AND CABINET, NATIONAL PARTY OF AUSTRALIA, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF HOME AFFAIRS

Greens want coal levy to fund more paid firefighters

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Original article by Judith Ireland
The Sydney Morning Herald – Page: Online : 6-Feb-20

Greens leader Adam Bandt has proposed the introduction of a levy on coal, gas and oil producers. The levy would be priced at $1 per tonne of carbon dioxide and would raise about $1.5bn a year. Most of the proceeds would be used to hire nearly 16,000 additional paid firefighters in metropolitan and rural areas. Bandt says the nation’s firefighters are exhausted by the intensity and duration of the bushfire season. The Australia Institute also called for a levy on fossil fuel producers in late 2019, as part of its proposal for a National Climate Disaster Fund.

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AUSTRALIAN GREENS, THE AUSTRALIA INSTITUTE LIMITED

Why prescribed burning has never been so important to Australia

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Original article by Neil Burrows, Rick Sneeuwjagt
The Age – Page: Online : 29-Jan-20

The issue of hazard reduction burning in national parks and forests has come under scrutiny in the wake of the bushfires crisis. The purpose of prescribed burning is to assist in safely suppressing bushfires rather than stopping them. Reducing the fuel load in some areas means that they can take a lower priority in the event of a fire, enabling firefighters to be deployed to the fire’s perimeter or to defend properties. Indirect suppression strategies such as back burning are easier if the fuel load has previously been reduced.

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PM’s bid to boost disaster powers

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Original article by Simon Benson, Geoff Chambers
The Australian – Page: 1 & 2 : 29-Jan-20

Prime Minister Scott Morrison will use a National Press Club speech on 29 January to argue the case for the federal government to be given increased powers to declare a national emergency. He will also call for the government to be given the power to deploy Australian Defence Force personnel to disaster areas without a request from a state premier. Morrison will stress the need for Australia to learn from the current bushfire season in order to be better prepared for future disasters.

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AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF THE PRIME MINISTER AND CABINET, NATIONAL PRESS CLUB (AUSTRALIA)

Today 26% of Australian businesses have been affected by bushfires – Australia needs to support businesses in the Accommodation and Food services industries with Visitors and Tourists

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Original article by Roy Morgan
Market Research Update – Page: Online : 28-Jan-20

A special Roy Morgan Snap SMS Survey shows that 26% of Australian businesses have been affected either ‘A great deal’ (7%), ‘Somewhat’ (10%) or ‘A little’ (9%) by the bushfires. Some 74% of businesses have been unaffected by the bushfire. A deeper analysis of the industries most heavily impacted shows that over a third of businesses in the Accommodation and Food services sector, which includes travel and tourism, say they have been affected ‘A great deal’ – higher than any other industry. Businesses in Queensland and NSW have been the hardest hit, with 12% of Queensland businesses and 11% of NSW businesses affected ‘A great deal’ by the bushfires – far higher than any other State. In general businesses in NSW are the most likely to have been impacted, with 35% affected in some way, compared to around a quarter of businesses in Queensland (25%) and Victoria (24%). In contrast, only 16% of businesses in WA and 11% in Tasmania have been affected at all. These findings are based on an SMS survey of 1,308 Australian businesses.

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ROY MORGAN LIMITED

Homes not built to survive worst fires

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Original article by Olivia Caisley
The Australian – Page: 1 & 5 : 24-Jan-20

More than 2,800 homes have been lost across Australia during the current bushfire season, including 49 in Queensland. The state government has been urged to review the building standards for homes in bushfire-prone areas; the state has a fire danger index rating of just 40 for such homes, compared with an FDI-100 rating in Victoria and most parts of New South Wales. Professor Grahame Douglas, a fire danger expert from the University of Western Sydney, says Queensland should look at upgrading to an FDI-100 rating for areas that are at risk from bushfires.

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UNIVERSITY OF WESTERN SYDNEY

Industry group wants climate policy on agenda in wake of bushfires

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Original article by Mike Foley
The Sydney Morning Herald – Page: Online : 23-Jan-20

Energy Minister Angus Taylor will hold a roundtable meeting with representatives of the nation’s power companies on 23 January. They will discuss the industry’s response to the bushfires crisis. Australian Industry Group CEO Innes Willox says the meeting should also address the issue of climate change. Craig Memery of the Public Interest Advocacy Centre says the agenda should include strategies to make the energy grid more resilient while avoiding a significant impost on consumers.

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AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF THE ENVIRONMENT AND ENERGY, THE AUSTRALIAN INDUSTRY GROUP, PUBLIC INTEREST ADVOCACY CENTRE

Malcolm Turnbull slams PM’s response to climate change and bushfires

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Original article by Bevan Shields
The Sydney Morning Herald – Page: Online : 23-Jan-20

Former prime minister Malcolm Turnbull has used a BBC interview to criticise his successor Scott Morrison over his handling of the bushfires crisis. Amongst other things, Turnbull has accused Morrison of misleading the public by downplaying the impact of climate change on the bushfires. He has also questioned why Morrison had ignored warnings from fire experts about the likely severity of the bushfire season. Turnbull has also called US President Donald Trump the world’s "leading climate denier" and doubled down on his criticism of News Corp’s stance on climate change.

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AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF THE PRIME MINISTER AND CABINET, NEWS CORP AUSTRALIA PTY LTD, NEWS CORPORATION – ASX NWS, BRITISH BROADCASTING CORPORATION

PM: cut fire fuel, not just emissions

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Original article by Rosie Lewis
The Australian – Page: 1 & 4 : 22-Jan-20

Prime Minister Scott Morrison argues that undertaking bushfire hazard-reduction burns is just as important as reducing greenhouse gas emissions. However, he notes that unlike carbon emissions, there is no national system for reporting progress on reducing fuel loads in national parks and forests. The issue of prescribed burning has come under scrutiny in the wake of the bushfires crisis, which has claimed 29 lives to date. Labor leader Anthony Albanese claims that climate change has contributed to the intensity of the bushfires and the length of the bushfire season.

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AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF THE PRIME MINISTER AND CABINET, AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY

Bushfire loans, grants should be easier to get, small businesses say

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Original article by Nick Bonyhady
The Age – Page: Online : 22-Jan-20

Small business owners in bushfire-affected areas have criticised the excessive amount of paperwork required to apply for the federal government’s concessional loans and grants. Shadow small business minister Brendan O’Connor says the government needs to provide greater clarity as to eligibility for the grants and loans, and when businesses will begin to receive financial assistance. The government will also make 10 financial counsellors available, but O’Connor says this is clearly inadequate given that the bushfires have affected about 200,000 small businesses.

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AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY